Domain name scammers finally get caught

The US Federal Trade Commission has bust apart a group of email scammers targeting domain name registrants, according to Network World and Slashdot.

Some Netregistry customers already have experience of similar scams. A recent email scam, using harvested WHOIS data, attempted to convince the domain registrant to transfer to another company as part of the administration of the domain. (Read about the latest email scam to affect Netregistry customers). Although this recent case took place in the US, many domain scams target international as well as local consumers.

Other domain email scams suggest that the domain is up for renewal and then lays out steps that – instead of renewing with the current registrar – would transfer the domain to the offending company or would give payment to the wrong provider. There are many variations on these scams, but they usually rely on most domain registrants being confused by the process for registering and renewing domain names. Also, especially in larger businesses, the person who originally registered the domain name on behalf of a company may not be the same person who is now responsible for administering it and bills can often simply be processed by accounts without realising that there is an issue.

By including the fear that the domain name may be lost if urgent action isn’t taken, many people can fall victim to the scam. The recent action taken by the US FTC has stopped a group that has already reportedly made $4,261,876 from such email scams targeting domain name registrants.