CIRA Warns .ca Owners of Phishing Scam

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Josh MacFadden

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority ("CIRA") has distributed an announcement that it has received reports of domain name holders of a phishing scam which is utilizing images from the CIRA website.  Generally, such scams involve an email sender masquerading as a trustworthy entity seeking to acquire sensitive information from the email recipient such as usernames, passwords and credit card information. 

In this case, the scammer masquerades as CIRA by using CIRA logos, etc. to collect personal information and credit card numbers from those whom have registered .ca domains. 

CIRA advises that it does not ask domain owners for credit card information (which is instead gathered by .ca certified domain Registrars) and if such information has been provided it is recommended that the credit card company be advised immediately.

Anyone with questions or concerns may contact CIRA by telephone at 1-877-860-1411 or by email at info@cira.ca.

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Warning Issued Re. Non-Solicited Invoices

Posted on January 27, 2009 by Josh MacFadden

Recently, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office ("CIPO") issued a warning on the Trademarks mainpage to advise regarding the receipt of non-solicited invoices. 

Typically, such "invoices" are correspondence disseminated to trademark applicants and/or registrants once their contact information has been published (i.e. on the CIPO online database or in the Trade-marks Journal) to request participation in or contribution to an upcoming online or print publication of trademarks.  Nevertheless, such correspondence is often confusingly similar to billing invoices and loaded with small print.  Consequently, many unwitting recipients may inadvertently submit payment for the service without necessarily appreciating the nature of the request or its potential utility for their business. 

The most prudent course of action to take when an unsolicited piece of correspondence is received (particularly when it appears as an 'invoice'), is to contact your agent and provide a copy of the material for review.  Alternatively, CIPO has advised that recipients may also contact the Client Service Centre at 1-866-997-1936 (or at 819-934-0554 for international calls) prior to responding to such correspondence.

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