DomainRenewalOnline.com = scam

aww · 12-27-2007, 07:35 AM

Remember there was a company a few years back that got sued out of existence for sending out letters to domain registrants pretending to be their registrar and getting them to renew through them for top dollar? When the poor suckers fell for it, they got slammed, with their domain moved to a new registrar (and of course paid too much).

Well it seems another illicit company has stepped up to fill the gap.

domainrenewalonline.com has been emailing my customers within 90 days of their domain expiry date, pretending to be their registrar and asking them for money to renew it. Their pages look vaguely like the generic enom interfaces for end users.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/warnings-and-alerts/411288-domainrenewalonline-com-scam.html

Very slimy stuff. Hope ICANN shuts them down soon.
There needs to be more publicity about this.

MyNameIsDomain · 12-27-2007, 07:43 AM

Its cybercrime, and it should be prosecuted to the full extent. People can lose tons of money that way. I would be so pissed if that happened to me.

Mark · 12-27-2007, 08:07 AM

It still happens everyday from Snail Mail as well, I just threw away probably 15 of those Letters from Liberty Names or Liberty domains - Something like that.

I agree - Something needs to be done to these people , My cousin runs a small website/home business in crafts and fell for the Snail mailed version - She transferred her domain to them without realizing it wasn't the same Registrar she originated with.

aww · 12-27-2007, 08:16 AM

I wonder why ICANN doesn't end it immediately - they have the power. All they have to do is threaten to pull a registrar's license, or if the scam company is operating as a reseller, threaten the parent registrar. It's not a matter of allowing capitalism, the practice is weakening the entire domain name industry for legit operators.

Then again ICANN allows registrars like enom to place anonymous ads on expiring domains names so I guess ethical standards are pretty low at the registrar level too. Is it unrealistic to hope for them to intervene without a lawsuit?

I suspect DomainRenewalOnline.com is in Belgium for a reason, some kind of legal protection?

12-27-2007, 07:35 AM	THREAD STARTER #1 (permalink)
aww Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 1,187	DomainRenewalOnline.com = scam Remember there was a company a few years back that got sued out of existence for sending out letters to domain registrants pretending to be their registrar and getting them to renew through them for top dollar? When the poor suckers fell for it, they got slammed, with their domain moved to a new registrar (and of course paid too much). Well it seems another illicit company has stepped up to fill the gap. domainrenewalonline.com has been emailing my customers within 90 days of their domain expiry date, pretending to be their registrar and asking them for money to renew it. Their pages look vaguely like the generic enom interfaces for end users. ????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/warnings-and-alerts/411288-domainrenewalonline-com-scam.html Very slimy stuff. Hope ICANN shuts them down soon. There needs to be more publicity about this. Last edited by aww; 12-27-2007 at 07:38 AM.

12-27-2007, 08:07 AM	#3 (permalink)
Mark Hi :) Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: NC Posts: 9,567	It still happens everyday from Snail Mail as well, I just threw away probably 15 of those Letters from Liberty Names or Liberty domains - Something like that. I agree - Something needs to be done to these people , My cousin runs a small website/home business in crafts and fell for the Snail mailed version - She transferred her domain to them without realizing it wasn't the same Registrar she originated with. __________________ When the man at the door yelled "Alcohol , Tobacco , and Firearms" .... I just assumed it was a delivery !

12-27-2007, 07:43 AM	#2 (permalink)
MyNameIsDomain NamePros Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 169	Its cybercrime, and it should be prosecuted to the full extent. People can lose tons of money that way. I would be so pissed if that happened to me.

12-27-2007, 08:16 AM	THREAD STARTER #4 (permalink)
aww Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 1,187	I wonder why ICANN doesn't end it immediately - they have the power. All they have to do is threaten to pull a registrar's license, or if the scam company is operating as a reseller, threaten the parent registrar. It's not a matter of allowing capitalism, the practice is weakening the entire domain name industry for legit operators. Then again ICANN allows registrars like enom to place anonymous ads on expiring domains names so I guess ethical standards are pretty low at the registrar level too. Is it unrealistic to hope for them to intervene without a lawsuit? I suspect DomainRenewalOnline.com is in Belgium for a reason, some kind of legal protection?

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