SWITCH, the registry for Swiss and Liechtenstein domain names, is warning against bogus offers for domain names.
SWITCH has advised anyone receiving an offer of a domain name by phone or e-mail should be on their guard. Their customer service has been receiving an increasing number of enquiries from worried customers who have received phone calls or emails with offers to register one or more domain names for them – generally at an inflated price.
One example they give is where a customer had already registered the company.ch domain name. Someone then contacts that customer, misrepresenting the facts and offering to register similar names, such as company-ltd.ch, for them, saying that they must register the name(s) straightaway. The customer is put under pressure and has to take a swift decision.
SWITCH regards aggressive methods such as these as unfair advertising. Anyone who feels that they have been a victim of unfair advertising can lodge a complaint with the Swiss advertising standards committee (Lauterkeitskommission) at www.lauterkeit.ch.
To register your .ch or .li domain names, check out Europe Registry here.