East Sussex County Council trading standards officers are warning about the sales tactics of companies selling website ‘domain name’ addresses. The bogus callers usually telephone business people to tell them that a third party is about to register a close alternative web address. They are then told that if they hand over a registration fee they can buy up the domain name and stop this from happening.
Councillor Bob Tidy, Lead Cabinet Member for Community Safety says the only thing these callers are interested in doing is to make a quick profit at the expense of the business concerned. "People should be very wary of cold callers putting pressure on them to buy domain names. We are aware that a number of companies are using this type of sales tactic and the Office of Fair Trading has already tackled some of them for using misleading claims."
Councillor Tidy says that local businesses are particularly vulnerable to this type of call as they may have less knowledge about what they are dealing with. He said: "We advise anyone who is approached in this way not to be coerced into accepting any unsolicited offers. If businesses aren’t sure what to do they should contact their existing Internet Service Provider, their usual agent or their local trading standards office.”
Some businesses in the County have already complained to trading standards officers about this scam. Local firms have told officers that cold callers have demanded credit card details so that they can supposedly close the deal quickly.
In another case, a business received a fax demand for payment to renew their domain name. After checking, they found out that the approach wasn’t from their own Internet Service Provider at all, and that they had paid out £60 for nothing.
If any business people in East Sussex have been mislead, they should complain to trading standards by calling 01323 418 200. Advice on how to register a domain name through reputable agencies is available at: www.nominet.org.uk for ‘.uk’ and www.icann.org for other names including ‘.biz’, ‘.net’ and ‘.com’.
Reference:
04/277/MF
Contact the press team
