Look how old this is! I post at SearchCommander.com now, and this post was published 15 years 1 month 2 days ago. This industry changes FAST, so blindly following the advice here *may not* be a good idea! If you're at all unsure, feel free to hit me up on Twitter and ask.
There seems to be a new scam going around, that’s a new twist on an old game.
The old scams set out to steal your domain names under the banner of Liberty names of America” or “Domain Registry of America” and the way they do it is to send domain owners what appears to be an invoice for domain registration renewal.
Once paid, then the owners lose control of their domain names, often not finding out for months or years, until they need to change DNS, and that’s when they find out they don’t own it anymore..
This morning I got another e-mail that appeared to be the same thing, but upon closer examination, I can see that they don’t want to be bothered by anything as pesky as owning your domain name, and they have no intention of robbing you year after year.
Instead, this one is merely a solicitation for “search engine registration” and they’re after one thing – your money.
If you read the fine print carefully you’ll see that…
- “This is not an invoice”
- It’s for “Search Engine Registation”
- It’s a “solicitation”
- “This notice is not in any part is associated with a continuation of services for domain registration.”
At least you won’t lose your domain if you fall for this scam, but you will lose up to $295. Here’s what to watch for, by email, with the subject line – “Domain Notification: [sic YOUR NAME] This is your Final Notice of Domain Listing [sic Your Domain Name]
Here’s what the letter contains…
I suppose someone will argue that since they DO specify details, that it’s not a scam, but seriously – “search engine registration”? Really?
If someone from the company would like to reply here and tell people what they do get for their $300, I’ll certainly allow it to be posted…
Report them to the Federal Trade Commission here https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/.
I received this as well. There is no way to stop the emails.
I wonder if they can be penalized for this unsolicited email under the CAN SPAM act.
Scammers never seem to get shut down. It’s really unfortunate because too many people get sucked in and ripped off.
Fake Domain Renewal Scam by Domain Services Inc
Thank you Scott,
I just got the same notice and was so harried with deadlines I almost just paid it without looking. Good to know that it is a scam and can be ignored. They sent the notice yesterday and another today with a deadline of toady and threatening to cut off service by the close of day today. That seemed a bit fishy to me which is why I checked it out in the first place.
Glad this helped 😉