Types Of Domain Name Scams To Avoid 

By Ryker Taylor

February 2022

Feel like your getting scammed?

Domain Name scams happen all too frequently, but some of them look really legit and it can be hard to tell the real from the fake.  In this quick guide I'm going to highlight a few of the most common types of scams that exist.  At the end of the day, remember the old saying, "if it feels fishy, it probably is." Let's begin!

https://wundertre.com

First Things First

Before we get too deep on where not to go to renew your domain, I first want to point out a few places that are credible. 1. Namecheap  2. GoDaddy 3. Domain.com 4. Hover While any of this places are solid choices, Namecheap is the WunderTRE go-to!

https://wundertre.com

Scam Type #1 - Domain Slamming

This is the most common one I’ve seen. It’s also affected the most people because it can be made to look very legitimate. Commonly used by unethical domain registrars, domain slamming is when these unethical businesses send out invoice like letters to your home or place of business making you believe you’re going to lose your domain if you don’t send them a check.  In most cases, they give you the option to pay for 1, 2, or 5 years at a time. If you pay them.  Here’s where the scam comes in two ways. 1. The price you have to pay for renewal is typically 3 times more than you’d pay if you renewed through a legit registrar. 2. When you renew with them, they don’t give you any access to a dashboard where you can manage your domain, thus making your domain unusable.

https://wundertre.com

Scam Type #2 - Website Listing Services

Another way scammers try to get you is by sending out letters offering to list your website on “Popular websites and Search Engines.” This is totally fake. Things like “Get listed on the internet’s most popular 3 websites for 6-months for one low-fee” sound nice, but that low fee will end up costing you a lot.  Most of the time nothing happens if money is sent to one of these “services”, thus making the scam just losing the money that was sent to them (which can be hefty). However, other times on top of losing the money, sometimes these “services” actually do list your website, just not on good clean wholesome sources. They list them on bot-networks, dark websites, malware, etc. Losing putting your domain at risk of getting banned forever.  So all of this to say don’t pay a random company that sent you an email or snail-mail to list your website on the internet.

https://wundertre.com

Scam Type #3 - Chinese Domain Name Scam

Rounding out today’s list of upstanding business practices is the Chinese Domain Name Scam. The way this one works is straightforward, Chinese-based domain registrars will send out emails stating that other businesses are trying to buy up domains that closely relate to your business or trademark.  They work by playing on your sense of urgency to stop that from happening. In the email they state they’ve “temporally blocked” your competitors from buying these domains and are giving you the chance to buy them first for a hefty sum (sometimes 10 times what they’re actually worth).  Not only can they not stop people from buying the domain as they claim, but they also most likely don’t have the rights to register the domain in the first place, and thus you could end up paying hundreds maybe even thousands for domains that you don’t actually receive.

https://wundertre.com

Did you find this helpful?

To see a list of companies that are known scams along with some pictures of the scams, visit our website to read the full-article!