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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW OSF launches Living Ideas program ... Our View: Expanding water plant capacity is a wise investment ... AJGA tourney at Centennial postponed to Wednesday because of smoke ... OSF launches Living Ideas program ... Our View: Expanding water plant capacity is a wise investment ... AJGA tourney at Centennial postponed to Wednesday because of smoke ... CRIME Chinese site uses Medford domain name for car scam Comment By Thomas Moriarty Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Thomas Moriarty Mail Tribune Posted Jul. 24, 2015 at 11:21 AM Updated Jul 24, 2015 at 5:37 PM By Thomas Moriarty Mail Tribune Posted Jul. 24, 2015 at 11:21 AM Updated Jul 24, 2015 at 5:37 PM » Social News Whatever you do, don't visit any Internet links in this story. Medford police are warning the public that cornerstone-autosales.com, a website purporting to represent a car dealership on West McAndrews Road, is actually a foreign scam operation taking the name of a now-defunct business. Lt. Mike Budreau said police became aware of the scam after an out-of-area customer reported losing $40,000 in a transaction with the site.  "We don't have any victims here locally, but we're certainly trying to make people aware," he said. A WHOIS search lists the owner of the domain name as bizcn.com, a Chinese domain registrar that's been linked to fraudulent prescription drug sales and illegal pornography, drawing scrutiny from law enforcement agencies.  The Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers, a nonprofit that coordinates domain names and Internet Protocol addresses, has reported a dramatic increase in complaints against BizCN-registered websites over the past year. The Chinese domain registrar has been accused by numerous Internet watchdog groups of falsifying the registration information for many of its domain names, assigned to sites they say are engaged in illegal business practices. Internet security experts also have reported computers becoming infected with malware after visiting sites registered through the company. According to a breach-of-agreement notice sent by ICANN to BizCN in March 2014, complaints regarding BizCN's inaccurate website registrations represented 18 percent of all such complaints received by the organization that month. Budreau said the department sent the domain registrar a notice that one of its sites was being used for fraudulent purposes, but the response wasn't exactly helpful. "The correspondence has been all in Chinese," Budreau said. "It's probably a canned response." He said investigators have been working with the department's high-tech crimes detective to try to get the website shut down. "It's definitely a learning process for us," Budreau said. "This is the first time we've actually tried to shut down a website." Reach reporter Thomas Moriarty at 541-776-4471 or [email protected] . Follow him at @ThomasDMoriarty . By Thomas Moriarty Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Thomas Moriarty Mail Tribune Posted Jul. 24, 2015 at 11:21 AM Updated Jul 24, 2015 at 5:37 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... Business Name address Location, ST | website.com Find Southern Oregon Attractions Bars Restaurants Beauty Salons Entertainment Doctors Medical Specialists Contractors Education Lawn Services Lawyers Shopping Travel Tanning Used Cars Wedding Services ▼ Add your business here + Events Calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Propel Marketing Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Mobile Site Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Your privacy is important, read our privacy policy. © Copyright 2015 Local Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Local Media Group Publications Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted. MailTribune.com | P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501