Domain renewal - potential scam

9 replies
Hi folks

I received an email this morning from some group calling themselves ISP Renewal, reminding me to renew one of my domains. I thought it was odd because:-
  1. I'd never heard of them
  2. I don't have any domains registered with them
  3. I know that this particular domain is already set to automatically renew through my ISP
There is a link in the email to follow to renew my domain - the link is to domainrenewal-online.org. I tried to check them out on WHOIS, but as they are a .org, I can't actually get any information on them.

I've checked out their website and it seems that they harvest domain names that are due for renewal and 'kindly' offer to renew them for you to prevent you missing the renewal and losing a valuable domain. It would appear that they charge a fee, but I couldn't work out how much (although it's 95 euros for an expired domain).

I can't decide whether this is a genuine service or a scam. But the wording of their email suggests a scam to me. If I didn't already know for sure where I had registered this particular domain and that it was already set to auto renew, then I might have clicked the link for renewal.

They give a customer service centre phone number (UK) in their email - but there is no reply (during normal working hours).

Too suspicious for my liking! BEWARE!

Kate
#domain #potential #renewal #scam
  • Profile picture of the author sprigley55
    Also be aware of a scam in which someone offers to buy your domain for a good price but needs you to first get it appraised by a domain appraisal company that they trust. They provide a link to the domain appraisal company, which charges around $40-60 for the appraisal, and then you never hear from the "buyer" again. Obviously he or his partner owns the domain appraisal site so they get their money on every "appraisal" with no intent to actually buy the domains.
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    • Profile picture of the author yommys01
      Originally Posted by sprigley55 View Post

      Also be aware of a scam in which someone offers to buy your domain for a good price but needs you to first get it appraised by a domain appraisal company that they trust. They provide a link to the domain appraisal company, which charges around $40-60 for the appraisal, and then you never hear from the "buyer" again. Obviously he or his partner owns the domain appraisal site so they get their money on every "appraisal" with no intent to actually buy the domains.
      Someone has tried this one on me but as a Nigerian it was too easy for me to detect.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
    Originally Posted by digileaf View Post

    I received an email this morning from some group calling themselves ISP Renewal, reminding me to renew one of my domains. I thought it was odd because:-
    1. I'd never heard of them
    2. I don't have any domains registered with them
    3. I know that this particular domain is already set to automatically renew through my ISP
    Haven't heard of ISP Renewal, but, as a domain name holder, you need to get used to seeing these kinds of things.

    They are not necessarily a scam so much as they are a very shady marketing practice. In most cases, all they are trying to do is get you to renew your domain names through them. By going through their process, you'll transfer the domain from your current registrar to them.

    There is one I get mail from quite frequently. They want $25 per year for domain name renewal. For the unsuspecting, they think, well, they better renew. So, they send a check or pay online, not realizing (or remembering) they probably only pay around $10 at their current registrar.

    So, whether it's a scam or just an overpriced renewal service, it's a bad deal. Just ignore them and delete them.

    It's always a good idea to keep a file on your domain names, identifying who they are registered through, with renewal dates, so that, when you get such a message and don't recognize or remember your registrar, you can look it up in your file to double check whether it's a message from your registrar or just someone else you can ignore.

    There is a link in the email to follow to renew my domain - the link is to domainrenewal-online.org. I tried to check them out on WHOIS, but as they are a .org, I can't actually get any information on them.
    .org isn't any different than any other TLD. I looked them up, and they are apparently based in Latvia and Seychelles.
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  • Profile picture of the author DAS_Matt
    When ti comes to domains the only place I look is in the log-in area of my registrar. I log-in on a pretty regular basis to check my stuff so i don't miss anything.
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  • Profile picture of the author Anup Mahajan
    I agree with DAS_Matt.. I get emails from Namecheap when my domains are about to expire but still I never click on any link given in the mail.. I log into Namecheap manually and renew my domains from there...

    Cheers,
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    I get that crap from other a similar company all the time. They want me to pay something like $50 to renew my domains through them instead of going directly to my registrar and doing it for $10.
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  • Profile picture of the author Don Schenk
    Yep, it's a scam. I get these now and then, but the crazy part is I used to get several of them a month sent to me by snail-mail! It always looked very official, but never was from my registrar.

    :-Don
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  • Profile picture of the author Cardsearch
    I also get them a lot and just throw them in the circular file.
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