Beware Fake Domain Renewals
Many companies are trying to ’slam’ web customers into changing Registrars
Recently, several of our customers have been receiving renewal notices by email and postal mail telling them their domains are going to expire, or to pay for their "Internet Listing". Samples include...
- iDNS, with the title "Domain Name Expiration Notice"
- Domain Registry, also with the title "Domain Name Expiration Notice"
- Domain Listings, with the title "Website Listing Service"
- An unnamed company, with the title "Act Immediately -- Final Extension -- Last Overdue Notice for Domain"
We wrote a follow-up news article to this, which you can also read.
Domain Renewal Scams
For these customers, this is complete rubbish. Montague WebWorks manages the domain name of 98% of our customers, which makes ownership of a website and attached domain much easier. Our customers get one bill, which includes both hosting and domain name renewal.
The companies listed above are trying to "slam" you onto their services, much like the scamming long-distance companies tried to do back in the 1980s and 90s. Back in those days they would literally forge unsuspecting customers' signatures on a switch contract, and low and behold one month later the customer would get a bill in the mail for $1000 for long distance service.
Well, that's hard to do with domains, so they resort to emailing or mailing legit-looking bills that could be easily mistaken for real by some customers, resulting in the transfer of their domain name to a company who may charge $85 per year, instead of $15/year for registrars like GoDaddy and 1&1.
BE FOREWARNED!
If you get one of these via email, scroll to the bottom and click the "unlike here" link. Enter in your email address, and you should be removed.
Domain "Listing" Scams
Similarly, there are several "Internet Listing" companies out there that, for $200 or more, will "list" your website on theirs... as if that is some sort of magic bullet.
For instance, this company, shown on the right, wants to charge you $228 per year to be listed on their website, http://domain-listings.org, which forwards to the website http://domainlistings.directory.
Not only is this website NOT SECURE (no https://) but they don't even display your full contact info or any content, nor do they add an inbound-link to your website, all of which are essential to SEO value.
Here's their page for Greenfield and Sunderland.
Notice how everyone's business is showing up as in Bristol, Rapid City? Huh?!?
This company is taking your money and giving zero value.
If you want to be listed on "listing" websites like this, you can check to see if you're already on one or both of these sites:
There are clearly more business listing sites out there, like Yelp, etc., but many of them charge a fee, or will call you incessantly to get you to upgrade.
Certainly make sure you're in Google's MyBusiness database, and make sure you set up a Facebook page with a link pointing back to your website.
If you have any questions about bills you receive from any company regarding your domain name or any "listings" from any company other than us or maybe Google, please call Mik before you do anything.
That's what you pay us for.
Stay smart!
Additional Domain Scammers
Here are a couple more domain scamming companies to be wary of...
