New email scam - targeting domain name holders

I received this email this morning, and my first reaction was to panic.  After a few seconds of being kind of stunned, I went out to Google and searched for the name of the registrar, and found several links indicating that this is a scam: A Google Group about this topicBlog about Internet Brand Hijacking  Here is the email:

Dear CEO,

We are the domain name registration organization in Asia, which mainly deal with international company’s in Asia. We have something important need to confirm with your company.

On the Jan.14, 2008, we received an application formally. One company named:Xianhou  Limited Company” wanted to register following Domain names:

merleedesigns.biz     merleedesigns.cc     merleedesigns.cn     merleedesigns.com.cn     merleedesigns.com.hk     merleedesigns.com.tw     merleedesigns.hk     merleedesigns.net     merleedesigns.net.cn     merleedesigns.org     merleedesigns.org.cn     merleedesigns.tw  

Internet brand keyword:

 merleedesigns

through our body.

After our initial examination, we found that the keywords and domain names applied for registration are as same as your company’s name and trademark. These days we are dealing with it. If you do not know this company, we doubt that they have other aims to buy these domain names. Now we have not finished the registration of  Xianhou company yet, in order to deal with this issue better, Please contact us by telephone or email as soon as possible.

Best Regards,

caril