Last month a few of our customers received what looked like a domain renewal notice via email. At first glance the notice looked official (see the document lower right). The document contained the domain name and accurate contact information for the owner of the domain name.

The notice was sent out the 28th and stated that the domain name expired on the next day. The domain in question does not expire until the second of February 2012. We believe the goal of this notice was to make the domain name owner panic and pay the invoice. If our customer had paid the fake bill, the domain name would still be safe. We lock all of our customers' domain names to protect the domain names from scams like this. The money paid to the con artist on the other hand is another story. The scum that sent this message covered their backs by putting "THIS IS NOT A BILL, This is a solicitation" in fine print at the bottom of the document.

Here are some tips for avoiding these scams:

• Make sure you know when your domain name expires.
• Know who your domain name registrar is.
• If you get a domain renewal notice in the mail or email from a different company, contact your domain name registrar to verify your domain's status and expiration date.
• Do not pay anyone but your registrar to renew your domain name.

If you receive a domain name scam, what should you do? Internet scams can be reported to the FBI and FTC through the U.S. government's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at www.ic3.gov.

For your information the following companies are known for these scams. Most of these come in the mail and look like an invoice.

• Domain Registry of America (mail)
• National Domain Name Registry (mail)
• DN (email)

For more information check out the following links:

• domain-name-scams.org
• Scambusters.org
• Recognizing the Trademark Domain Name Scam
• What's Dot and What's Not: Domain Name Registration Scams
• Beware Of Domain Registration Scams | SmallBusinessNewz