I run a companycalled Rocket Visuals Ltd - we have the domain rocket.co.uk
I got a phonecall a few months back from a company called the 'Domain Verification Bureau' who told me that someone was trying to register rocketvisuals.co.uk (which I didn't have at the time) and did I want it, for a cost of £200 for 10 years. They told me that because I had the registered company name, that I was allowed 'first option' on the name, but if I didn't register it there and then on the phone, it would go to this 'other' party who had tried to register it.
The story was more complicated than that and involved mentions of Nominet (who were most unimpressed by this company). Needless to say I registered the domain myself while they were still on the phone and promptly reported them to Trading Standards.
It was just a scam - they were cross referencing Yell or Companies house with whois searches to find companies who hadn't registered their own domain, and tried to sell it to them at a greatly inflated price.
This sounds very similar...
(I got a phonecall a few months back from a company called the 'Domain Verification Bureau' who told me that someone was trying to register rocketvisuals.co.uk (which I didn't have at the time) and did I want it, for a cost of £200 for 10 years. They told me that because I had the registered company name, that I was allowed 'first option' on the name, but if I didn't register it there and then on the phone, it would go to this 'other' party who had tried to register it.
The story was more complicated than that and involved mentions of Nominet (who were most unimpressed by this company). Needless to say I registered the domain myself while they were still on the phone and promptly reported them to Trading Standards.
It was just a scam - they were cross referencing Yell or Companies house with whois searches to find companies who hadn't registered their own domain, and tried to sell it to them at a greatly inflated price.
This sounds very similar...
diyjoe,
Mon 18 Nov 2002, 16:19,
archived)