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A while back I received some mail (in the post, not email) from something calling itself the “Domain Registry of America,” telling me that my domain registration was about to expire, and requesting credit card details should I wish to renew it. With them, of course. Although the piece of paper is not a bill or invoice, it is laid out to look exactly like one, and the heading at the top of the page reads “Domain Name Expiration Notice.”

The DROA is not my webhosting provider, nor have I ever had any business dealings with them. I have never made contact with them in any way, and I certainly have not provided them with my home address. Google them, and you’ll find warnings all over the internet, a mass of warnings to which I am now adding. Google results immediately reveal such headlines as “Domain Registry of America Scam,” “Who will stop Domain Registry of America?” news stories like “Court Bars Canadian Company from Misleading Consumers,” and so on.

Check out this description of another person’s attempts to track them down about their approaches, resulting in a string of post office boxes and dubious identities. At least one individual involved in this organization (if that’s what it really is) has already been told by a judge to cease and desist such activites in as early as 2002, and yet here we are in 2008, with their letter reaching me here in New Zealand.

The short story is: If you have a website and receive any mail from the Domain Registry of America, ignore it and burn it. Stay with your legitimate service provider, thankful that you have not just been tricked into giving your creit card details to goodness knows who.