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04-03-2014, 07:49 PM #1Web Hosting Master
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- Nov 2011
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- Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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- 699
Domain Registry of Canada (DROC) Scam Warning
Today I recieved a letter in the mail stating that it was from "Domain Registry of Canada". At first, I thought it was something to do with the Canadian Internet Registration Authority but after doing a quick Google search I found out its not. In fact, it's a "registrar" and not a "registry". The other flag was that it was for a .com and not a .ca domain name.
The letter asks for your credit card information or a check and provides an envelope so you can mail it back and they will (supposedly) renew your domain name. Except, I don't know how they are renewing my domain name when it's not even registered with them and they would need a EPP code to transfer it. The costs are $40 for one year, $70 for 2 years and $140 (CDN) for 3 years (which is outrageous). It also provides a website and toll free phone number you can use to renew it there.
My mistake was that I didn't get WHOIS privacy protection for this domain name because I didn't want this domain name in the first place and I want to get rid of it. I've since added WHOIS protection to it, but I'm afraid that won't help as DROC already has my information. I don't want to contact DROC either because they will ask for my information and then they will keep sending stuff because they know I actually exist.
It looks like this is going to be the first of many letters they will send me so I have filed a report with the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and I am considering further legal action. I'm also thinking of contacting the Liberal Party of Canada because DROC uses the same logo as them just its flipped horizontally. The good thing is that DROC is located in Canada as well so I'm not dealing with foreign laws. On the other hand however, they haven't stolen anything from me except my contact information. They already have the lowest rating you can get from the BBB (an F). There seems to be another branch of this kind of operation in the USA where they operate as Domain Registry of America (DROA) and they send letters like this asking for money. I have included a picture of the letter they sent asking for money and also the envelope it came in.Last edited by LittleApps-Nick; 04-03-2014 at 07:56 PM.
Little Apps
Open Source Software
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04-03-2014, 09:36 PM #2Web Hosting Evangelist
- Join Date
- Feb 2003
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- 503
We have been getting those for years. My garbage collector does something with them, I know not what!
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04-03-2014, 09:52 PM #3
It states clearly right at the top "when you switch today to the DROC...".
That's the main loophole that allows them to send these. Originally, the DROA (American version; there are several) was sending what looked like invoices with no disclaimers. They got into trouble, and now though it looks like an invoice (and fools many) the wording makes it clear it's not an invoice nor a renewal but a transfer/solicitation.
Definitely. Months in advance, for every domain with public whois we manage. If it came with postage, I'd shred them and send them back...Your one stop shop for decentralization
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04-05-2014, 09:34 AM #4Mr. Awesome
- Join Date
- Jul 2002
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- 6,347
We have no end to the number of customers who are deceived by this company and their scam.
The customer doesn't usually find out about it until they are contacted by the company asking them to disable the domain-lock status and provide the EPP key. Then sometimes they (our customer) will contact us to get that info, and we'll ask them where they are transferring their domain to, and they (the customer) is surprised because they think they're just renewing...
Companies like this should be shut down. It's very very obvious they are violating the principle of good faith. Unfortunately, it's not possible to easily legislate immoral behavior.We are eNom PLATINUM PLUS resellers!
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04-05-2014, 09:49 AM #5Junior Guru Wannabe
- Join Date
- Feb 2014
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- US
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- 76
I received the same letter 6-7 years ago and it quickly went into the trash.
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04-05-2014, 01:50 PM #6Web Hosting Master
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- Nov 2011
- Location
- Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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- 699
Yep. It's sad to see how companies like this are staying in business by profiting off of people that don't know better and by unlawfully taking peoples personal information. The government doesn't help either by just telling them "just do this instead and then we won't bother you anymore".
Little Apps
Open Source Software
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04-05-2014, 04:10 PM #7Web Hosting Master
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- Sep 2013
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- 985
That I think is another noticeable part of the issue. Customers are not properly educated about the basics of the features they are using. Its a combination of lack of user-friendly sources and underestimation of the value of this knowledge. This scam is really one of the oldest in the book so how does it still fool such a number of people is beyond me. There are two simple things that a user needs to know so they can avoid confusions:
- Notifications for domain renewals, such as for many online services, are NEVER sent via physical mail
- Keeping track of your hosting/domain registrars would immediately ring a bell (i.e."I registered my domain with GoDaddy and Domain Registry of What-Now wants me to renew it? Yeah, sure, nice try *slam dunks mail into bin*)
There are a few forums that have stickies with the most common scam emails for their users and you can easily google the text of the (e)mail to see if someone else shared it in any database/blog/forum██ www.WebHostFace.com where Service always comes with a smiling face!
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