This is a scam alert that it being sent to domain name owners. This is nothing new and I warned about this about a year ago. The old scams set out to steal your domain names under the banner of Liberty names of America “ or “Domain Registry of America“ and the way they do it is to send domain owners what appears to be an invoice for domain registration renewal.
Late last night these emails began flooding it, masked in a solicitation for “search engine registration” and they’re after one thing – your money. The only catch is you have to give away your hard earned money over to the scammers for something that is already provided for free.
If you read the fine print carefully you’ll see that…
- “This is not an invoice”
- It’s for “Search Engine Registation”
- It’s a “solicitation”
- “This notice is not in any part is associated with a continuation of services for domain registration.”
At least you won’t lose your domain if you fall for this scam, but you will lose up to $295.
Here’s what to watch for, by email, with the subject line –
Here’s what the letter contains…
The dead give-aways…
The email address I have been receiving these from is Domain Services <domserv227834@hotmail.com>. The email address (if it’s even valid) that they bury in their fine print is unsubscribe@dssubmissions.com, which does not exist. Other emails have used globedomainservices@gmail.com, hidden behind a different version, globedomagbd77782@gmail.com. (The first would actually look more professional, so it’s odd that they set it up the way that they do.) However, you should always be a bit cautious with a notice from a company that does not use their own domain name for their email address. Remember: scammers and phishers are almost always going to use an email account at Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, or some other free email service.
The company name is…. uhm, maybe they’re just shy? The fact that it’s not branded is a big clue, though just having a brand/logo doesn’t imply that it’s on the up and up. The fact that it does NOT have that however, is a good sign you should trash this message.
Conclusion
As with all situations like this, if you’re not really sure what something is, don’t send money. Know who your domain registrar and hosting provider are, and always call or email them if you have questions about something you receive.
Flash is a twenty year veteran of the internet; married to Jan for over thirty years, blessed with two fine boys Zac and Max.