Beware Domain Name Renewal Scams

Dear Customers: We want to bring to your attention on a scam, that is, domain name renewal scam that is currently making the rounds on the Internet. This scam is not new, but Registrants and Owners of domain names continue to fall victim to this practice on a daily basis.

The scam works this way: unethical companies monitor the publicly accessible WHOIS database and obtain registrant contact information as well as domain expiry dates. Using the information, they mail domain Registrants an official looking document (by post mail and email), months in advance of the renewal date, encouraging the Registrant to renew the name now to protect themselves from losing that domain name. When the Registrant renews the name by paying the invoice, the domain is not only renewed, but a Registrar transfer is initiated to the unscrupulous Registrar.

Not only is this unethical, it is also dangerous because registrants and domain name owners who fall victim to such scams may also become the victims of Internet crimes such as Identity Theft and the like.

There are a number of ways to combat the practice:

• You can purchase WHOIS Privacy or ID Protection (This feature is supported only on the most common domain names, including: .com. .net, .org, .info, .biz, .tv, and .cc). This is the absolute best protection, stopping the scam dead in its tracks as there is no way for the scammer to contact the Registrant directly. The cost for this is $9.00/year.

• Domain locking. A locked domain can’t be transferred, thus preventing the scam from working. (This feature is supported only on the most common domain names, including: .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .tv, .in, .us, and .cc). Most of our eligible domains are registered with the domain locking feature enabled. However, just in case it is not, make sure to lock it or let us know, and we will lock it for you.

• Normally, there is no reason to renew a domain name early in the domain life cycle (such as 120 days before expiry). There is also no reason to renew your domain name until you actually receive a domain name renewal message from us. Because our billing system automatically tracks domain name renewal schedules, our customers can sleep quietly and simply wait for our reminder messages telling them of the upcoming renewal date of their domain names. This will generally be done about 60 days in advance, with intermediary reminders at 30, 15, 7 and 1 days of the renewal date. This gives you plenty of time to renew your domain name as long as you can keep a valid email address in your billing system and check that email account every week. All you have to do, to manually renew your domain, is to log into your billing account with us and manually pay. But this can also be done automatically by us 30 days in advance if you maintain valid credit card information in your account.

Thanks for your continued support of The Global Web Company,

Sincerely,

Domain Renewal Team
The Global Web Company
http://www.globalwebco.net