Hi all, Sorry, and "beer" because this is more of an Aussie question, maybe someone can direct me to somewhere more appropriate. One of our execs received one of those "domain name available" letters in the form of an invoice, inviting him to register a name in .net.au that's similar to another name we own. This seems to have come via snail-mail but it invites payment at domainnamegroup.com.au. Do we do anything about such scammers? Suing them for wasting our time springs to mind, but I'm thinking more in terms of reporting to an authority. I know this practice has been around for a while but it's the first time I've encountered it directly. -- Lesley Longhurst (previously Walker) Linux Systems Administrator Opus International Consultants Ltd Email lesley.longhurst(a)opus.co.nz Tel +64 4 471 7002, Fax +64 4 473 3017 http://www.opus.co.nz Level 9 Majestic Centre, 100 Willis Street, PO Box 12 343 Wellington, New Zealand
In NZ this sort of thing would be handled with a complaint to the Direct
Marketing Association. Not sure about AU.
-Joel
On 4 December 2013 10:16, LRW Longhurst
Hi all, Sorry, and "beer" because this is more of an Aussie question, maybe someone can direct me to somewhere more appropriate.
One of our execs received one of those "domain name available" letters in the form of an invoice, inviting him to register a name in .net.au that's similar to another name we own. This seems to have come via snail-mail but it invites payment at domainnamegroup.com.au.
Do we do anything about such scammers? Suing them for wasting our time springs to mind, but I'm thinking more in terms of reporting to an authority. I know this practice has been around for a while but it's the first time I've encountered it directly.
-- Lesley Longhurst (previously Walker) Linux Systems Administrator Opus International Consultants Ltd Email lesley.longhurst(a)opus.co.nz Tel +64 4 471 7002, Fax +64 4 473 3017 http://www.opus.co.nz Level 9 Majestic Centre, 100 Willis Street, PO Box 12 343 Wellington, New Zealand _______________________________________________ NZNOG mailing list NZNOG(a)list.waikato.ac.nz http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/nznog
On Wed 04 Dec 2013 11:57:27 NZDT +1300, Joel Wirāmu Pauling wrote:
In NZ this sort of thing would be handled with a complaint to the Direct Marketing Association. Not sure about AU.
And presumable the commerce commission, sending out invoices for services that were never agreed to is fraudulant. Inform the .au registrar, they might also have acceptable use policies against this. They should if they haven't. Volker -- Volker Kuhlmann is list0570 with the domain in header. http://volker.top.geek.nz/ Please do not CC list postings to me.
These letters are usually not invoices, even though they look very much like one, and are presumably not intended to be scrutinised too closely. The ones I've seen say explicitly "This is not an invoice". I agree that they are very misleading and they're pretty unethical in my opinion. The rates are generally pretty ridiculous as well. On 04.12.2013 13:02, Volker Kuhlmann wrote:
On Wed 04 Dec 2013 11:57:27 NZDT +1300, Joel Wirāmu Pauling wrote:
In NZ this sort of thing would be handled with a complaint to the Direct Marketing Association. Not sure about AU.
And presumable the commerce commission, sending out invoices for services that were never agreed to is fraudulant.
Inform the .au registrar, they might also have acceptable use policies against this. They should if they haven't.
Volker
Here¹s some more information on the long-running scam:
http://www.auda.org.au/about-auda/our-services/consumer-alerts/unsolicited-
letters-from-domain-name-group-pty-ltd-and-domain-register-pty-ltd/
--
Juha Saarinen
https://twitter.com/juhasaarinen
On 4/12/13 3:08 pm, "Andrew Jones"
I agree that they are very misleading and they're pretty unethical in my opinion. The rates are generally pretty ridiculous as well.
On 04/12/13 13:17, Juha Saarinen wrote:
Here¹s some more information on the long-running scam:
http://www.auda.org.au/about-auda/our-services/consumer-alerts/unsolicited- letters-from-domain-name-group-pty-ltd-and-domain-register-pty-ltd/
Next time, enclose your URL in angle brackets so your MUA doesn’t create a linebreak in the middle. (Or get a better MUA.) The link you posted wasn’t clickable. I complained to the auDA about this scam on behalf of a customer in October, whose Policy Compliance & Technical Officer replied with the following:
We have looked into the legality of the letters sent out by Domain Name Group Pty Ltd (DNG) some time ago. We were advised that as they state near the middle of the notice that it is an "invitation to register,” it is not in breach of any laws. We have sent out Consumer Alerts in the past (http://www.auda.org.au/consumeralert/) about similar practices with the request that people be aware of such tactics.
Unfortunately, there is not much that we can do with these letters.
It is also very unlikely that DNG would have a reseller account with any .au accredited registrar, hence making it difficult for any registrar to block them from creating domain names. This is especially so if they create accounts in the customer’s name and details and register the domain name within that account.
Finally, it is the government that has the authority to stop organisations like DNG, but only if they are breaking the law.
The only advice we can provide to people who have received such letters is to lodge a complaint with the ACCC (http://www.accc.gov.au) or their local consumer affairs office (http://www.consumerlaw.gov.au/content/Content.aspx?doc=consumers_ACL.htm).
participants (6)
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Andrew Jones -
Jeremy Visser -
Joel Wirāmu Pauling -
Juha Saarinen -
LRW Longhurst -
Volker Kuhlmann