Have you received an email about an "urgent registration notice" for your company, claiming that someone else is about to grab your domain name unless you take action?
It seems spams about the need for your firm to register alternative domain names on the web are becoming more and more common.
Just the other day, Antony in our international sales team forwarded me the following email which he had received out of the blue:
The email claims that another company is attempting to register an alternative version of the domain name that your firm uses. For instance, if I were the recipient, the email may say that XYZ Corporation is attempting to register sophos.com.hk.
"Crumbs!" you might exclaim, "Thank heavens this kind hearted domain registration company warned me of this risk. I must purchase the domain myself as soon as possible to prevent any shenanigans."
But think twice. You'll notice that the out-of-the-blue email has warned you that time is limited, and they need you to make a decision quickly or you risk losing the domain forever.
Hmm.. seems to me like this whole thing might be a pretence designed to get me to give this domain registration firm some money before a third-party grabs it.
Personally, I wouldn't give the firm that has just spammed me any money. If I really wanted the domain name, and believed it was important to me, then I would purchase it through another online broker.
Make sure you're not encouraging spammers and scammers by being a soft target for manipulation.
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I got something like this a while back. I saw through it and responded by saying, "Thanks! I will register this with my registrar right away!" just to piss them off.
I loved when I got this - it was sent to my Sky email address! Rupert Murdoch I aint...
I *still* occasionally get the "Domain Name Registration of America" snail mail letters telling me that my domain is going to expire and I must renew, trying (of course) to trick me into transferring my domain to them for registrar services.
ownthedotcom is pulling similar shenanigans offering me the .com version of a domain of which I have the .org version. "As the owner of {example}.org if you would like the preferred .COM version we are making it available. The one cost is $99.97. This includes a year of registration and full transfer of ownership to you."
Like Drew, I immediately registered it with my favorite registrar for $8.50.
I guess it's got to be cheaper than domain squatting and *hoping* someone wants it. I'm sure they trick at least a handful of people with it, making the ROI decent enough to keep doing it.