Network Trademark Registration - another scam!

A few days ago I received the email below informing me that someone else wanted to use my domain name and I needed to register it.

Now being a bit of a cyinc and knowing that I own both the .co.uk and .com domains I use I did a little Google research to discover that a number of people have received these types of emails, usualy from the Far East and China and that it is indeed just a scam

I found a number of references to this scam and the best advice is not to bother replying at all as if you reply they can be very convincing and you could end up at worst being connned out of thousands of pounds and without doubt will be subjected to a large number of emails containing threats.

If you really are unsure then take legal advice.

Some of the places I found these scams referred to:

http://kontech-blog.blogspot.com/2008/09/sk-holdings-company-ltd-domain.html

http://elliottback.com/wp/domain-name-registration-scam/

http://www.blogstorm.co.uk/hong-kong-network-service-company-limited-scam/ 

The email I received is below. Please make your clients or company aware of this scam.

Robert Smith
Complete Hotels Services

Dear CEO/Manager,


We are a domain name registration center in Hongkong,mainly dealing with domain name registration and internet intellectual property rights protection. On November.16,2009 we received a formal application from a local company of your country who is applying to register some domain names with the keyword “completehotelsservices ” and register it as their keyword. After investigation,we find that you are the original user of the keyword. As this refers to your company name or trade mark, and in order to avoid the confusion and dispute on the internet, we inform you and would like to know your ideas, if you agree about this issue, we will finish the third company's registration, If you don't agree the third company to register, please inform me.looking forward to your reply.thanks for your understanding and cooperation.
Look forward to your reply.

Thanks

Kind Regards,

Diana Mill

Address: 19/F., First Block, New World Bldg.,

No.18 Quen Middle Road,

Zhonghuan,

Hong Kong

Tel: +852-31757931(ext8003)

Fax:+852-31757932

Email:Diana.mill@hknsc.org

Website: www.hk-net.hk

How can a Hotel, Golf or Leisure Club use twitter for business?

Social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Myspace have been getting a lot of press in the last few months and there is no doubt that they are making a significant difference to the way we communicate in our social lives but are they really any good for business?

I have spent some time considering the possible merits of Twitter as a communication tool for my clients, and in doing so become an avid follower of a huge number of individual hotels, groups and other leisure based businesses and receive either daily tweets or, in more cases than not, no tweets at all! The hotels which do Tweet seem to have very little to say other than basic marketing messages with the odd hotel, usually in a city where footfall is higher, doing Twitter specific offers and discounts on room rates.

My perception is that hotels, and probably businesses in general, are struggling to use Twitter in a manner which will engage followers and produce sales.

Now for my bright idea!

A lot of hotels have additional leisure facilities such as golf courses & gyms or spa’s and beauty treatment facilities. On a lot of occasions there are appointment or tee times, classes etc which are not being used and producing no revenue but incurring a cost, particularly in wages. The problem is that the facility has the space and availability but cannot communicate this effectively within a time frame to the customer. The customer may have a need, or at very least a desire, but thinks that at short notice they are unlikely to obtain an appointment or tee time and hence does not bother to enquire.

I believe that Twitter could be used to bridge this gap.

If the business create a Twitter account and then actively encourages and helps its membership or local customers to create their own accounts and enables them to follow the business and receive updates on by phone then Twitter can be used to communicate available time slots, special offers and anything else to the customer.

If successful this could, of course, be expanded to include restaurant tables, public events etc.

I’ll be encouraging my clients to give this a go and whilst it could well take a few months of hard work to set this up I think the results could be very worthwhile.

I would love to hear about any ideas or current strategies being used on Twitter to create sales or improve customer communication so please send me your comments.

Robert Smith

Director

Complete Hotels Services