AS400Dave
join:2001-03-07
South Bend, IN
| OT -- Domain Name Scammers
Hi All!
I just was handed a "bill" from the treasurer of our church (who happens to be my wife  ) about our church's domain name, www.lakeshorebaptistchurch.org. The "bill" was from Domain Registry of America. I swear, it actually looked like a bill, with dire warnings about imminent loss of our domain name.
Boy, did this frost me! Domain Registry of America is just a registrar, and doesn't have half the services that I need to run the website, like dynamic DNS and backup mail spools. And, by just paying the "bill", I can transfer everything over to them. Needless to say, I was fuming and wanted some blood. So, I sent a complaint off to the FTC, with the following text: quote:
Domain Name Registry of America (DROA) sent a deceptively formatted advertisement to the administrative contact of our internet domain name, www.lakeshorebaptistchurch.org. The advertisement was a single page, formatted to appear as a bill, including a block showing our existing domains that looks like a statement of account, and a tear-off stub to be attached to the payment. The text headers at the top of this “bill” warn of imminent expiration of our domain name, and encouraged us to pay now to avoid a “Registrar Lock”.
Paying this “bill” would actually transfer our domain name registrar from our current one, EasyDNS, to DROA upon receipt of payment. This fact is not well defined, and in my opinion, unnecessarily hidden. The only reference to this “bill” not actually being a bill comes at the base of the text heading (after the dire warnings), where it states “This notice is not a bill, rather an easy means of payment should you decide to register or renew your domain(s) with us”.
This tactic just about worked in our case. The letter was sent to our church, Lakeshore Baptist Church, and placed in the treasurer’s folder, since it appeared like a bill. Fortunately, the treasurer happens to be my spouse, and she naturally questioned the bill with me. She readily admitted, though, that if she were in a hurry or if I were not available, she would have paid the bill. This would be a very unfortunate circumstance for us, because DROA does not provide all of the services we require for www.lakeshorebaptistchurch.org, and would have effectively pulled our web site from the Internet
I'd rather do something malicious to them, but I think complaining to the Feds will be all the further I'd go, in this day and age.
-- Edit --
For the search engines, the url for these people is »www.droamerica.com
[text was edited by author 2002-02-28 21:30:28] |
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11 | Oh good. Now we have "Domain Registrar Slammers". 
You might want to submit this as a front-page story... |
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Bender9
join:2001-04-27
Springfield, OH | reply to AS400Dave
I actually got one of those as well. It was for a domain that I no longer use but it was disgusting how they played it up to be an invoice.
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The Asylumantics™ - Online Comic Updated Daily Only At www.hauntedpixel.com |
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ECK5
join:2001-11-12
Evanston, IL | reply to AS400Dave
Geeez, I'll have to look out for this on my business domain. What a bunch of jacka**es!
E
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Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana. |
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Just my input
@130.14.x.x | reply to AS400Dave
This tactic is not new. See this article dated 1/7/2002. »www.darwinmag.com/connect/opinio···leID=227 |
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MikeC
Premium
join:2001-09-24
Des Plaines, IL | reply to AS400Dave
Got that one before. |
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DrTCP
Yours truly
Premium,ExMod 1999-04
join:1999-11-09
Round Rock, TX | reply to AS400Dave
Amazing! I am glad you read between the lines.
It is good idea to call your real registrar and let them complain about these scammers to the FTC as well. |
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Dennis
Premium,Mod
join:2001-01-26
Algonquin, IL |  reply to MikeC
*ugh* now that's just low down dirty pool. I get things like that all the time for my phone line too.
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Life might suck anyway but it's better to suck with integrity |
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skedatl$
To Provoke And Annoy
Premium
join:2002-01-29
Corona, CA
| reply to AS400Dave
Deceptive formatting is getting more and more common. I've even received checks to cash that if cashed would enroll me in some worthess something for $80 a year. Since I've refinanced my loan, I get "offical" looking documents from mortgage insurance carriers stating that I forgot to file my insurance...in the fine print it's life insurance that pays off the house, not the PMI that everyone is so familiar with. I even got one with a HUD logo, probably looking for FHA people but at the bottom in fine print was the statement that the company is not associated with HUD. |
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gabrielt99
join:2001-02-16
Boulder, CO
|  reply to AS400Dave
I have a related complaint about Verisign (formerly Network Solutions). They sent me a mailing saying our DNS registration was "about to expire." It turns out that the expiration date was in six months. They just wanted to get their renewal money earlier.
You really have to watch out! |
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hikenboots
Go Hikin'
join:2001-11-08
Fairhope, AL | reply to AS400Dave
I recieved one for a domain name I own as well... |
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sammee
join:2002-01-05
Ocean Gate, NJ | reply to AS400Dave
It's not just them, I must have received close to 10 completely different co's trying to renew my domain name. |
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kcazzie
One Of Jerry's Kids
Premium
join:2000-08-13
Morton Grove, IL
 ·AT&T Midwest
| reply to skedatl$
said by skedatl:
Since I've refinanced my loan, I get "offical" looking documents from mortgage insurance companies...
Same here, the first time, had my wife and I wondering ...What is this...:(...Every other day something new,,,A pain in the arse... |
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Greenfrog
I Know How To Take Care Of Bugs
join:2002-01-06
Meriden, CT
| reply to AS400Dave
Even thought they technically can't do anything about it you should really report this sort of behavior to ICANN / InterNic as well. »www.internic.net/cgi/registrars/···port.cgi
ICANN serves only in a technical coordination capacity, but their charter is to: "preserve the operational stability of the Internet; to promote competition; to achieve broad representation of global Internet communities; and develop policy through private-sector, bottom-up, consensus-based means."
I think controlling this sort of behavior on the part of registrars fits into the scope of their charter.
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Ribbitt |
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STEVECH
join:2001-02-25
Mimbres, NM | reply to AS400Dave
WOW, what timing !!! Just received one today, and it's clever , because they even have the expire day listed. Thanks guys!! |
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neovox
join:2002-03-04
Detroit, MI
|  reply to AS400Dave
As hostmaster for a Midwest ISP, I can tell you that these fake renewal notices are trouble. I've been seeing them for about the passed 6 months from Domain Reg. of America and from Reigster.com. The notices look EXACTLY like any bill you would get from NSI or any other registrar. If you pay the renewal, BAM! your domain transfers registrars. I had one client rack up a several hundred-dollar international phone bill trying to get his domain back from a company in Australia. The company had no toll free numbers and did not respond to repeated emails. This practice should be stopped ASAP. |
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Greenfrog
I Know How To Take Care Of Bugs
join:2002-01-06
Meriden, CT
| said by neovox:
" . . . and BAM - your domain transfers registrars. I had one client rack up a several hundred-dollar international phone bill trying to get his domain back from a company in Australia. The company had no toll free numbers and did not respond to repeated emails. This practice should be stopped ASAP."
Which is exactly why ICANN / InterNIC needs to be "encouraged" to adopt policy language forbidding such behavior on the part of accredited registrars. Currently their attitude is, "contact your local regulatory authorities" - but this makes no sense when dealing across international / jurisdictional boundaries.
Only the accrediting authority has any reasonable ability to control this problem. Time for them to take their heads out of . . . er . . . um . . . the sand.
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Ribbitt |
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