Domain Name Scams
Domain name scams and rip offs are fairly common, because many domain owners are totally confused about the registration procedures. Here's details about a few of them.
DOMAIN RENEWALS
One of the most common scams involves a company sending an official looking letter to domain owners. This letter looks exactly like an invoice, but the charge is a much higher price than the price charged by the current registrar.
In Australia, the Internet Name Group has been doing this and was taken to court by the ACCC. The latest letter from IRA has resulted in Melbourne IT sending out a consumer warning to all .com.au domain name holders.
GMW has also received received cunningly worded "DOMAIN RENEWALS" from Internet Registrations Australia and Internet Registry. These companies offer to "facilitate the renewal" of our domain names.
They say that they "will not be beaten on price". Strange statement to make when they are charging $198. Melbourne IT, (my current registrar) charges $137.50
These companies try to give you the impression that they are domain registrars. They are not. In fact, a couple of them have had their applications rejected because of the misleading activities in which they have been engaged.
OUR SUGGESTION: If you receive a domain name renewal notice from
Internet Registrations Australia
Internet Registry, or
Internet Names Group
we suggest that you just ignore it. (unless you have previously signed over your domain name for them to administer. In that case, we recommend that you transfer it to a proper, authorised registrar.
auDA (the official Australian domain name administrator) has also posted a warning about the activities of Internet Names Group on its website, ( see http://auda.org.au/about/news/2002042202.html )
PRE REGISTRATION
Many people lost a lot of money recently when the .biz and .info domain suffixes were released. Lots of official looking letters were sent out by companies who offered "pre registration" of these "valuable" domain names for around $A200.
People paid up for what was actually a ballot between people who wanted the same name.
If the applicant actually got the domain name, I think they received 12 months registration. If they didn't get the name, their money was not refunded.
(The actual charge made by the registrar for those wanting to take part in the ballot was around $US 5). Some companies made a LOT of profit from unknowing people.
EXTENDED REGISTRATION PERIODS
Some Australian registration agents offer to register your Australian domain name for periods of up to 10 years. Do this at your peril, because the official registrar (Melbourne IT) only accepts payment for 2 years in advance.
The other 8 years of registration you have paid is held by the agent. And of course, they will pay the amount due to Melbourne IT every 2 years to save you the trouble.
I don't know about you, but I'd rather hang on to that money and make the payments myself, directly to Melbourne IT.
Especially when you consider that a client of ours renewed their domain name with an agent who didn't pass on the money to Melbourne IT. The domain name expired and our client had to pay Melbourne IT directly to have their domain name reactivated.
OTHER TOP LEVEL DOMAINS
I also received an "invitation" from IRA to register some additional names. Apparently, if I don't register the .net, .org, .biz. and .info versions of my domain name, it will cause a real security risk for my business. (yeah, right! ) And what's more, they are willing to register them for me for only $198 each, and give me tickets in a free draw for a trip to Fiji.No thanks - If I wanted to register the alternative names, I'd do it for around $A25 each at 000domains.com
My advice? If you get an email or a letter from either of these two companies about registration of domain names, throw it in the bin, or make a complaint to Consumer Affairs. ING is currently the subject of ACCC court action for misleading and deceptive conduct, and auDA has suspended their application to become a domain registrar. (And if you DO have domains registered with IRA or ING, I'd suggest you transfer them to a different registrar ASAP.)
The Great Domain Name Rip-off
If you get snagged by this con, don't fret. Some major corporations with high-paid attorneys have been taken for a lot of money by this scam. A "web developer" agrees to design and implement a site for you at yourdomain.com. After a couple of years you want to hire a different team and surprise!, you don't own the domain. When the domain was registered, they put it in their name, not yours. They then agree to sell it to you for a large sum of money. One company we know of personally paid $50,000 to buy a domain they thought they owned. Want to see if your solutions provider is doing this to you? Enter your domain name here and click search. It's okay if the developer's name appears as Administrative contact.
Ownership is a misleading term when applied to domain names. What you actually get when you register a domain name is the right to use it subject to the rules set down by the registration authority. A domain "owner" is really a holder or licensee of the domain name, but we will use the term owner here, as it is in general use.
The administrative contact for a domain is regarded as the owner.
If you own a domain name and are not listed as the administrative contact, then you don't really own the domain name.
Don't let your web developer, ISP, hosting company, or anyone else register themselves as the admin contact for your domain name. This is the same as registering the title deeds of your house in the name of the real estate agent who sold it to you.
A good way of finding out complete details about the registration details for any domain name is to go to www.domainwhitepages.com and typing in the domain name you want to check.
It is in your interests that you are registered as the admin contact, and that your email address is current.
The person who is listed as the admin contact can sell the domain name to someone else, and you can lose control of it. There are several cases in the USA where developers have sold domain names belonging to their clients after the websites had become very successful.
Other Website Registration Issues
Before registering a domain name, you should also check Business name and Trademark registries to minimise the risk of being accused of being a "squatter".
A squatter is someone with no real claim on a domain name, who registers that name in the hope of selling it to a business owner or trademark holder. Legislation is coming into force in various countries that makes this an offence. However, you would need to have a very strong claim and very deep pockets to successfully take any action.
In Australia, you can check existing business names and trademark names by searching the databases at these government websites:
Trademarks- www.ipaustralia.gov.au
Australian Company and Business Name register - www.asic.gov.au
Australian Business Number Register - www.abr.business.gov.au
If the domain name you are registering comes up, you run the risk of losing the name if the trademark or business owner takes action against you. It would be wise to get legal advice if you are in this situation.
CURRENT REGISTRARS OF AUSTRALIAN DOMAINS:
AU Domain Administration LTD - http://www.auda.org.au/industry-information/registrars/list-of-accredited-registrars/
