MTR

Domain Renewal Group - Scam registrar invoice - Fake mail letter bill

If you recieve letter from an organisation calling themselves "Domain Renewal Group", throw it out immediately. It is actually an application form for switching to another domain registrar (at several times the cost) that deceptively looks like an invoice. There is generally no reason to switch domain name registrars, and any unsolicited offer should be treated with extreme caution.

Formerly known as Domain Registery of America, they use a Melbourne address, but do not have any significant Australian presence (i.e. no Australian phone number or website).

There have been reports of people inadvertently switching to them, only to find they provide poor customer service. If your domain actually expires they can claim ownership and resell the domain via auction. This is actually the worst way to lose a domain. At least legitimate registrars will provide a grace period where you can pay for the renewal and a small fee to get your domain back.

The group preys on unsuspecting domain registrants by sending a 'renewal' letter which is cleverly disguised as a domain transfer authorisation form, in the hope that people will not read it properly and simply pay. However, in order to obtain the address of the registrant, the group illegally harvested addresses from the WHOIS database.

Below is a sample of one such letter:

The bottom line is this: Ignore the letter. If you pay them, you could risk losing your domain. At the very least, you'll end up paying many times more for your domain registration than you would normally should.

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