Trademark China and Other Domain Name Registrar Scams

[Michael Wechsler]

Jurisdiction

US Federal Law

I received this email from "chinaregistry.org.cn" which is supposedly a domain registrar in China regarding domain name registration. I recall getting similar such trademark and domain name infringement emails over 25 years ago and thought they were a scam. I still receive postal mail from domain name registrars informing me about the expiration of my domain names and need to urgently send them $60+ per name to save them and transfer the names to their registrar. I have also received numerous other emails purportedly from law firms informing me about my need to settle an urgent trademark dispute with their client. What virtually all of these scams have in common is the attempt to create a sense of urgency, fear and panic. Common domain name registration scams include:

• Selling you international domain names at an inflated cost
• Making commission sales on domain names as a registrar affiliate on sales of domain names you don't need to buy
• A bad actor trying to take control of your domain name
• A bad actor seeking to obtain a phony trademark settlement payment

It's a strong sounding letter. There is a website. The website's About page is completely unconvincing (even though the contact page provides information about what are supposedly numerous branch offices in major cities.)

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is a non-profit organization that collects and stores Internet and domain name information. The ICANN Lookup tool can help find linformation about egitimate domain registrar.

The China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) is "a registry of domain names and root zone operator. It operates and administers country code top level domain of .CN and Chinese domain name system, and provides 24-hour services of domain name registration and resolution as well as WHOIS lookup for worldwide users with its professional technologies." (.cn domain name registration is explained here.)

If you receive a similar email, don't panic. Chances are good that it's yet another ubiquitous online scam for which cost to send out thousands is almost negligible. Perform some research and always check with a reliable source before engaging in any action. If a matter involves legal issues such as trademark and is of importance, speak to a licensed attorney and obtain a professional consultation. However, chances are you may not need to do so with some foundational skills and a modest research effort.

The following message has been sent from Adam Liu adam.liu@chinaregistry.org.cn:​

​

(It's very urgent, therefore we kindly ask you to forward this message to your CEO. If you believe this has been sent to you in error, please ignore it. Thanks)

Dear CEO,

This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration in China. On November 10, 2025, we received an application from Baokang Holdings Ltd requested the "Thelaw" as their internet keyword and Chinese (CN) domain names (Thelaw.cn, Thelaw.com.cn, Thelaw.net.cn, Thelaw.org.cn). But after checking it, we find this name conflict with your website name or company name. In order to deal with this matter better, it's necessary to send this message to your company and confirm whether this company is your distributor or business partner in China?

Best regards

Adam Liu
General Manager
chinaregistry.org.cn
Tel: +86-2161918696 | Fax: +86-2161918697 | Mob: +86-13816428671
12F Kaike Building, No. 1801 Hongmei Road, Shanghai 200233, China​

 

[army judge]

Very informative, Michael. Thank you for sharing this. It is very helpful for uninformed people who might receive similar, letters from scammers.

All I can add is is if a person receives such correspondence, don't panic. For goodness sake, don't send the SCAMMER money, a check, or a credit card number.

 

[Tax Counsel]

What virtually all of these scams have in common is the attempt to create a sense of urgency, fear and panic.

That's a key point I want to emphasize. It is very common for scammers who are pretending to be a government agency of some kind to use that tactic. They know that if they create panic the person might not take the little bit of time that it would take to verify whether the letter, e-mail, phone call, etc is legitimate. Very few government agencies, at least in the U.S., will threaten drastic enforcement action on a first contact on an issue.

A common scam that's been around for years is one in which the scammer claims to be from the IRS and the person threatens to seize assets or arrest the victim immediately unless payment of $X is received within some very short period of time (some of them wanting payment in as little as 15 minutes). The IRS does not do that on an initial contact. In a collection matter with the IRS you'll receive at least two letters, and up to five letters billing you for the amount due before the IRS takes any action to take assets. You'll know there's a problem long before something is taken unless you've not kept your address current with the IRS or the post office.

That's the case with pretty much any other creditor too, whether a government agency or a private creditor. Don't give into panic when you get these kinds of communications. Refuse to give any money or information to the person before you check out the situation with the agency or company at their official address or phone number (not the number or address provided by the potential scammer).

 

[cbg]

In a well publicized and very embarrassing situation a few years ago, the university I work for discovered that our life insurance benefit had been taxed wrongly and many employees were due a tax refund for several years. We (not me, but my office) were working hand in glove with the IRS who knew of and had approved our plan to correct this, but as you might imagine it took literally years (two, to be precise) for everything to be accomplished.

During this time, one of our employees was called by one of the scammers Tax is talking about, who gave her 20 minutes to come up with her payment before they came out to her house to arrest her. She immediately connected the scam with the university's error and called our office (getting me on the phone) pleading that either we settle her case immediately or that I stay on the line until they got there so I could explain. The panic invoked was so intense that she completely lost sight of the fact that we had overtaxed her and she was due a refund as a result of it; she did not owe an additional penny on account of the university's error.