One Company - Several Websites?

Article: Does a company use several websites (on different domain names) ?

Short Answer: It usually doesn't.

Question: Which is the real Chevron website: www.chevronoils.org, www.chevron-uk.com, www.chevron-europe.com, www.chevron-ng.org or www.chevron.com?

Long Answer: You probably already know that most companies use just one website; there are cases where a company has the same domain name, such as www.BWcompany.com, and uses it with country code top-level domains (ccTLD), such as www.BWcompany.us, www.BWcompany.co.uk, www.BWcompany.de, www.BWcompany.fr and so forth; and, of course, there are also cases where the company's products, services or media/marketing campaigns have different websites. Continued below...

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As mentioned above, companies usually use one website on one single domain name (and, in most cases, the .com is used), though, as we have indicated, country code top-level domains (ccTLD), such as .us, .co.uk, .de, .fr and others can be indicated.

Throughout 2007 , Oil Offshore Marine has noticed a very interesting phenomenon. Illegal, but interesting. Why illegal? Well, because many companies' names are being used for fraudulent activities, by international scammers, in order to gain credibility for their [illegal] activities. People communicating with these scammers can be easily fooled and, therefore, several fraudulent acts occur.

How does this illegal activity run? Here is how:
1. the scammers choose a company (preferably big and with a worldwide-recognizable brand) - say Exxon, Shell, Chevron, Total, etc - see below
2. next, the scammers, using fake names or stolen credit cards, register domain names that are extremely similar with the real domain names used by Exxon, Shell, Chevron or Total: for instance, www.shelluk.org (fake) <-> www.shell.com (real); www.chevronuk.org (fake) <-> www.chevron.com (real) - see below
3. the fake websites can be either filled in with copies of the original (real) websites - for instance, see Fake Exxon, Fake Shell, or Fake Statoil, - or the websites are simply left blank/"under construction".
4. by having this hoax set up, the scammers have stolen the corporate identity of Shell, Chevron, Total, etc, and they (the scammers) will try to illegally take advantage of it.
5. the scammers then advertise/promote the fake websites on a worldwide basis by claiming to be Shell, Chrevron or Total representatives and propose job opportunities, business partnerships, representative agreements, trade, sale of products and/or goods, and so forth.

Jump to: DANGERS of allowing fake websites to exist and operate

See below some fake websites that we have discovered:
> www.agipscotland-uk.com
> www.agip-uk.com
> www.career-chevron.com
> www.chevronuk.org
> www.chevronoils.org
> www.chevron-europe.com
> www.chevron-uk.com
> www.chevron-ng.org
> www.conocophillips-nig.net
> www.conocophillipsnigeria.com
> www.conoilplc.com
> www.deutschebank-de.com
> www.exxonmobiljobsonline.com
> www.hess-oil-company.com
> www.hunt-oil.com
> www.marathontech.net
> www.petronasoil.net
> www.rwegasmid.com
> www.saipem-eni.com
> www.shell-nig.com
> www.shell-nig.net
> www.shellnig.net
> www.shell-sgdp.com
> www.shelluk.net
> www.shelluk.org
> www.shell-ng.org
> www.shellgaslimited.com
> www.shellplc.com
> www.shellplc.co.uk
> www.statoil-ng.com
> www.stenadrilling.net
> www.tech-nip.com
> www.total-ng.com
> www.nigeria-total.com
> www.total-nig.com
> www.total-finaelf.net
> www.totale-lfuk.com
> www.totalel-fuk.com
> www.total-uk-plc.com
> www.totalexploration.org

DANGERS of allowing fake websites to exist and operate

If a company has had its website cloned (with one or more fake websites) by hackers/scammers there are the following dangers:

1) corporate and brand-related problems due to the fact that its name, logo, corporate details, brand and official website are illegally used in fraudulent activities.

2) loss of credibility not only throughout the web, but also outside the web.

3) the company's business partners or other third companies may get emails from fake "employees" or "senior managment staff" [from emails such as john.someone@chevron-europe.com - note that Chevron's official website is www.chevron.com], emails containing completely false information regarding current or future projects, design or management data, sales, partnerships, updates, news or ... spam.

4) the scammers can "issue" and send to media companies / newspapers / internet news portals false press releases which can hurt the company not only by the news itself, but also by decreasing share price values.

5) the scammers might send false information regarding stock, share price, and so on.

6) jobseekers may be fooled into believing they are undergoing a recruitment process with THE company itself, and getting a job with it; subsequently they'll be put to pay "work permit fees" or "immigration fees" [see the Job Scams information]. With their money lost and their identity lost, they may bring legal action against the company.

We realize it sounds scary. The fact is that IT IS SCARY indeed. By allowing scammers to have access to your name, logo, corporate details, brand and official website, it means you allow these scammers to use, without any restriction whatsoever, your name, brand and reputation, for illegal activities. Your lack of ACTION (call it either defense or counterattack) is extremely dangerous!

To read more information about Job Scams, please click here.

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