Beware a new take on the old registration transfer scam.
If you’ve owned domain names for any period of time then you’ve surely received letters in the mail notifying you that you need to renew your domains. But if you look closely you see that the company sending the correspondence is not related to your current registrar. If you sign the form they send you then you actually are transferring your domain to a different registrar at a high price.
The scam has apparently moved beyond the mail. I just received a phone call from an unidentified phone number. Here’s a paraphrased transcript:
Me: Hello.
Business: Hi, this is Michelle from Domain Registry Services. I am calling to verify your domain’s details. Are you still at 2703 San–
Me: –I’m sorry, who are you with?
Business: Domain Registry Services. We need to verify your account information for the domain Domain.com. Are you still at–
Me: –Where is this particular domain registered?
Business: I don’t have any information about your account. We’re Domain Registry Services and are just calling to verify your details for the account.
Me: Well, the only group that would need to confirm my Whois details would be the current registrar. Are you working for them, and if so, what is the registrar?
Business: We are not affiliated with a registrar. What is your fax number?
Me: No thanks.
Click.
I’m not sure if the business would have tried to get me to authorize transferring my domain or not. In retrospect I should have stayed on the call to catch the hook, but I surely wasn’t going to divulge any information that isn’t already in Whois.
If you get a call like this, please try to figure out who the calling party actually is and get a phone number if possible. Post a reply to this entry with more information.
Leave a Comment