Over the past couple of weeks we’ve received calls and emails from a few customers about an email they have received from a “company” called IGN Domains asking them to confirm they are the registered owner of their domain name and informing them that, in all cases, someone is trying to register the same name on “7 domain extensions”. The email also invited the customer to get in touch with IGN Domains within 7 days to prevent the domain names being registered to another person or business.
This kind of email is designed to scare you into registering domain names you don’t need, and in most if not all cases there will be no 3rd party lining up to register other versions of your domain name.
And now a few points about “IGN Domains” that should make you think twice about responding to their sales email:
- Their website is a “shell” containing very few pages and a lot of broken links
- Despite claiming to have been in existence since 2006 their domain name was only registered on the 23rd June 2014
- No genuine Domain Registration Company would seek to intimidate you into buying extra domains because someone else wanted them, and then give you 7 days grace to buy from them
- The information on IGN Domains’ “About us” page is partially copied from a reputable domain name management firm that have been trading since 1999
All of the above should give you cause for concern and we would strongly advise that you delete the email and think nothing more of it.
If you are concerned that someone may wish to register versions of your domain name please get in touch with us and we’ll be able to let you know the domain names that are available to register and secure the names for you if required.
The email from IGN Domains normally looks like this:
From: Benjamin J Fowler <enquiries[@]igndomains.co.uk>
Date: Wed, Jul 9, 2014 at 9:53 AM
Subject: Domain Registration
Good Morning,
A request has been received for multiple domain registrations that our systems indicate may conflict with your already existing company branding.
The request compiles of 7 domain extensions that match your existing domain name.
Our database shows that you are the registered owner of the domain example.com, please confirm.
The domain registration process will remain suspended for a 7 day grace period in which your company may act. If you company fails to act within this grace period then the suspension will end and the sale of the domain extensions will be granted.
If you feel that the registration of the requested domains may infringe on your business branding or may cause confusion to your potential and existing clients then please contact our team to discuss further options available.
Kindest Regards,
Benjamin J Fowler
IGN Corporate Domain Manager