This morning I got a letter from the Domain Renewal Group about the renewal of one of the domains I own. I was a little bit surprised to receive the letter, because I though that the domain was not due for renewal for several months and in addition the renewal charge of $28 per year seemed a little above the going rate. I was not particularly bothered by the fact that I never heard of such a company because companies are constantly changing their names and often use different names on physical letters from the name on their web site.
To be on the safe side, I decided to do a little bit of research into the company before I reached for my credit card. It is just as well that I did, because I found several articles complaining about the company (click here for an example). The letter is posted in New York, but they want me to send money to an address in London. I would be surprised if the authorities in these jurisdictions are not already hot on the tails of these guys if the reports on the web are true. In the meantime, be warned!!!
Not much anyone can do about them, unfortunately. There's a German outfit pulling a similar scam. Another one will tell you that updates to their business directory are free. They send you a form, to complete the "update". Turns out, registration costs around $1,500 per annum and yes, changing the data once you've filled in the form, is free. The invoice price is at the bottom of the form in very small print.
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