Be Alert: Domain Registry Of America

[Syneryder]

It's Verisign and Register.com all over again.... You might want to keep your eyes out for domain renewal notices being sent out by the Domain Registry of America. They also go by the name of Domain Registry of Canada, Domain Registry of Australia, Domain Registry of Europe and probably some others.

I received a notice from them today, despite my domains being with Verisign (ack) and being months before my renewal is due. The notice looks similar to an invoice and if I wasn't alert I may have completed the form - despite having no wish to transfer my domains to them.

You can find news stories and more info here:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydispl...toryID=2351323
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/26239.html
http://www.anu.edu.au/mail-archives/...0207/0264.html
http://www.mednet-tech.com/support/domain_renewal.htm

Some sites have alleged that the mailings breach US postal law because they do not include the appropriate disclaimer in large enough type. Apparently (allegedly?) they should be like the following:

http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm/c031.htm#Rar16021

[dank]

Thanks for the heads up. I haven't received one of those for quite a while, but they sure are confusing at first. I got something similar this weekend for a phone service. Looked almost exactly like my regular invoice, but with a $250 amount owing! My first thought was I had been slammed by some carrier, but I saw the note that it was an application request, not an invoice...



Dan

[Binky]

Today I received my fourth "renewal notice" in less than two months from the Domain Registry of Canada. I regularly get calls from friends who get these, asking if they should pay them. In at least one case the "invoice" was paid and now my friend is attemting to get a refund.

I filed a complaint with the Competition Bureau of Canada:

Domain Registry of Canada locates publicly accessible contact names and addresses of registered domain names and sends official looking renewal notices to those contacts. These are mailed in envelopes that are very similar to official Canadian Government envelopes. A knowledgeable person who reads these notices carefully can see that they are attempting to persuade you to transfer your domain registration to them. It’s easy for anyone less savvy about these matters to assume that their domain names registrations are about to expire and that they must pay the amount shown on the notice, which looks like an invoice, to Domain Registry of Canada.

I’ve helped people register domain names and have been called frequently about these notices and asked if they must be paid. In at least one case I know that the recipient actually paid and is currently attempting to get a refund.

In the last few months I have received four of these and am sending them by postal mail to your office at 50 Victoria Street, Gatineau, Quebec.

and am also forwarding all these renewal notices to their office at 50 Victoria Street, Gatineau, Quebec.

[Jeff]

I'm tired of their mail spam as well.

I've gotten a dozen letters from this Domain Registry Of America this year alone!!! I just toss them in the trash, but they also send them to my clients who call asking if they need to pay this which is a waste of time at best and at worse could result in a bogus transfer being initiated because of their misleading "invoice".

[Jeff]

The Federal Trade Commission has requested that a federal district court enjoin Domain Registry of America, Inc., an Internet domain name re-seller, from making misrepresentations in the marketing of its domain name registration services and require it to pay redress to consumers. According to the FTC, the company told consumers that their domain registrations were expiring, leading many consumers unwittingly to switch their domain name registrar. The company also allegedly did not disclose that it would charge a processing fee to consumers if their transfer request was not competed – for any reason – and failed to provide consumers refunds in a timely manner. Under the terms of the stipulated final order announced today, Domain Registry of America (DROA), based in Ontario, Canada, may be required to provide redress to up to 50,000 consumers, is prohibited from engaging in similar conduct in the future, and is subject to stringent monitoring by the Commission to ensure its compliance with the court order.

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2003/12/domainreg.htm

[Jeff]

But somehow this company is still at it. Recieved 15 Domain Registry of America letters in the mail today (at least they're subsidizing the post office I guess with all those wasted stamps) and a call from a client alarmed that their domain would be expiring soon and asking if they should send in $25 for one year or $85 for five years so I had to explain the DRA scam to them and that they were currently only paying $15 a year and were currently a DRA customer.