Internet Domain Name Scam Reporting

Programs that provide a hotline, website or other mechanisms that people can use to report intellectual property or confidence scams in which unscrupulous domain name registrars attempt to generate revenue by tricking businesses into buying, selling, listing or converting a domain name. The scammer may attempt to trick domain owners into switching from their existing registrar to theirs, under the pretense that the customer is simply renewing their subscription to their current registrar. Or the scam may operate in reverse, with a stranger (not the registrar) communicating an offer to buy a domain name from an unwary owner. The offer is not genuine, but intended to lure the owner into a false sales process, with the owner eventually pressed to send money in advance to the scammer for appraisal fees or other purported services. By mimicking aspects of the legitimate sales process and agencies, the scheme appears genuine in the early stages. The prospect of an easy, lucrative sale disarms the owner's normal suspicion of an unsolicited offer from a stranger with no earnest value. Since an actual transfer through the registration system is never involved, legal safeguards built into the official transfer process provide no protection.