Daily Domainer

Telemarketers have been cold calling homes for years, trying to promote the greatest product, service or cause in the world that needs your money. Some are legitimate, some aren't.

Credit card scammers and identity thieves are using the same technique but instead of targeting general audiences, domain owners like you and me have become the focus of their attention.

If you opted to skip the privacy upgrade when you bought your domain names, you had better stay up on what's happening with all of your domain names because these scammers have gotten downright crafty and pushy.

It used to be that scammers on the hunt for domain owners' money would send letters in the mail or to your inbox that looked like they're renewal invoices from your domain registrar. But in reality, they were either notices from a competitor trying to trick you into transferring your domain to them, or an outright scammer's fraudulent attempt to steal your money.

Many of those letters or emails were pretty convincing but at least if you took a second or two to read the document you could figure out that the notice was a solicitation rather than a bill. Well con artists have stepped up their game and are now into making high pressure phone calls. They'll call you on your whois-listed phone number, insist that you've disregarded previous notices they've sent, then warn, "You will lose your domain if you do not pay for renewal right this second!" The pressure! What to do?

Hang up, keep chatting, set the phone down, whatever. It's up to you. But as far as payment, that's easy. You should do nothing. Do not hand over your credit card number. Instead, simply ask for the caller's name and phone number so you can call him back later. That should resolve the issue; a scammer will provide evasive answers or try to further up the pressure, but won't provide his contact details.

To protect yourself from such fraudsters, make use of the whois privacy features offered by many registrars. Also, be proactive and keep up with your domain renewals. Consider paying renewal fees each month for domains that will expire the following month. Keeping a routine like that won't keep scammers from trying to contact you but it will prevent you from accidentally falling prey to their schemes because you will know that you've already renewed your domains.

Categories: Domain Tips
Tags: expired, outrage, scams