domain renewal scam
from AntBlog701

domain renewal scam

I recently received following domain renewal scam email as shown on the right. (Click on the image to see the full size screenshot.)

Recently, Techsurvivors has a discussion on domain name renewal scam - “How to get domain name back?”. It was about Domain Registry of America (droa.com), and it seems like it's not that easy to get the domain back from droa.com.

As for my case, the scam email seems to be quite polite, like a gentle reminder. It tells me that one of my domains will expire within 90 days, and I can renew with them. I can tell it is a scam when I first received the email, because I registered my domains with Go Daddy. Also this particular domain is the one I've been thinking about getting rid off.

So, I continued my investigation.
I buy an .org domain from Go Daddy for US$ 8.99 per year (+ 20 cents ICANN fee). And Domain Renewal (www.domainrenewalonline.com) charges a staggering price - US$ 79.95 (per year).

What do you get with your US$ 79.95? According to the fine print section of the scam email, you get nothing.

When Domain Renewal extends your domain no information will be
changed in the “Whois” information section.

Of course, you can argue that I interpreted it wrong. That particular sentence is open for interpretation, and I merely made a “safe” interpretation. You can view the fine print in the screen shot of the email.

Some of you may know that I do own a few domains, and I've been cyber-squatted in the past. I know that I have to be careful with domains.

If you are interested to know the story about my domain being cyber-squatted, please check following links.
SillyDog701 got cybersquatted (SillyDog701 front door news)
UFAQ.org cybersquats SillyDog701 (SillyDog701 Message Centre)
UFAQ.org bans SillyDog701 (starting from page 3 of the thread.)

Related AntBlog701 entries:
UFAQ.org cybersquats SillyDog701 (part 2)
UFAQ.org cybersquats SillyDog701 (part 1)
a jealous individual