A US company has thanked the Royal Gazette for exposing a questionable UK-based Internet domain name selling scheme that was exposed when it was tried in Bermuda last month.

Sharp-eyed Bermuda Provident alerted this newspaper to an attempt by London-based Profile Business Services to sell it six variations of its domain name for $1,200 in order to prevent a mystery buyer snapping up the names and possibly causing confusion and damage to its business.

A Royal Gazette investigation quickly cast doubt on the claims of Profile Business Services and found that the six domain names it was trying to sell for $1,200 could be bought elsewhere for $45.86.

The London outfits' claim that a mystery person was about to buy the domain names unless Bermuda Provident paid up immediately appears to be a scam as, over a month later, all the domains it tried to sell are still freely available.

A cheeky reply was sent back to Profile Business Services after Bermuda Provident's IT consultant did some checking on the legitimacy of the company's cold-call claim.

Now US-based Reichhold, in North Carolina, has reported having the same telephone pitch from the UK company.

"I was informed that individuals outside of the US/UK were attempting to register web domains similar to ours.

Just as The Royal Gazette reported, I was told that these people were trying to register multiple domains with 10-year contracts, but that I could 'override' the purchases of these interlopers by purchasing them for $2,362," said Phil Bridges, corporate and marketing communications manager for Reichhold.

"The caller, 'Penny', tried using time as a pressuring technique and warned that I was risking losing the domains if I didn't act quickly."

But, Mr. Bridges found>The Royal Gazette's previous story on the Internet. He said: "Thanks to your story, we did not bite."