Attention all American business owners. Scam artists in China want to extort money from you with a non-existent threat of taking your domain name. I was recently targeted in this scam. I'm too smart to become the latest victim of Chinese criminals. Now I'm posting my response in public.
Here's the first email I received. All emails are in italics below.
Subject: Internet Domain Name And Keyword
From: Howard Zhong howard.zhong@yiguangroup.com
Date: Mon, Oct 31, 2011 12:29 am
To: Anthony J. Alfidi
Dear Manager,
(If you are not in charge of this please transfer this email to your President or appropriate person, thanks)We are a Network Service Company which is the domain name registration center in Shanghai, China. On Oct 31, 2011, we received an application from Hantong company requested "alfidicapital" as their internet keyword and China (CN) domain names. But after checking it, we find this name conflict with your company name or trademark. In order to deal with this matter better, it's necessary to send email to you and confirm whether this company is your distributor or business partner in China?
Kind regards
Howard Zhong
Office Manager
Shanghai Office (Head Office)
3002, Nanhai Building, No. 854 Nandan Road,
Xuhui District, Shanghai 200070, China
Tel: +86-21-6191-8696
Mobile: +86-182-2195-1605
Fax: +86-21-6191-8697
Email: howard.zhong@yiguangroup.com
Web: www.yiguangroup.com
Needless to say, I was shocked when I read this message. I replied below.
Subject: Re: Internet Domain Name And Keyword
From: Anthony J. Alfidi
Date: Mon, Oct 31, 2011 10:31 am
From: Howard Zhong howard.zhong@yiguangroup.com
Mr. Zhong:
Alfidi Capital is my business and I own the "alfidicapital" domain name. I have never heard of Hantong Company and I have never done business with them. They have no legal right at all to register "alfidicapital" as a domain name in China. Please terminate their application. I would also like you to give me their contact information so that I may send them a strongly worded message to stop their behavior. Thank you for informing me of this matter.
Sincerely,
Anthony J. Alfidi
CEO, Alfidi Capital
I soon received a response from the so-called Chinese registrant of the mysterious "Hantong Company," which may very well be owned by none other than Dr. Fu Manchu himself. ;-)
Subject: alfidicapital
From: HuangGarerth gareth.huang@hotmail.com
Date: Tue, Nov 01, 2011 8:11 pm
To: Anthony J. Alfidi
Dear Sirs,
We are Hantong company based in Chinese office. We will register the "alfidicapital" as internet keyword and CN internet domain names for lifetime registration period. We have handed in our application and are waiting for Mr. Howard Zhong's approval. We think this name is important for our products in Chinese market. Even though Mr. Howard Zhong advises us to change another name, we will persist in this name.
Best regards
Gareth Huang
The arrogance of "HuangGareth" (however he spells his name is irrelevant to me) made me angry. I fired back a serious threat of legal action.
Subject: Re: alfidicapital
From: Anthony J. Alfidi
Date: Tue, Nov 01, 2011 10:21 pm
To: "HuangGarerth" <gareth.huang@hotmail.com>
Huang Gareth:
You have no legal right at all to register this name. I will initiate a lawsuit against your company if you register "alfidicapital" in China, and I will win, which means I will end up owning your entire company. Once I own your company, I will terminate your employment. Alfidi Capital is my business, not yours.
Do you understand how much legal trouble you will cause for yourself if you do something this stupid?!
Sincerely,
Anthony J. Alfidi
CEO, Alfidi Capital
The first guy then emails me again with the following offer. Hmm, how convenient. A little too convenient by half.
Subject: Re: Internet Domain Name And Keyword
From: Howard Zhong <howard.zhong@yiguangroup.com>
Date: Wed, Nov 02, 2011 8:16 pm
To: Anthony J. Alfidi
Dear Anthony J. Alfidi ,
Based on your company having no relationship with them, we have suggested they should choose another name to avoid this conflict but they insist on this name as CN domain names (.cn/.com.cn/.net.cn/.org.cn) and internet keyword on the internet. In our opinion, maybe they do the similar business as your company and register it to promote his company.
According to the domain name registration principle: Domain name and internet keyword which applied based on the international principle are opened to companies as well as individuals. Any companies or individuals have rights to register any domain name and internet keyword which are unregistered. Because your company haven't registered this name as CN domains and internet keyword on the internet, anyone can obtain them by registration. However, in order to avoid this conflict, the trademark or original name owner has priority to make this registration in our audit period.
If your company is the original owner of this name and want to register these CN domain names (.cn/.com.cn/.net.cn/.org.cn) and internet keyword to prevent anybody from using them, please inform us. We can send you an application form with price list and help your company register them.
Kind regards
Howard Zhong
Office Manager
Shanghai Office (Head Office)
3002, Nanhai Building, No. 854 Nandan Road,
Xuhui District, Shanghai 200070, China
Tel: +86-21-6191-8696
Mobile: +86-182-2195-1605
Fax: +86-21-6191-8697
Email: howard.zhong@yiguangroup.com
Web: www.yiguangroup.com
I needed something further to go on, so I asked him to send me price quotes. I wanted to have as much ammunition as possible for what I thought would be a long legal fight to put "Hantong Company" out of business and its proprietors in prison. Well, the quote sheet that Mr. Howard Zhong of Yi Guan Group sent me demanded astronomically high prices . . . over US$6000 for a "lifetime" domain name registration!!! I did some web searching on "China domain registration" and soon found the link at the very top of this blog post. It turns out that Chinese scammers quite commonly troll non-Chinese domain name owners and attempt to extort money from them for a completely unnecessary domain name registration in China.
I did not spend a penny on this action. My final response to my new Chinese wanna-be business colleagues is below.
Subject: Alfidi Capital Owns China
From: Anthony J. Alfidi
To: Howard Zhong and Gareth Huang
Dear Howard Zhong and Gareth Huang:
Read my blog post about your scam: http://alfidicapitalblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/alfidi-capital-exposes-chinese-domain.html
I just made you famous. You are both seriously stupid morons if you think I'm going to fall for your scam, assuming you are in fact two different idiots and not the same idiot using two email accounts.
Go (expletive deleted) yourselves.
Sincerely,
Anthony J. Alfidi
CEO, Alfidi Capital
Ladies and gentlemen, the moral of this story is quite simple. Don't fall for Chinese domain name registration scams. Check out every single unsolicited email you receive from unknown parties by performing multiple Web searches. Finally, and most importantly . . . don't ever try to rip off yours truly, Anthony J. Alfidi, CEO of Alfidi Capital.
Here's the first email I received. All emails are in italics below.
Subject: Internet Domain Name And Keyword
From: Howard Zhong howard.zhong@yiguangroup.com
Date: Mon, Oct 31, 2011 12:29 am
To: Anthony J. Alfidi
Dear Manager,
(If you are not in charge of this please transfer this email to your President or appropriate person, thanks)We are a Network Service Company which is the domain name registration center in Shanghai, China. On Oct 31, 2011, we received an application from Hantong company requested "alfidicapital" as their internet keyword and China (CN) domain names. But after checking it, we find this name conflict with your company name or trademark. In order to deal with this matter better, it's necessary to send email to you and confirm whether this company is your distributor or business partner in China?
Kind regards
Howard Zhong
Office Manager
Shanghai Office (Head Office)
3002, Nanhai Building, No. 854 Nandan Road,
Xuhui District, Shanghai 200070, China
Tel: +86-21-6191-8696
Mobile: +86-182-2195-1605
Fax: +86-21-6191-8697
Email: howard.zhong@yiguangroup.com
Web: www.yiguangroup.com
Needless to say, I was shocked when I read this message. I replied below.
Subject: Re: Internet Domain Name And Keyword
From: Anthony J. Alfidi
Date: Mon, Oct 31, 2011 10:31 am
From: Howard Zhong howard.zhong@yiguangroup.com
Mr. Zhong:
Alfidi Capital is my business and I own the "alfidicapital" domain name. I have never heard of Hantong Company and I have never done business with them. They have no legal right at all to register "alfidicapital" as a domain name in China. Please terminate their application. I would also like you to give me their contact information so that I may send them a strongly worded message to stop their behavior. Thank you for informing me of this matter.
Sincerely,
Anthony J. Alfidi
CEO, Alfidi Capital
I soon received a response from the so-called Chinese registrant of the mysterious "Hantong Company," which may very well be owned by none other than Dr. Fu Manchu himself. ;-)
Subject: alfidicapital
From: HuangGarerth gareth.huang@hotmail.com
Date: Tue, Nov 01, 2011 8:11 pm
To: Anthony J. Alfidi
Dear Sirs,
We are Hantong company based in Chinese office. We will register the "alfidicapital" as internet keyword and CN internet domain names for lifetime registration period. We have handed in our application and are waiting for Mr. Howard Zhong's approval. We think this name is important for our products in Chinese market. Even though Mr. Howard Zhong advises us to change another name, we will persist in this name.
Best regards
Gareth Huang
The arrogance of "HuangGareth" (however he spells his name is irrelevant to me) made me angry. I fired back a serious threat of legal action.
Subject: Re: alfidicapital
From: Anthony J. Alfidi
Date: Tue, Nov 01, 2011 10:21 pm
To: "HuangGarerth" <gareth.huang@hotmail.com>
Huang Gareth:
You have no legal right at all to register this name. I will initiate a lawsuit against your company if you register "alfidicapital" in China, and I will win, which means I will end up owning your entire company. Once I own your company, I will terminate your employment. Alfidi Capital is my business, not yours.
Do you understand how much legal trouble you will cause for yourself if you do something this stupid?!
Sincerely,
Anthony J. Alfidi
CEO, Alfidi Capital
The first guy then emails me again with the following offer. Hmm, how convenient. A little too convenient by half.
Subject: Re: Internet Domain Name And Keyword
From: Howard Zhong <howard.zhong@yiguangroup.com>
Date: Wed, Nov 02, 2011 8:16 pm
To: Anthony J. Alfidi
Dear Anthony J. Alfidi ,
Based on your company having no relationship with them, we have suggested they should choose another name to avoid this conflict but they insist on this name as CN domain names (.cn/.com.cn/.net.cn/.org.cn) and internet keyword on the internet. In our opinion, maybe they do the similar business as your company and register it to promote his company.
According to the domain name registration principle: Domain name and internet keyword which applied based on the international principle are opened to companies as well as individuals. Any companies or individuals have rights to register any domain name and internet keyword which are unregistered. Because your company haven't registered this name as CN domains and internet keyword on the internet, anyone can obtain them by registration. However, in order to avoid this conflict, the trademark or original name owner has priority to make this registration in our audit period.
If your company is the original owner of this name and want to register these CN domain names (.cn/.com.cn/.net.cn/.org.cn) and internet keyword to prevent anybody from using them, please inform us. We can send you an application form with price list and help your company register them.
Kind regards
Howard Zhong
Office Manager
Shanghai Office (Head Office)
3002, Nanhai Building, No. 854 Nandan Road,
Xuhui District, Shanghai 200070, China
Tel: +86-21-6191-8696
Mobile: +86-182-2195-1605
Fax: +86-21-6191-8697
Email: howard.zhong@yiguangroup.com
Web: www.yiguangroup.com
I needed something further to go on, so I asked him to send me price quotes. I wanted to have as much ammunition as possible for what I thought would be a long legal fight to put "Hantong Company" out of business and its proprietors in prison. Well, the quote sheet that Mr. Howard Zhong of Yi Guan Group sent me demanded astronomically high prices . . . over US$6000 for a "lifetime" domain name registration!!! I did some web searching on "China domain registration" and soon found the link at the very top of this blog post. It turns out that Chinese scammers quite commonly troll non-Chinese domain name owners and attempt to extort money from them for a completely unnecessary domain name registration in China.
I did not spend a penny on this action. My final response to my new Chinese wanna-be business colleagues is below.
Subject: Alfidi Capital Owns China
From: Anthony J. Alfidi
To: Howard Zhong and Gareth Huang
Dear Howard Zhong and Gareth Huang:
Read my blog post about your scam: http://alfidicapitalblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/alfidi-capital-exposes-chinese-domain.html
I just made you famous. You are both seriously stupid morons if you think I'm going to fall for your scam, assuming you are in fact two different idiots and not the same idiot using two email accounts.
Go (expletive deleted) yourselves.
Sincerely,
Anthony J. Alfidi
CEO, Alfidi Capital
Ladies and gentlemen, the moral of this story is quite simple. Don't fall for Chinese domain name registration scams. Check out every single unsolicited email you receive from unknown parties by performing multiple Web searches. Finally, and most importantly . . . don't ever try to rip off yours truly, Anthony J. Alfidi, CEO of Alfidi Capital.
