Email may be the most popular form of scams these days, but they are not the only way scammers will get you. Case in point: Today we received a letter in the mail (yup, a real, physical letter) from the “Domain Registry of America”.
The letter gives the impression that your domain names are about to expire, and that you only have a few short months before you lose them. There is an easy payment slip at the bottom for you to send your payments in right away.
Upon further inspection, this letter is actually a promotional letter that encourages you to switch your domain name registration over to the Domain Registry of America. By sending in a payment, you are agreeing to switch your domain registration over.
This is a prime example of tricky promotional marketing tactics. The letter isn’t saying that you have to send in this payment or you lose your domain name, it is just saying that you have this option to switch your registration over to the Domain Registry of America. But, since they did such a good job making the letter look very scary and official, it is easy to mistake the purpose behind the letter, and send in a payment as a way to “secure” your domain names.
Don’t be fooled by this. Switching your registration over to the Domain Registry of America will not provide any more security than you already have for your domain name. Also, don’t get worried by the expiration date of your domain names. It is the job of your IT support to be on top of that for you, and let you know when it is time to renew.
Fun fact side note: We Google mapped the address in Buffalo, NY. It’s a UPS Store.
As a general rule of thumb, when you receive anything- email, snail mail, phone call, etc. that is telling you something about your IT, call your IT support first. Don’t do anything, don’t make any payments, just contact your IT support. They will be able to let you know if there is any truth or substance to the claims being made, and will advise you on how to proceed.