Ignore emails from ...@tmbenelux.org and TM Benelux

Entrepreneur, customer and visitor. You'd do well to trust your first gut about certain things: somewhere in your gut, do you get the feeling that the mail isn't quite right? 👍 Great, because that's true!

The email in question, which we share with you in its entirety below, seems at first glance interesting for someone with a website. In theory, someone could of course just request to use your domain with a different extension. But you have no way of verifying that request has actually been made. Entrepreneurs and also individuals with a website, so be alert and don't be fooled by the name TM Benelux - they are all a scam. 😡

Further down, you can read the frequently asked questions about the mail from TM Benelux

The TM Benelux e-mail

Dear Sir/Madam,

We would like to inform you that we have received a registration request for www.domain.com. Since this request has been submitted by someone outside your organization, we will inform you.

Continuing the request may affect your business. Your customers may be confused because another company uses the exact same name but with a different extension, which is why we're giving you this one-off offer to register this name yourself. If you agree, we'll link www.domain.com on www.domain.nlThe costs for this name are 29.75 euro per year. The domain name is immediately registered for a period of 10 years, which means that you pay a one-off fee of 297.50 euros (excluding VAT). Your name will be protected and registered for this period. If you want, you can renew the extension for the same period afterwards.

Do you agree to our one-off offer? Please respond with “agree to this proposal” in response to this email.

Here are the billing information that we have about you:

blablah blah

blah blah,

If anything has changed, please change it and send it to us.

If you agree, the third party rejects and links this name to your current website. Do you not agree? So let us know by email. We will then notify the third party and continue the registration request for the third party.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

‍

Thomas Schipper 👹
Trademarked in the Benelux
www.tmbenelux.org

FAQs

What about it then? Will someone get my domain name now?

Anyone can request a domain if it is available. Take our domain name as an example: rootsteps.nl - this domain name is ours, but rootsteps.net is available as usual. We do not intend to do anything about this. If you want to buy it, go ahead: it costs you between €10 - €15 with Google Domains and you can develop your website on that. 🤖

What, then, is the goal of TM Benelux?

TM Benelux wants to scare you and thus rake in a lot of money in a short time. You will receive an offer to register your domain name with a different extension for up to 10 years. With that domain, you won't be found much better, nor is it useful, because was there actually someone who made the request?

How do I know who made the request, can I look them up?

Don't worry: the request is fake and no one is actually claiming your domain name. TM Benelux has scared you into transferring some money quickly.

Buying a domain for 1 year is not so profitable for them, but 10... the company makes a lot of money and in a year, the company will no longer exist. We suspect that - if you did buy a package for 10 years, they've actually only registered that domain for you for a year. Indeed, the predecessor of TM Benelux is Trademark Office; which no longer exists and has been shut down.

What should I do with the mail?

Ignore the mail. But report this scam via fraudemeldpunt.nl: https://www.fraudehelpdesk.nl/fraude-melden/ and then enjoy the day. 😉

I fell for it, what now?

😬 Damn, annoying. You've already transferred the money and are now stuck with a domain name that you can't do anything with. There is a chance that you will not get the money back, but it is definitely worth a try. Report that you have been scammed via the link above and inform the Fraud Hotline about the next steps. Also check the insurance immediately, they will be able to tell you if they can assist you.

A good website is on 1 domain

It's really good to see you're informing yourself. But just to give you a clear message: we see more and more that people are still buying a huge number of domains. Stop that, there is no need to be successful. A good website really only has one domain and it's no use owning so many domains.

Of course, this does not apply to subdomains such as app.rootsteps.nl or blog.rootsteps.nl (even if they exist) - those subdomains simply belong to the main domain and are secondary to it. So don't worry so much about all those domains: rather focus on content and layout. If you want help with that, you can always contact us contact, we just like that!