Domain
Name Scam Alert
Caution, if you receive
a renewal notice by mail or fax, be careful!
It is very possibly not a valid invoice!
Several
registrars are targeting unsuspecting
domain owners with domain expiration
notices disguised as renewal invoices.
These bogus "invoices", sent by mail
or fax, are in fact solicitations to
transfer your domain name away from current
registrar,
a significantly higher cost with no
additional benefits and the risk
of losing your domain name.
If
you receive a renewal notice by mail
or fax, you should read it very carefully to
make sure it is indeed from the registrar
in charge of your domain. DO NOT automatically
assume the notice is valid and pay it!
Call
us at (904) 471-3404 or email us
to check if the renewal invoice is valid.
How
the slam scam works:
- You
receive a domain expiration notice
via postal mail or fax. This bogus
invoice lists your domain name(s)
with an amount to be paid and a
reply by date that is often
alarming.
-
You
or someone in your organization
responds to the notice and sends
a payment
by check or credit card.
- No
confirmation request email
is sent to you to authorize the transfer.
- A
transfer request is submitted
to the registry and the transfer
process
begins. When
you choose to transfer your domain
name from one registrar to another,
it is the responsibility of the
gaining registrar, the company
you are transferring
to, to get the authorization
of the domain owner before
processing the transfer. Normally,
this confirmation is done by
sending an email to the administrative
contact listed
in the current whois record for
the domain. Once
you've sent a payment, unless
your existing registrar
is taking steps to prevent domains
from transfer,
your domain could complete the
transfer without
further confirmation or knowledge from
you. Once
this happens, the only way to
get your domain back with your
current
registrar
is to transfer it back, and pay
for an additional year's renewal.
What
these "Renewals" could mean to
you:
If
you renew your domain(s) by responding
to one of these renewal notices, the
following can happen:
- You
will likely
pay too much for your renewal.
- You
could lose your customer service. Once
your domain is transferred to another
registrar, your current provider
will not be able to provide customer
support for your domain.
- You risk losing your
domain name entirely
What
you should do?
If
you are a Window Path
customer and would for like us to check
the status
of your domain, please
call or email
us. We'll be able
to check the status of
your domain and advise
you.
Filing
a complaint online:
File a complaint with the Internet Fraud
Complaint Center (FBI)
The Internet
Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) is a
partnership between the Federal Bureau
of Investigation (FBI) and the National
White Collar Crime Center (NW3C).
IFCC's mission is to address fraud committed
over the Internet. For victims of Internet
fraud, IFCC provides a convenient and easy-to-use
reporting mechanism that alerts authorities
of a suspected criminal or civil violation.
File
a complaint with the Internic
The InterNIC will accept complaints filed
online. Please see this link to file a complaint online with the Internic.
While they will not respond directly, they
do monitor complaints filed online for patterns.
Reporting
mail fraud
Please visit this
page at the United States Postal Service
for information regarding mail fraud. It's
against the law to send mail that looks like
an invoice and not have it marked clearly
as a solicitation.
Whether you're in the US or in Canada, if the "invoice" you
received was from Verisign, you should consider
reporting the incident to the USPS.
If you would like to file a complaint with the
USPS online, you can do so by following this link.
Filing
a complaint with the FTC
You can also file a complaint with the Federal
Trade commission at FTC online complaint form.
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