Thought it might be worth a separate thread on this one.

A number of rogue domain name registration agents are still operating that nasty (but effective) scam of telephoning domain name owners to say that they've received a request from somebody to register domains very similar to theirs.

They say that they wanted to advise you before they register the names for this third party and imply that they're looking after your interests. This is complete BS and you should ask them for the details of the person / organisation seeking to register the names so that you can contact them directly - which almost certainly they won't have or will claim that they're confidential.

Thank them for their call but on no account register names with these companies.

If they offer you UK domain names - .co.uk, .org.uk or .ltd.uk - report them to Nominet (www.nominet.org.uk)

Let's try to put these companies out of business. They're preying on innocent companies and frequently charging a fortune for names which you definitely don't need.

One final and unrelated thing - aren't the DHTML layer popup ads on this website REALLY annoying!