What they look like
They work because domain registration data is public and the notices arrive around renewal time. Paying some of them authorizes a transfer of your domain to the company that sent it.
- A letter or email titled something like “Domain Name Expiration Notice” with a price for one to ten years, from a company you’ve never heard of.
- “Search engine submission” or “SEO listing” invoices that look like a bill but say in small print they’re an offer.
- Emails from a “registry” in another country saying someone is trying to register your business name in their country, and you have to act now.
- Calls saying your Google listing will be removed unless you pay to verify it.
How to tell a real renewal
- It comes from the registrar where your domain actually is. Check with a WHOIS or registration lookup; our domain check shows the registrar.
- It links to your account at that registrar, which you can reach by typing its address yourself.
- If your domain is on auto-renew, you usually only get a receipt.
Protect the domain
- Turn on auto-renew and keep a working card on file.
- Turn on the registrar lock (client transfer prohibited) and two-step sign-in.
- Use a contact email at the registrar that someone reads, ideally not one tied to a single employee.
- Throw the look-alike letters away.
Written by Nikita Huttenlocher, founder and lead engineer at Huttenlocher Technologies, a web design and software company in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.