Domain names (scam?)

lostfarmer

Not sure whether this is the right place for this so please feel free to move...

I run a small business and out of the blue yesterday afternoon I recieved a call from a Domain registration / web hosting company letting me know that another company in my line of business had tried to register the .net, .biz and .info versions of my domain name.

They said that the only way to stop this would be to purchase them ourselves. They also said we would need to do this quickly as the other company had already made a card payment, and due to the Consumer Credit Act they are not allowed to hold onto peoples money if they are not able to provide goods / services...

Does this sound legit to you? I've checked out the company, they're City based and registered on Companies House etc..

Would really appreciate some help on this one! Thanks!

Scottyg1987

Sounds like a good selling tactic to me.

.net, .biz and .info are not essential versions to have - I wouldn't even bother purchasing them anyway.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

not the same but very similar....

when we had an aquatic and reptile shop a few years back....hubby used to get phone calls every few days from companies..... saying that if we were ever interested in having a website.... that the name ( of our shop) was still available.. but there was others interested in the name.. so did we want to buy it to secure it ..so when we were ready... the name would be safe...

i think this could be a company which are trolling through..... trying to sell.........you might find that this company ( or the people behind the company ) might have been selling contract phones a year or so back.....and next year they will be trying to cold call and sell something else....

Markyt

Its a scam - dont touch them. There is no other interest in the domain name. There is no way a company selling domain names would waste time and money looking up and conacting the owners of an existing domain just bceause someone else wanted a different extension. They'd sell it, take the money and leave it to you to sort out the legal issues.

lostfarmer

Thanks for the quick feedback everyone, really appreciate it.

I agree it seemed like a scam to me- they justified phoning by saying that they were compelled to by 'nominet rules' I think...

Playing devils advocate for a second, if there was another company (in my line of business) do you think they would really be able to do much harm by registering the other addresses? I guess they could send out emails that looked like they came from us and maybe damage our companies reputation, but would this really be likely to happen?

Markyt

lostfarmer wrote: »

Playing devils advocate for a second, if there was another company (in my line of business) do you think they would really be able to do much harm by registering the other addresses? I guess they could send out emails that looked like they came from us and maybe damage our companies reputation, but would this really be likely to happen?

Not really likely. There would be a legal argument if they opened a website in your line of business - you could claim there was a deliberate intent to mislead or confuse customers, and as you had registered and established the business first then you should be awarded the other domains. My company has been through this a few times.

lostfarmer

Thanks Markyt, I feel a lot happier about it all now.

Going to ignore them then and wait with interest to see whether the other domains do in fact get registered. Nasty scam though!

alzeebub

if you're that concerned just register them yourself via one of the many companies online that facilitate it. It's not a huge spend and the different addresses can be very useful in marketing campaigns.

But addressing your initial concern, it's a sales ploy.

chunter

I agree with all the very sensible advice above.

If you can get both the co.uk and .com of the domain, take them.
It's a few quid (£10-20) a year to get one forwarded to the other.

Never worry about the .bizs of this world.

superscaper

I agree with chunter and scotty, those TLDs aren't worth bothering with. Maybe the .net if you're desperate for the domain and the others were taken but not the others. It's definitely a scam though, I bet they'd have charged an extortionate amount as well.

lostfarmer

Thanks everyone, you've really put my mind at rest. I have the .co.uk and the .com - quite happy just having these as I think they hold the most weight.

The only thing I was worried about was someone buying the other TLD's and contacting clients etc., appearing to be me or my company. Having thought about it though I don't think I've upset anyone recently so I think it's just a scam. They were trying to charge £50 per domain, per year for two years.

Interestingly the company that called yesterday and said this was an urgent matter haven't called back today... says a lot I suspect!