SiteCrafting Blah Blah Blog
Nov. 15, 2006 at 9:12pm
Master of Your Domain
Take control from domain slammers and scammers
It begins with a letter or maybe even an "invoice". It ends with the transfer of your domain to another registrar and in some cases even the loss of your domain entirely. The term for this is Domain Slamming.
The practice preys upon unsuspecting people who want to pay their bills and keep their domain names current. After all, we have our domain name printed on every invoice, business cards, painted on our trucks, and we advertise with Google Adwords, we don't want our domain to expire. This is exactly what they count on.
We at SiteCrafting have noticed a growing number of domains that are either being hijacked by these scam artists or are trying to be hijacked. So what can you do?
- Investigate the source of the letter or invoice, a quick Google search on Domain Registry of America will highlight it as a scam.
- Check your domain status - Free tools like www.allwhois.com can give you your domain information and more importantly expiration information.
- If we host your domain or provide registration services for you, know that we automatically renew your domains for you each year to insure they are renewed.
- If you have paid one of these companies or agreed to a transfer your domain, you can file a complaint with your state's attorney general office and the FTC.
SiteCrafting is committed to providing our customers transparent service when it comes to domain hosting, web development, and regsitration services. If you ever have any questions on the process please don't hesitate to contact us.
As an added precaution, SiteCrafting has enabled Registrar-Lock on all domains to insure that they must be unlocked prior to transfer. This addition saved one of our valued clients from losing nine domains to Domain Registry of America this morning.
Related Links:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2003/12/domainreg.htm
http://www.domainavenue.com/scam_domain_registry_of_america.htm
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/01/06/court_bars_canadian_domain_slammer/
http://support.easydns.com/domain.slammers/droa.php
Posted in Security, Web Hosting by Brian Forth
Comments (2)
Important stuff to remember. Also on the subject of domains, if you are a business selling "widgets" and your product has lots of controversy around it, its a good idea to buy the negative domain names like "widgetsuck" and just park them someplace. Also also, the words you use in your domain name are super important. for example if your business name is Pen Island, you cant just slap those two words together and expect to get the traffic you want.
1 | Left by RR Anderson | Nov. 16, 2006 at 5:56pm
Mike says:
If you do get taken by this scam, make sure to do something about it. There might not be much you can do to get any of your money back, but you can let your state's Attorney General know about it. Consumer complaints are taken seriously, so be sure to let them know what you think of this scam. Washington residents can contact our Attorney General and file an online complaint at the link below.
http://www.atg.wa.gov/consumer/complain.shtml
2 | Dec. 15, 2006 at 8:37am