Ask Jack: How does a domain name scam work?

After registering his .com website, Michael has received emails informing him that his name will be registered in various Chinese domains

I registered my surname as a .com domain for my website. I received an email from a company claiming to be the registry for China, telling me that someone wanted to register the same name. Then I then received an email from a Gareth Cui stating that he intended to go ahead and register my name in the .cn, .com.cn, .net.cn, and .org.cn domains.

I do not understand why someone wants to register my name in China. I assume that there is a scam behind this, but what is it? Michael