The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has
warned of a swindle by an organisation claiming to be an approved
domain-name dispute solver.
ICANN, the organisation that oversees the Internet's addressing
system, said this week that it has received many reports of domain
name registrants receiving mailings from an entity calling itself
XChange Dispute Resolution and claiming to be an ICANN authorised
arbitrator in domain name dispute cases, which it is not.
In the mailing, XChange Dispute Resolution states it received a
domain dispute-resolution complaint and asks the domain name holder
to mail a deposit of between $250 (£174) and $1,250 (£871) to
defend ownership of a domain. If the recipient takes no action,
rights to the domain are forfeited, the mailing states, according
to ICANN.
Not only is this entity not approved by ICANN, the Uniform
Domain-Name Resolution Policy (UDRP) also does not allow dispute
resolution providers to demand a deposit from registrants and does
not deprive registrants of the rights to their domain names solely
because of a failure to reply to a notice of a dispute, ICANN said.
Approved dispute-resolution service providers are listed on ICANN's
Web site. Domain name owners who receive the false notice should
inform law enforcement or forward it to ICANN, which may pass it on
to the appropriate authorities, ICANN said.