Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Domain Names : About companies tricking customers to transfer domains

[Pingdom]

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?

[Rich]

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.

[Pingdom]

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.

[ganurianz]

scammer? omg!

[Masud]

Originally Posted by ganurianz

scammer? omg!

Welcome to this Domain world and welcome to WHT

[dmaven]

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

[Dave Zan]

Originally Posted by Ipwalk

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.

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.

[solidar]

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

[Pingdom]

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?

[len fischer]

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

[dmaven]

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

[dnki]

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

[Coolraul]

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.

[sightz]

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.

[len fischer]

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