I thought this scam had ended!
I just received a very official-looking document from a very patriotic-sounding company: Domain Registry of America (DROA). They even have an American flag as part of their logo!
The letter informed me that one of my registered domain names was about to expire (I knew that). And they want me to “Act today!”, because “…failure to renew may result in a loss of my online identify…” That sounds serious.
Of course they’re willing to help me out by offering to renew my domain name for “only” $30.00 per year. What they don’t say is that it’s 3x as much as I’m paying now from my REAL registrar, GoDaddy. By signing this form and giving them my credit card number, I would effectively terminate my GoDaddy service and transfer my business to Domain Registry of America. No thank you.
They do say in the letter that “This is not a bill, it is rather an easy means of payment should you decide to switch your domain name registration to the Domain Registry of America.” This sentence lets them avoid a charge of domain slamming: when a company tries to make you think you’re merely renewing your annual contract for domain services, when actually they’re tricking you into switching to their company.
But it would be easy for someone to miss this subtle admission.
The thing that really capped it off for me was the reverse side of this letter. It contained the absolute SMALLEST FINE PRINT of any document I had ever seen! This should be a tip-off to anyone receiving it.
Finally, my advice to you is avoid doing business with DROA and put their junk mail where it belongs — through your shredder.
