Dear Escort-Ads Community,
We want to bring to your attention a serious issue affecting some of our members: phishing scams disguised as domain registration requests. These scams aim to deceive you into divulging personal or sensitive information under false pretenses.
Example Email:
To illustrate, here’s a typical example of the fraudulent emails being circulated:
Subject: escort-ads Domain Registration
(If you are NOT CEO, please kindly forward this to your CEO, because this is urgent. If you believe this has been sent to you in error, please ignore it. Thanks)
Dear CEO,
We are the domain name registration service company in China. We received an application from Hongshun Ltd on June 28, 2024. They want to apply for "escort-ads" as their internet keyword and China (CN) domain names (escort-ads.cn, escort-ads.com.cn, escort-ads.net.cn, escort-ads.org.cn). But after checking it, we find this name conflict with your company name or trademark. In order to deal with this matter better, it's necessary to send email to you and confirm whether this company is your distributor or business partner in China?
Best Regards
Frank Liu
General Manager
Name Registry
Tel: +86-2161918696
Fax: +86-2161918697
Mob: +86-13816428671
12F Kaike Building, No. 1801 Hongmei Road, Shanghai 200233, China
Why It's a Scam:
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Urgency and Pressure Tactics: These emails often emphasize urgency and pressure recipients to forward them to CEOs or take immediate action to prevent supposed domain name infringement.
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Unverified Senders: The sender's domain (cnregistry.org) and email addresses (like [email protected]) are not associated with legitimate domain registration services. Legitimate services typically use well-known domains and established communication protocols.
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Phishing Objectives: Phishing scams aim to trick you into revealing personal or financial information. They may direct you to fraudulent websites that appear legitimate but are designed to steal your sensitive data.
What They Do:
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Request to Forward Email: By asking you to forward the email to the CEO or another decision-maker, they aim to bypass usual communication channels and exploit hierarchical trust within organizations.
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Visiting Suspicious Sites: If you visit the websites linked in these emails, your browser or security software may warn you that the site is designed to deceive visitors into submitting financial or personal information. This could lead to identity theft, financial losses, or unauthorized use of your personal information.
What You Should Do:
1. Ignore and Block: If you receive such an email, do not respond. Simply block the sender's email address (e.g., [email protected]) to prevent further contact.
2. Spread Awareness: Inform others in the industry about this scam. Share this blog post or alert them through your networks and social media platforms to raise awareness.
3. Report the Sender: We have already reported the sender to relevant authorities. If you encounter similar suspicious emails, please inform us immediately so we can take appropriate action. How to report phishing scams?
Protecting your personal and business information is crucial. Stay vigilant against phishing attempts and suspicious emails. We are committed to your safety and security within our community. If you have any concerns or questions regarding this issue, please do not hesitate to contact us directly.
Thank you for your attention to this matter and for helping us keep our community safe.
Sincerely,
Escort-Ads Team
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