A few days ago we received a statement in the mail from Domain Registry of America. The invoice gives us the impression that a couple of our domain names are up for renewal and are about to expire. The letter actually states that, "Your domain name registrations will expire November 19, 2010!” Even though the dates they have on file are correct, we’re not falling for this type of direct mail scam and you shouldn’t either! This type of marketing scam is aimed at consumers who do not realize that by returning the invoices along with a payment, their domain names are in fact transferring from their current domain registrar to DROA.
Comments (28)By ellipsis dive posted on Tuesday, September 14, 2010 @ 12:09 PMHi there :) Thanks for keeping us all under alert. It is a good thing to know about strange things that happen on the Internet.By Sebastian posted on Friday, April 29, 2011 @ 7:58 AMOk now I'm really upset at these guys! I just received 5 sheets with multiple sites of mine that need to be renewed. I've never gotten any of these before and I've always renewed through (at first through godaddy and now I'm with 1and1) and now they want me to renew with them for these high rates. Hell no!Who do they think they are? We're not that dumb! Can these folks get away with something like this? Can they be stopped? What if I was clueless and sent it in. OMG it would have caused such a damn mess. Sorry to rant but I'm glad I found this post or else I would have fallen for this one! By Cynthia posted on Friday, June 3, 2011 @ 10:19 AMThis is a scam. File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov. You can file an online complaint. You can also send a written complaint with your scam letter to: Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Response Center, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20580.By Terence Whalen posted on Wednesday, June 22, 2011 @ 6:50 AMI too just got the letter, and was doing a little research. They actually have a web page, but I've reported them to my attorney general office as a scam. Hopefully, that will get them closed down.By Anne posted on Sunday, July 10, 2011 @ 7:57 AMI just received their letter yesterday, opened it this morning. After reading it, I immediately started googling them. before I could type the "e" in registry it popped up with scam. That's how I arrived at your site. I ight follow Terence's suggestion as well.Thanks for the the information. By Rap Music posted on Wednesday, July 20, 2011 @ 10:55 PMYou guys are really on it with supplying great information to the public about these domain scammers. Can't beleive all the phishing tactics that are still being used even though postage rates are so high.By tracey rubino posted on Saturday, July 23, 2011 @ 4:46 AMI just received a notification as well...dated 7/21/11. They used a return address of 2316 Delaware Ave. #266, Buffalo, NY. When googling this comes up as a UPS Store in a strip mall. I appreciate that you site let's us know that this is a scam. You would think that after their 2002 investigation/convictions they would cease scamming the public.By J. Banks posted on Wednesday, July 27, 2011 @ 6:40 AMWell, I have been victimized by theses people! I sent ion the payment ($105.00) and they actually sent me an email receipt. I didn't think anything was wrong until I received an email today requesting "Domain Name Transfer Confirmation".I hate being scammed. I've emailed the support@droa.com folks to stop this action and refund my money but, aren't they the originators of this scam? By Matt posted on Wednesday, July 27, 2011 @ 9:05 PMI got the letter. I work for a large registrar. I have had numerous calls about this scam. I just got the same scam letter our customers complain about. I called the number and demanded that they remove me from the list right now. They told me I had to email an address. I said, no I don't, I'm talking to you right now on the phone. Get me a supervisor. He said, I am a supervisor. I said, then get me off your ripoff list and proceeded to tell him what a criminal he is. He refused again, and told me to "Go F*** myself." Can you believe this?? If you do a Wiki lookup, you can see that they have been sued, closed down in Canada last year DBA as Domain Registry of Canada, and have had other action taken against them by ICANN. WHY are these people still business and allowed to harvest names from WhoIs databases and send these illicit ripoff letters? PLEASE make as much noise with your legal people and the BBB about these thieves as possible!By Lois posted on Wednesday, August 3, 2011 @ 10:36 AMI get letters throughout the year from Domain Registry of America. They are accessing the WHOIS database and pull out the billing information for that domain. This is why it is important to keep the listing private so your address information is not listed. Fortunately if my clients receive this letter they contact me to see if it is legitimate, which it is not, and I can tell them to shred the letter. Companies like this one will continue to thrive as long as people fall for their methods.By Myra posted on Wednesday, August 17, 2011 @ 6:05 PMI have about 30 registered domain names for clients. Like the rest of you, I've been getting pretty fed up with these scam-agents, so last month I returned an invoice to them with a note saying that if I receive one more "invoice" from them I will be making an official complaint with the NYS Attorney General's office.Needless to say, I received another scam invoice today, so I am therefore sending them a letter indicating that I previously requested being taken off their list and that I am cc'ing NYS AG Eric Schneiderman's office. I will keep you posted with my progress. By Brian posted on Thursday, August 18, 2011 @ 11:13 AMYep, I get them, too. You can contact the BBB, or their local Chamber of Commerce, plus file a complaint with USPS fraud department. If you're an activist, you might try something more fun, like picketing.By Sharon Frederick posted on Thursday, August 18, 2011 @ 9:56 PMOh my God! They got me for $35! I am livid! I would have never known it was a scam until I contacted Yahoo to downgrade my services and was told that I would be registering my domain for $9.95 for a year. I told them I had already done that for $35 and they informed me it was a scam. I will be filing a complaint with the BBB, the Attorney General's Office, and the Federal Trade Commission.By Tim posted on Saturday, August 20, 2011 @ 5:43 PMYep, just got one of those letters, was suspicious, and sure enough some punks taking advantage of others. I hope more see this before they pay.By Reggie harris posted on Sunday, August 21, 2011 @ 11:43 AMThese asshole didn't get me but it was very convincing. I have 6 domain names and they send this bullshit six times a year. They operate out of a UPS store and answer a phone at a run down house in NY. Here's the best way to fix em, put as much bullshit you can find in the return envelop and send it back to them. They can get a taste of their own manure.By Susan posted on Monday, August 22, 2011 @ 7:42 AMWhat I really like about this scam is that I don't even have a web site, much less the one they list!By Jim posted on Sunday, September 25, 2011 @ 10:58 AMJust got one yesterday. Have to admit they had me going for about 2 minutes. I wish they had a return postage permit instead of 'place your stamp here,.' I would tape it to a brick and mail it back to them.By Josh K posted on Tuesday, December 6, 2011 @ 8:15 AMI stupidly fell for this, is there anyway to press charges or get my money back? Will they steal my identityBy Iconic Consulting posted on Thursday, December 15, 2011 @ 10:46 PMIt's very frustrating to see a scam mail like that on your e-mail box. I wish I can shoot them from what they're doing from poor civilians who had fallen to their trick.By matt posted on Sunday, December 18, 2011 @ 9:13 PMI just received one and it stated that my domain would expire in around 60 days. Checked my domain and I still have over 2 years to go before renewal. Total scam.By bradthomas127 posted on Tuesday, December 20, 2011 @ 2:41 PMI just got this today and knew something was wrong with it, $35 a year for each of my Domains, that's like 5 times more than anywhere else.By Stanford Griffith posted on Friday, December 23, 2011 @ 12:14 AMI just received one of these snail mail letters too. I realized it was something I could pitch, but it made me roll my eyes, especially at those prices: "Review our prices and decide for yourself."I think these are also the same morons who bombarded me with e-mail spam trying to sell me my own domain. They used multiple domains to spam me, so reporting the spam was pointless. The spam suddenly stopped the date the domain auto-renewed with GoDaddy. Those reporting such letters might have better luck through the US Post Office as mail fraud is a federal offense. By Beth C posted on Wednesday, January 4, 2012 @ 9:04 AMJust so you know, it's Jan 4th 2012 and this scam is very much still in effect. They got me for $35, and I called and asked for a refund. They say it will be refunded in 72 hours. They consented to the refund so easily, it definitely made me wonder if they get refund requests all the time; in other words, they provide no value whatsoever. I thought I was going to have to send a letter, which I have NO problem doing. At the conclusion of the call, I asked for an email confirming the refund granted and the rep agreed. I called today to follow up on that, and now the rep says, they don't send emails, just process the refund. Whatever. They don't know me; I'm a take action kind of girl.By Priscilla Borges posted on Monday, January 9, 2012 @ 7:00 AMI also filled out a complaint like Cynthia with the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov. Reading carefully the letter they explain that they are asking us to change our domain registration to their company. The problem is that they TRICK us to think this is a renewal, and not a choice for switching companies. I call it a SCAM anyway. Thanks Garret for posting this here. Good luck to all.By Sergey Rusak posted on Wednesday, January 11, 2012 @ 3:31 PMI just called their customer support & sales department 1-866-434-0212 and made them listen... 3.2.1... Never Gonna Give You Up, Never Gonna Put You Down, Never Gonna Run Around!!! Everyone should do the same! RickRoll them for their crimes!By Joe Raposo posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2012 @ 9:20 AMIt's a clever scam. The domain name they contacted me about was actually a variation on it's spelling, and not the actual name I own.By matt s. posted on Wednesday, January 25, 2012 @ 9:19 AMI administer several websites for HOAs and handle everything through godaddy. I received one of these invoices from the HOA management team asking if it was valid to pay. I immediately knew it to be a scam (and a search quickly confirmed this) but I wanted to see what they actually say for themselves. Skimming through the site, I found the following in the FAQ section:"How much does it cost and how much did I pay before? Prior to deregulation the cost to register or transfer and renew a domain name was $35 US per year, with no price break for multiple year renewals. Our price is $30 US per year, resulting in a 28% savings, or $50.00 US for two years, a 42% savings." Either they are incapable of basic math, or just threw these numbers out at random to sound like a deal (quick calculation shows that the first is closer to a 14% savings, and the second is closer to 28%.) I wish this exact information was presented on the front page, maybe people would realize that a company that can't even present accurate numbers shouldn't be handling their domain name. By Robin posted on Thursday, January 26, 2012 @ 9:43 AMMy husband sent them a check not questioning anything...I am the one who works our website so when I started receiving these e-mails:In order to complete the transfer and renewal, the "REGISTRAR-LOCK" status needs to be removed and an EPP Key/Authorization code needs to be obtained. Please see below for instructions on achieving this. Solution: - Log into your account with your current registrar, and change the status of your domain, ****.com, from "locked" to "active". - Then look for the EPP Key or Authorization Code. - Alternatively you may call your current registrar, GODADDY.COM, INC. (see phone number below) and ask them to remove the lock status of your domain name, give you your EPP Key and allow the transfer to Domain Registry of America. They even give you the number to contact godaddy: As a convenience, we have supplied your current registrars phone number below. After reading all these complaints on this site, I returned their e-mail with a nice little note stating that if I do not receive a refund, I'll be sending complaints to ALL proper authorities along with the link to this site....and within minutes I received the following: Your request for a refund for ****.com has been accepted. The amount of refund is: $30.00 Your refund will be processed on 2/25/2012 If you paid by credit card, you will be refunded back to your card. If you paid by check, the refund check will be mailed to the following address: I'll keep all e-mail correspondence until I receive my refund....$30.00 is a pedicure! :) |
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