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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    Chicago,IL
    Posts
    136

    Domain Registry of America Scam, what to do?

    Hi,
    For some time our clients have been hit with Domain Registry of America Scam. If you are not familiar with it, clients recieve a deceptive email or snail mail from Domain Registry of America when the clients domian is about to renew. They send the letter which looks like an invoice and very deceptive. Even though we have warned about this by sending email to our clients taht DROA is scam, some fall for it. They think the invoice is from us and pay up. Now it is almost 10 clients did tranfer the domain accidently.

    Is there any recourse against such business practices? I dont want to ask the clients to charge back as the domain is already tranferred to DROA.

    Any sugestion would be apreciated.
    SupportPRO.com Quality outsourced hosting support and server administration @ affordable rates. Leaders in 24/7 tech support for web hosting industry since 2005.

  2. #2
    Report them to the FTC. They've already been sued by Register.com for deceptive tactics.

    http://www.whois.sc/news/2002-12/registry-america.html

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
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    /roof/ledge
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    Unfortunately, they are no longer being exactly deceptive. Misleading, yes, but nothing they are doing is illegal, since they spell out clearly it's a transfer.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    1,435
    I've received a letter for every single domain I've registered. It is quite a misleading letter, and can be confusing. I politely gave their offices a ring and told them that, in so many words, if I receive another letter from them they will be facing legal prosecution. Haven't received a letter since, and that was months ago and I've had domains registered and expire in the mean time.

    Regards,
    Mark

  5. #5
    Well I must say that the best word of advice is to PRE notify your clients of the issue rather than wait for them to accidentally transfer their domains, and then worry about what to do,

    All of our clients are aware of this issue, and have been notified numerous times throughout the year, with every security update.

    The best advice is, when you hear about a scam, regardless of how remote the chance of one of your customer getting nailed with it, make sure they know. Believe me they'll thank you, should anyone try to pull the particular scam on them.
    Mark - Owner/Lead Designer
    avidInteractive
    Lead vocalist for Circle7: Circle7 on MTV

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Sydney, Australia
    Posts
    1,745
    We've just received our latest batch of them. Even though they are misleading, it does mention that you will be transferring your domain from your "current Registrar" to the "Domain Registry of America".

    Misleading? Yes. Deceptive? Possibly. Illegal? No.

    What could be illegal though is the latest one I have received has offered me other "available" domain names to register - despite the fact that I already own them.

    We've notified our clients about this and advised them to ignore. We placed a scanned copy of one of the letters online so that our clients could know what they look like.

    For those who haven't seen them:
    http://www.largenets.com.au/en/Misc/...582493,00.html

    -Shaun
    Shaun Ewing
    shaun.net

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    114
    We have their counterpart here in Australia called funnily enough Domain Registry of Australia. Their invoice looking letter in the smaller print section states "this is a solicitation for new business".

    I believe that they have had some clever lawyers, help them say just the right thing to avoid prosecution. I know at least one organisation that has been duped out of $200 for a domain worth only about $20. And several of our customers have rung to ask if it is legitimate.

    I would say world-wide they are catching a lot of people and making a lot of money. I sure wish there was a way to stop these scum.
    Kerry Slavin
    Reliable Solution Internet Services
    http://www.reliablesolution.com
    kerry@reliablesolution.com

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    The Shadows
    Posts
    2,925
    I got one from the "Domain Registry of Canada"
    Dan Sheppard ~ Freelance whatever

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Charlotte, NC
    Posts
    2,761
    Enom is their registration partner, maybe you can file complaints with them. Isn't mining the whois database for commercial purposes illegal? If so, that may be a point to use against them.

    -Josh

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
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    Originally posted by MainAreaJosh
    Enom is their registration partner, maybe you can file complaints with them. Isn't mining the whois database for commercial purposes illegal?
    I called Enom about this very thing some time ago. Apparently what they're doing is not against Enom's rules, and it's not illegal in the eyes of the law. The fellow I spoke with at Enom said "by all means complain formally, but don't expect any action". He went on to explain that if enough people complained (he didn't define 'enough'), maybe something would happen.
    I doubt it.
    They are making tons of money with this campaign, and Enom is profiting from it as well. What would be their motivation for pursuing to shut it down?

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    The Shadows
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    2,925
    Actually, I beleive in the registrar agreement, it does spell out that it is against the terms for a registrar to use the whois database like that...

    I dunno though, and I don't feel like reading the agreement again(once was enough for me... I did it just out of my own curiousity then, and boy was I stupid... )
    Dan Sheppard ~ Freelance whatever

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Posts
    175
    < post removed because I didn't take the time to read the other suggestions. It's late, give me a break...>

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
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    Originally posted by Sheps
    Actually, I beleive in the registrar agreement, it does spell out that it is against the terms for a registrar to use the whois database like that...
    It would be possible to comply and still use the data by not directly connecting to their database. Scrape it from somewhere else, indirectly using the DB from Enom. Still get the info, and don't exactly break the contract...which IMHO should be re-written to include just such a thing.
    But again, both parties are making money from it, and are highly motivated to continue.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    Scotland, UK
    Posts
    2,688
    Yeah, I have a massive pile of these sitting on my desk. I seems to receive a few each month

    As to what we can do, I am not sure. I believe there was/is a similar scam to the ‘Domain Registry of America’ running here in the UK, I am unsure of the name though. I think Nominet (the governing body for .uk domains) took action in the end.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Posts
    56
    Maybe one of those TV shows that focuses on tracking down bad guys and protecting consumers could take this up?

    I can just imagine the CEO of DROA being harassed by reporters as he takes out his garbage, thrusting his hands at the camera yelling: "No comment! No comment!"

    I mean, maybe media attention is what it will take, because it seems really incredible that they have been allowed to get away with it for so long.

    But then I guess "domain name registration" is not exactly a topic close to the heart of the masses.

  16. #16
    The best way to teach these guys a lesson is to Domain-Lock all our domains and then ask our affected clients to chargeback. This way not only do our clients get their money back but also these Domain Registry of Whatevers get taught a lesson also.

  17. #17
    Heh this is one reason why i do a domain-lock on all domains i register. I would like to see this scum get wiped off the planet. I seem to get a few every month!

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Vancouver Island, BC
    Posts
    173
    We domain lock new registrations by default also, the client can manually disable the lock via the management tools.

    We recently had a client get caught by these fools too (DROC is the original, the rest are offshoots from it) and it was a battle to convince the client to refuse the transfer to them. They were local so we convinced them that we were the better service, plus we were almost half the price of the DROC renewal/transfer rate.

    I used to work for a guy who attempted a similar method of getting domain business, when the .ca TLD changed a few years back he mined the whois data and actually snail mailed a lot of offices. Needless to say the returns were much less than the time taken labour wise to get the mailings out. In that case though it really required the client to re-register entirely for the domain names rather than just a transfer.

    The people who come up with these ideas are basically marketers and ad guys these types will sell their moms to get it sometimes, business ethics are not their strong points.
    Dynanet Network Services - 206-607-9075
    We Do Hosting - Established May 2001
    http://www.dynanet.ca/

  19. #19
    I have been getting them too... The first one was definately deceptive saying I would lose domain and such if I don't pay them for it. The recent ones are more specific about it being a transfer I guess someone big confronted them about it. But they were definately out to fool alot of people who don't know better.
    viveHosting
    http://www.vivehosting.com
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  20. #20
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    429
    I get stuff from DROA here in the UK, often a number of times for the same domain.

    Still, it gives the dog something to chew.

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