Today I got my third letter in the mail from a company called Domain Registry of America. I figured that means it is about time to release a scam alert for my clients.
If you get a letter from Domain Registry of America, please, THROW IT AWAY.
Here is how this scam works:
- You register a domain name for your business, widgetsxyz.com
- That information becomes public, and the Domain Registry of America takes note.
- About 10 months later, when your domain is almost up for renewal, you get a letter from the Domain Registry of America stating you need to renew your domain with them or you could lose it.
- You renew, at a much higher rate, and suddenly your domain is transferred from your existing registrar, causing all sorts of problems.
Do not let this happen to you. If you see a letter in the mail that looks like the one below, do not pass go, do not collect $200, throw it directly in the garbage.
And when you open up the envelope, it gets even more confusing. They disguise their letter as an invoice so it looks as if you must pay or you will lose your domain name. Complete scam.
Most domain registrars, such as GoDaddy, generally charge about $10 to register a domain name. In the image above you can see that they are charging you $35 for the domain name. You’ve been warned.
That’s good info. I got one of those letters today and my (real) webhost told me the same thing. I called Domain Registry of America and told them I didn’t approve of this business practice.
My domain name was/is at NamesDirect which has become Dotster and somehow it went past due to renew it – I got no notice to renew. Now Dotster shows no listing of it, but Domain Registry of America shows its available for renewal at $60 Tried to transfer it to another domain site but there is no response for doing this.
Call Dotster 800-401-5250. They are a reputable company and will help you. Plus, if you domain is with them they will not want to see you transfer it away so they will help keep it from ending up with the Domain Registry of America.