It is a sales tactic, not a warning. Do not reply or click anything; mark it as spam, and check anything that worries you with your own registrar or web company, never with the sender.

The email

It arrives addressed to the CEO or the principal, from what calls itself a domain registration centre overseas.

It says another company has applied to register your business name in several country endings, usually Asian ones such as .cn and .hk, and as an internet keyword.

It asks whether that company is your partner or distributor, and says the application will be approved within a few working days unless you object.

It is a sales approach. In practice there is no application you need to worry about and no deadline that matters. The email exists to get a reply.

How the approach works

Reply, even to ask a question, and a second email arrives. It offers to register the names in your favour first, for several years, at a price far above what a normal registration costs.

The deadline shrinks to a day or two. If you pay, you own domain names in countries where you do not trade and never will.

And your address is now marked as one where somebody reads and answers, which tends to bring more of the same.

Signs it is the familiar sales email

The fourth gives it away. Nobody needs your name in a country where you do not trade, and an agency handling someone else's application has no reason to ask your permission.

Why it works

It borrows the language of trademark protection, and it plays on a real worry: someone using your name abroad, on goods or sites you cannot control.

It goes to the top, which flatters, and it sets a deadline, which rushes. A business that buys from overseas suppliers, or has had its designs copied, may find the story plausible.

Domain registration in most endings is first come, first served. Agencies do not normally write to other businesses for approval before registering a name, let alone with a countdown.

Do not reply

Not even to say no. A reply confirms that the address is read, and the next message will be the sales offer.

Do not click the links or call the numbers in it. Mark it as spam, delete it, and let your email filter learn.

These emails usually land in a general inbox, so tell whoever reads that inbox what they look like.

If someone has already replied, little is lost as long as nothing was paid. Stop answering, and let the follow-ups go to spam.

Check with your own registrar

If anything about it worries you, forward it to the company that manages your domain, or to whoever looks after your website. Never send it back to the sender.

Know which company that is. It is on your last renewal receipt, and a lookup of your domain's public record shows it too.

Your registrar can tell you whether anything is happening with your own domains, which is the only part that concerns you.

A worked example

An airbrush artist paints motorcycle tanks, helmets and the occasional van, working alone from a converted garage, and sells prints of her designs online.

An email arrived addressed to her as CEO. A company with a vague trading name had applied for her studio's name in five country endings and as a keyword, it said, and would be approved in five working days.

Months earlier she had found one of her helmet designs copied on an overseas marketplace, so the warning seemed to fit. She replied to ask what she should do.

The answer offered to register the names for her first, for ten years, at a price far above what her own domain cost, with payment needed within three days.

She forwarded both emails to the company that looks after her website. They recognised the template, told her not to reply again, and confirmed her own domain was set to renew automatically, with her current email on file.

The copied design was a separate problem, and no domain would have touched it. That was a question for a lawyer, not a registrar.

What actually protects your name

The domains you use, renewed on time. Turn on automatic renewal and keep the card on file current.

A contact email that works. Registrars now have to confirm that the owner's email address is real, and a domain whose contact details go unconfirmed can be suspended.

If you do sell into another country, register its ending through your own registrar, at the ordinary price, when you decide to. Legal protection for a name comes from trademarks, which is work for a lawyer or trademark agent.

The same family of emails

The foreign domain warning has relatives. Renewal notices from companies that are not your registrar, offering to renew at a higher price. Expiry warnings that turn out to be selling search engine submission.

Each relies on the same two things: an official tone, and a reason to act before checking.

The same rule covers all of them: check the sender against your own records, and deal only with the company you already pay.

The counter-case

Owning another country's ending can make sense for a business that genuinely trades there, or plans to. That decision belongs in your own planning, made through your own registrar.

Registrars also send ordinary marketing about the hundreds of new endings launched since last year, from .photography to .club. Those are adverts, not warnings, and can be judged on their merits.

None of that changes the advice for the urgent email itself: do not reply, and check anything real with your registrar.

When the next one arrives

  1. Do not reply, even to say no.
  2. Do not click any link in it.
  3. Mark it as spam and delete it.
  4. Forward any doubts to your own registrar or web company.
  5. Confirm automatic renewal on the domains you use.
  6. Check the contact email on each registration.
  7. Tell whoever reads the general inbox.

Step seven matters most, because the owner is rarely the first to read these emails. The person who opens the general inbox is the one who might reply.

Knowing which domain accounts the business holds, and who controls each, is covered in who decides what goes on the website this year.

Frequently asked questions

Is the foreign domain email genuine?

Almost never. It is a long-running sales approach with no real deadline behind it. Its purpose is to get a reply, then sell expensive registrations you do not need.

What happens if I reply?

A second email offers to register the names for you first, for several years, at a price far above normal, with a deadline of a day or two.

Do I need my name in other countries' endings?

Only if you trade there. If you do, register them through your own registrar at the ordinary price, on your own schedule, not in response to an email.

Who should I check with?

The company that manages your domain, or whoever looks after your website. Forward the email to them, never back to the sender, and ask about your own domains.

Does buying the domains protect my brand?

Very little. Domains in endings you do not use stop almost nothing. Legal protection for a name comes from trademarks, which is a question for a lawyer or trademark agent.

Who else in the business needs to know?

Whoever reads the general inbox. These emails usually arrive at info or contact addresses, and the person most likely to reply is often not the owner.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

An urgent email about your name abroad?

Forward it to us, not the sender. We will check your own domains and tell you if anything needs doing.

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