Nominet, the registry responsible for .co.uk domain names, has warned companies not to be duped into sending money for apparent invoices for .com registrations.

Nominet has placed an alert on its Web site warning operators of.co.uk domains that they might be approached by a firm called UK Internet Registry. It said this company sends documents resembling invoices to businesses, urging them to register the .com versions of their existing .co.uk names.

Nominet said in a statement, "We would like to clarify that there is absolutely no association between Nominet UK - the official registry for .uk domain names - and [UK Internet Registry]. We would like to point out that Nominet UK does not proactively sell .uk domain names and we have no involvement with the registration of .com domain names."

Internet registrar Internetters also recently posted a warning on its site, pointing out that UK Internet Registry's own domain names - ukinternetregistry.com and ukinternetregistry.co.uk - were both only registered in February this year.

Internetters added, "It would appear that this is not a UK company, but may be based in the Seychelles." The warning concludes that users should "ignore [this firm's] communications".

Nominet recommended that companies should not respond to unexpected invoices but should contact itself or the Office of Fair Trading. If contacting Nominet, companies should fax 01865 332292 and include their details.

Further information is available on Nominet's Web site.

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