Domain fraudsters in .eu con

Domain name registrar Internetters is warning people not be fooled into pre-registering for .eu domain names.

It claims that internet fraudsters are already scamming people about the new .eu domain name, even though it has only just received endorsement from the European Parliament.

Ken Sorrie, co-founder and director of Internetters, said that some registration companies are taking money for pre-registrations of .eu when there is not even a registry appointed, or rules defined.

".eu as a new top-level domain name has only just received the go-ahead from the European Commission [EC] and Parliament. It may be many months, possibly over a year, before the correct and accredited systems of registration are in place and we strongly advise people not to part with any money until the registry and rules have been defined," he said.

The EC is in the process of selecting a private, not-for-profit organisation to manage the .eu domain. Its remit will include defining rules to stop cyber-squatting and ensuring that any cross-country disputes over .eu names are quickly resolved.

Sorrie said: "It would be good if the Commission or the registry, when it is established, has the authority to put these fraudsters out of business before they blacken yet another new domain name introduction."

See also:

Don't fall for bogus domain name calls

As more companies fall for aggressive sales tactics, the need for action is growing  13 Nov 2002

Don't fall foul of domain name scams

High-pressure sales tactics are fooling companies into buying extra online addresses.  28 Oct 2002

Domain name scams hit the NHS

Scare tactics warn of 'mystery shoppers'  23 Oct 2002

Firms fall for domain name scam

Consumers and businesses could find themselves thousands of pounds out of pocket as unscrupulous firms encourage them to pay for bogus pre-registration deals to bag a 'hot' address from the next batch of web domain names.  13 Feb 2001

Domain registrars accused of foul play

Domain name registrar Easily.co.uk has confirmed that greedy domain registration companies are examining their own logs to see what names customers are searching for, cybersquatting them and then trying to sell them back at a huge profit.  31 Jul 2000

Slow EC beaten to '.eu' domain suffix

A UK company has stolen a march on Brussels by launching its own domain registration service that offers URLs with the '.eu.com' suffix.  30 Apr 2000

Domain name registration business may be a lottery

by Jan Howells  22 Jan 1999

Like this story? Spread the news by clicking below:

 del.icio.us     Digg this     reddit!