Since 2002 we are hearing from customers who have received
a letter from ‘Domain Registry of America’ (DROA),
urging them to pay for renewing their domain name.
The letter, often with a London address on the back, looks
like a bill or invoice and scares the reader with either
“Your registration will expire on September 16th,
2002 (or whatever the date is). Act today!” or "Your
domain will expire shortly". They also try tricks such
as 'IMPORTANT NOTICE' act quickly to avoid 'Register Lock'
or 'Loss of your online identity.' The company also warns
people that if they 'lose their domain name' it may be impossible
for them to get it back.
As you can imagine this leads people to switch their domain
name registrar!
 |
There is no need
for you to renew.
Web Merchant Services will either contact you direct,
or you will receive a notification letter from our
hosting company, DataGate. However we can see why
this trick works with people who don't know how DNS
works, or in accounting departments of companies.
The reason they know when the domain is due to expire
is because they simply do a WHOIS search on your domain.
This search, which anyone can do, provides your domain,
registered address and the all important expiry date!
Please destroy, shred, set fire to or bin
this letter. |
Amongst other names they have used included: "Domain
Registry Services", "Registration Services Incorporated"
and "Domain Registry of Europe" and "Domain
Registry of America", "Yellowbusiness.ca",
"Internet Registry of Canada", "Domain Registry
of Canada", "Domain Registry of Australia".
Domain
Support Group Scam!
Another Scam has come to our attention involving domain
names which is being played on our customers. This time
the scam involves a call from a company claiming to be "Domain
Support Group." They say they are a "transfer
notification agent" and they have information about
your domain names. They then try to trick you into giving
them your credit or debit card details or registering more
domain names with them.
Apparently this scam originated from America but is now
over here.
Web Merchant Services will either contact you direct,
or you will receive a notification letter from our hosting
company, DataGate. If in ANY doubt please contact us and
we will inform you of it's genuinity.
