By Andy McCue, 7 July 2003 14:01
NEWS Businesses are being warned about a spate of rogue firms spamming domain name holders with fake renewal notices asking for money. The spammers are targeting owners of .biz and .info names with emails warning that their domain name is about to expire and asking for a fee to renew it. Cambridgeshire Trading Standards and Cambridgeshire Police are now investigating a company calling itself Dot Biz Domain Renewal that was spamming thousands of .biz registrants asking for renewal fees. Ken Sorrie, director of domain name reseller Internetters, is calling for a crackdown on the spammers and said they are taking advantage of the first .biz and .info renewal dates in October and November to try and cash in on people's uncertainty about the process. He said: "This kind of foul play is bringing the industry into disrepute. Because some companies are unable to get business through respected methods, they resort to spamming. There is now enormous pressure for ICANN to introduce a code of practice and enforce registrar contracts. Internetters is also warning that some domain name registrars are withholding or making it difficult for people to get hold of authorisation codes needed to move the registration of their web address to another company. He said: "What also concerns us is that some registrants are not aware that if they want to move away from their registration company they need to obtain their authorisation code from that company to pass onto to the new registration company. Many unscrupulous resellers are either not giving the authorisation codes to their customers, or are imposing release fees to move away."
Comments
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1. anonymous
Eu Registry Services (the cambridge registered company) also send out letters requesting renewal of your domain name - including .coms. They claim to be the company you registered with originally when infact they are not. They are an expensive scam. Our letter arrived one month before our name needed renewal and could easily have tricked us. I recommend letting as meny people know as possible and to avoid them completly.
2. Roger Cornwell
Our refinement was that I had already renewed the domain - in January - through to March 2006 but still the letter came this morning.
3. JJ Ruzicka
Hi Andy,
I have read your article dated July 07 2003, warning about the spammers operating under the name of EU Registry Sevices (Unit 255, 48 Regent Street, Cambridge CB2 1FD). It looks that the The Cambridgeshire Trading Standards and the Cambridgeshire Police are not doing a very good job. I have received a "Domain Expiration Notice" today, demanding payment of £60. I reckon that due to the apparent Police incompetence the Cambridge spammers are still extorting money without running into any difficulties, which one would hope for and expect......
4. anonymous
Now calling themselves 'Domain Registry Services', but the scam is the same...
5. anonymous
I received exactly the same and foolishly took it to be genuine. However, I have been able to stop the cheque today. I have also reported this to trading standards.
6. Robert
I got a renewal notice from Domain Registry Services.
It was just before I left for holiday (10/8) and the domain expired whilst I was away (21/8), so I rushed a cheque off to them.
Of course now my website has gone, I can't contact DRS etc. On Sept 2nd I received an email which had a link to a site for permission to move the site onto DRS. I gave the permission, and then realised that DRS was not the company I'd originally registered it with. The original company seems to be equally inaccessible.
7. Mike Doyle
We have had one of these today, even though we are an ISP! The wording says "If payment is not made to the registry before the expiry date the domain is subject to immediate suspension and deletion without further notice fom us". Surely this is more than a fishing excercise and should be treated as trying to obtain money by deceit?
8. anonymous
yes, i just got one too.
Current contact details as of the top of the letter are:
domain registry services
office 6, 154 church end
cambridge, CB1 3LD
Telephone: 0870 950 0369
I knew it was a scam as soon as i got it, these ******* need to be locked away. :)
9. anonymous
They are still at it (21-Sep-04).
I received an "invoice" this morning for 60GBP from Domain Registry Services, 154 Church End, Cambridge CB1 3LD to renew my domain name.
Don't pay!