Is it possible to buy a domain name from a faker?

There's a .com domain name that I'd really like to use but it is currently owned by a company called HiChina Zhicheng Technology Ltd which has been associated with a number of frauds on this website. I did a reverse Whois search and discovered that they currently own about 1,750,000 domain names.

Is there any action that can be taken against a company like this that is hoarding domain names and using them for fraudulent purposes?

There is currently nothing active at the domain that I would like to get my hands on, so I'm wondering if I might be able to buy it from them. But I'm worried that if I approach them about it I might a) alert them to my interest and b) get into a VERY tricky negotiation with a company that is known to do dodgy business. Is there a safe way that I could try to buy it from them or should I just wait and hope that they neglect to reregister it? It must be costing them a fortune to keep nearly two million domain names registered so perhaps that drop a million or so in the next year or two, who knows?

Any advice will be most appreciated.

They are a big internet service provider in China. They have almost 2 million sites on their nameservers.

US giant GoDaddy have something like 37 million sites on their nameservers.

And guess what - they both have loads of fraudulent domains, parked domains etc but you should not conclude anything from that.

I don't think you should worry about their integrity. Without knowing the domain name you are interested in I can't be specific, but if you know it isn't active then I would expect them - or the owner - to want to sell it.

Look it up on http://shop.whois.com/domain-registration/index.php - you might find that a close equivalent might be suitable/available or you could approach them via a broker.

Thanks Hannahsdad,

I was confusing the registrar with the registrant. Thanks for setting me straight. I have emailed the contact person for the registrant company. If they express an interest in possibly selling the domain name can you recommend a good broker to enable the transaction? I see the GoDaddy offers this service. Are they a good option or is there a better one?

Thanks again,
Andy

Sorry, I know nothing about the business side!