THIS week City of York Council Trading Standards is issuing another alert to beleaguered local businesses, which are already contending with a raft of mail from firms offering data protection and health and safety registration services.

To add to this, local businesses are now being warned by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and City of York Trading Standards about the sales tactics of some internet domain name registration agents. A domain name is the name by which an organisation is known on the Internet. Domain names are used to identify particular websites and are also used in email addresses.

City of York Trading Standards has received a number of complaints from local businesses that have been cold-called by domain name registration agents attempting to pressurise them into buying domain names. Typically, these agents inform the business that a third party is interested in - if not on the brink of - registering close variants on their name. A very short timescale is then offered for the business to pay to register these domain names as their own with the agent before the third party is able to. However, on being challenged by the OFT, the registration agents have been unable to substantiate the existence of the alleged third parties.

So our advice to local traders and businesses is, if you have any doubts about the reliability of a domain name offer, either contact your own internet service provider (ISP) or York Trading Standards Service, which can advise on the appropriate course of action. Any businesses or traders who think that they have been misled should complain in the first instance to Trading Standards.

For more information on this or any other business/consumer scam, or to make an appointment to discuss any other consumer matter phone City of York Council's Trading Standards consumer advice team on 01904 551562, or call in at 9 St Leonard's Place, York. The email address is trading.standards@york.gov.uk. You can also visit the website at www.york.gov.uk/business/tradingstandards

Updated: 09:17 Thursday, May 27, 2004