The other day I got one of these letters again:

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This is a scam. If you get a letter like this, do not pay them any money! The only company you need to be in touch with in regard to your domain registration is the company who you’ve paid originally. Confused who this is? Go to WhoIs.

Now what’s Domain Registration of Canada (or “of America”, “of Europe”) up to? They’re basically a scam, skating extremely close to legality. It appears they have some automated system that goes to WhoIs, finds out whose domain registry is about to expire in the next few months, and then pretends that it’s through THEM that you need to renew – when actually what you’re doing is moving away from you host and to Domain Registry of Hell Canada/America/Europe. In the US they’ve been barred from sending these letters (whether they’ve actually stopped is another question).

They’re pretty clever, with their neat little maple leaf that makes it look like it’s coming from The Government. All you need to do is get out your VISA card, pay them an exorbitant amount of money (way more than you’d pay for most other comparable services), send your registration form back in the convenient return envelope, and off you go. That is, off your money goes. Oh, and you have to deal with all the hassle that can come with switching hosts, plus you’ll be stuck with a dishonest host.

When you google “Domain Registry of Canada”, only the first result will give you the company. The rest on the first page are all complaints about the scam. Not a good recommendation. (Btw, when I get an offer or solicitation from someone I don’t know – I always immediately google them to see what they’re up to. With that technique, I can honestly say that I have not once fallen for or passed on a hoax).

If you’ve gotten a letter from these people, feel free to follow Mitch Joel’s advice to call them at 1-866-434-0212 and tell them what you think.

Perhaps you’re like me and you secretly wanted to become a private detective when you were a kid. Then you’ll find interesting what Peter has ferreted out regarding all the names associated with this organization, and Broadbandreports’ detailed explanation of how the Domain Registry of Canada scam works.

(Image by Nebularis)