At 7:13pm last night I received an email from a client asking me if his trade mark application fees had been paid. He had received an email ‘from IP Australia’ telling him he needed to pay money to WIPO, and fast. He had 3 days to pay or his Australian application would not proceed!
There was enough in the email to hook the client, even though he is a highly educated professional. It talked about WIPO, designated countries, IP Australia, Nice classification….all the right words. It even listed the client’s trade mark, number, filing date and classes. And it went to his email address. So, it was convincing.
If he had checked the domain name to which the email address connects (contact-ipaustralia.com) it wouldn’t have helped him, as that domain name redirects to the actual IP Australia website. The scammers must have obtained IP Australia’s DNS records, to line that up. This is very clever as it reinforces the ‘legitimacy’ of the scam, even to the most conscientious email recipient, taking reasonable steps to verify the source of the email.
But here’s the thing: IP Australia has a .gov.au email address, not a .com email address. WIPO is in Geneva, Switzerland, not Poland. WIPO charges in Swiss francs, not USD. And an Australian applicant filing directly in Australia, is not filing an Australian designation of an international trade mark application.
So, to a trade mark professional, this is an obvious scam. To anyone else, there is a risk they might go ahead and pay.
Please be vigilant to all trade mark correspondence you receive. Trade mark owner details are publicly listed in full on the relevant trade marks databases, meaning owners are easy for scammers to find and target. Remember to send any suspicious correspondence to Tarr Law, for vetting, particularly if it requests payment of any money or provision of any personal details.
