Am I being scammed? Brand Authentication Company

Discussion in 'DNS/Domain names' started by Michael V, Jun 4, 2015.

  1. This is my Winhost site: http://www.gearifysoftware.com

    The following was sent to my Winhost email account several days ago:

    Dear Sir or Madam,

    We are a service agency for brand authentication. Our center received an authentication application from MDPF Global Limited on May 26, 2015. They applied for the registration and authentication of "gearifysoftware" brand official website. But we found that the registration of "gearifysoftware" brand wasn't connected to your official website. You are the legitimate owner of this brand. Once the authentication is passed, it will cause great confusion and impairment of interest to the real owner of "gearifysoftware" brand.

    Now, we are processing this application. Our center needs to confirm whether this company is authorized by your company. If so, we will continue the next step of authentication. If not, please let me know as soon as possible in order that our center can deal with this problem timely. We await your prompt reply.

    Best Regards
    Jim Dong
    Senior Adviser
    Tel: +86.551.63491191
    Fax: +86.551.63491192
    Address:689 Huizhou Road, Hefei, Anhui, China 23001


    I asked them to identify their company. I received the following response:

    Thank you for your reply.

    Our company is TBS Internet Certificate Ltd and our website address is www.tbs-ic.cn. You can visit our website for more information.
    We are authorized by China Brands & Official Website Authentication Centre(BOWA for short). This is our authorization certificate in the attachment.
    Our authorization number is 10912769D. You can visit China Brands & Official Website Authentication Centre(www.bowa.org.cn) for inquiring us.
    If you need to authenticate brand, I will send you an application form. I'm looking forward to your prompt reply. Thank you!

    Best Regards
    Jim Dong
    ...

    I asked what the application process entails. The response:

    Dear Sir or Madam,

    Thank you for your reply. The authentication fees are 250USD per year. The following is the authentication process:
    1. After you confirm that you need the authentication, we will send you the authentication application form.
    2. You fill in the application form for authentication, sign and stamp, and return us.
    3. We will send you the signed and stamped form and the invoice.
    4. We will submit your information of the application form to the government agency's authentication center for authentication.
    5. Your company arranges the payment and sends us the proof of payment.
    6. After finishing the authentication, we will send you the authentication certificate. You can visit the website of the center for queries by yourself according to the authentication number.
    I'm looking forward to your confirmation.

    Best Regards
    Jim Dong
    ...



    This seems to have SCAM written allover it. He is describing some sort of threat, urging me to send and application quickly, (I left out those emails), and requesting a payment. But it still makes me uneasy. Can anyone confirm that this is not legitimate?

    Thank you!
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 14, 2015
  2. ComputerMan

    ComputerMan Winhost Staff

    SCAM! lol

    Don't send them money.

    Sometimes you just have to go with your gut.
     
    Elshadriel likes this.
  3. It is not legitimate.

    This is an offshoot of an older scam to sell domain registrations. They would send a similar email that said "someone" tried to register a domain similar to your domain. But they know you are the legitimate trademark owner (how?) so they are going to to offer the domain to you first.

    All scams, and only the tip of the scam iceberg. I started a blog post about these things a while back but never finished it. Maybe I should find time to do that.
     
    ComputerMan and Elshadriel like this.
  4. Thank you both for the confirmation!
     
  5. If they cannot provide your name it's best to ignore the email.
     

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