Hello!

There seem to be a lot of companies like the infamous Domain Registry of America (www.droa.com), sending out domain renewal papers looking very similar to an invoice/bill, trying to persuade (or fool) customers of other companies to register their domains with them instead.

Other companies with similar practices are for example Domain Support Group, and Domain Registry Services.

None of them seem to be ICANN-accredited registrars.
(http://www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html)

DRoA claims to be a reseller for eNom (in their FAQ pages). Who the others are resellers for is unclear.

What other companies such as these are around? Names?

It would be interesting to know which accredited registrars these companies are resellers for, and possibly if there are any accredited registrars using these tactics themselves.

How successful are these companies with these tactics? Anybody care to enlighten me?

I always throw that crap in the trash without giving it a second thought. I'd hope that anyone smart enough to register a domain name and build a website on it, knows that that junk mail is the same thing as Spam in your email inbox.

But since these scams show up so often, there must be those who make it work somehow. (And yes, throwing business ethics to the side while doing it, but that's not the point.)

And remember it's not always the IT guys taking care of the bills.

scammer? omg!

scammer? omg!

Welcome to this Domain world and welcome to WHT :D

A registrar by the name of namejuice is owned by droa.com FYI

It would be interesting to know which accredited registrars these companies are resellers for, and possibly if there are any accredited registrars using these tactics themselves.

After Verisign/netsol's fiasco a few years back, registrars have become more...uh...
"circumspect", probably. Heck, they know it's better not to do it at all if they don't
want the FTC watching their marketing practices for the next 6 years. :D

Problem is that with droa having acquired namejuice (as mentioned by dmaven),
it's like giving them a little more umph in sending out their "renewal notices". It's
made more unfortunate by the fact that many people just don't know how these
things go.

throw in trash, people shoyuld see scamfor scam. No trust it

Thank you for your answers so far.

What we'd like to find out is:

1) Which are the companies sending out these "renewal notices"?

2) Which accredited registrars are these companies resellers for? (Or if they are registrars themselves.)

3) Do you know of any domains ending up with these companies?

1 - Do a search. I think the most known one has been stated already
2 - Enom I think was the main one
3 - There has to be a good number to keep criminals such as these people around

These scams make the scammers wealthy. The owner of DROA (supposedly in prison) has a lamborghini (purple) with the license plate SCAMMER

When I started my website, I used a Netsol reseller, who tricked me into transferring control. After nearly 2 years I managed to get it back. seems to be the standard practice among some resellers

Domain Registry of Canada www.droc.ca is another one. I think you are missing the OP's point. It is that a unsavvy user will aboslutely think they have to do this and complete the transfer. It works unfortunatly on the many people who are not in the hosting business.

The best thing we can do as web hosts is to warn and educate our clients about these scams. The next time you receive one of these fake invoices, scan it and email all of your customers alerting them to the scam and what to watch out for. Maybe send them a printable PDF to share with their accounting department that says "NEVER pay this type of invoice". That's what I will be doing.

I think the public should be more aware. Shame on these companies

Scammers are scammers. As you close one down, the next one is up and running

Scammers are scammers. As you close one down, the next one is up and running

BUT if you educate your customers about what to look for, perhaps one or two won't fall for it!

Liberty Names of America is another one (same company, IIRC). In their pitch, they say that if you don't renew in time, your name could be placed into the dreaded "Registrar Lock" status...as if that's a bad thing. Chances are a newb sees that, checks their name, and has the lock removed...ironically allowing it to be transferred...

I've run across quite a few folks that got taken in by this...

Bear:

Libertynames and DROA are one and the same

I wonder how many aliases they have?

Considering their extremely dubious tactics, it's strange that namejuice.com (Brandon Gray Internet Services) has been able to stay as an accredited registrar.

Ipwalk

If there is money to be made the criminals will continue to operate.

Sad world we live in :(

They have a ton of FTC complaints and have also been fined. Do a search on DROA and libertynames

The best thing we can do as web hosts is to warn and educate our clients about these scams. The next time you receive one of these fake invoices, scan it and email all of your customers alerting them to the scam and what to watch out for. Maybe send them a printable PDF to share with their accounting department that says "NEVER pay this type of invoice". That's what I will be doing.

Great Idea, I like it! I just had these bozos tey and hijack one of my customers domains this week. My customer didnt even have a clue as to what he did, I go it stopped for him.

And by the way here is the company involved with the above mentioned
"BRANDON GRAY INTERNET SERVICES INC. dba Namejuice.com has received a request from Domain Registry of America on 5/26/2006 4:17:38 PM for us to become the new registrar of record."

It appears BRANDON GRAY INTERNET SERVICES INC. dba Namejuice.com is a front for Domain Registry of America.

They tend to send out a lot of those notices, unfortunately.

I usually get them via email on a very regular basis from, what might be real or might be a joe-job, an almost reputable registrar on a regular basis. IIRC, historically, it started with Verisign doing it?

KGIII