That Letter About Your Domain Name? It’s a Scam.
Every few months, a business owner calls us in a mild panic. They got a letter in the mail that looks like an invoice or an urgent renewal notice. The letterhead says something like “Domain Name Services” or “Domain Registry of America” or “Internet Listing Service.” It says their domain is about to expire. It says they need to act now or lose their website.
They almost wrote a check.
This scam has been around for over two decades, and it still works because it looks legitimate. The letter uses real information about your domain, which makes it feel official. But it is not from your domain registrar. It is not a bill. It is a deceptive solicitation designed to get you to either pay an inflated fee or unknowingly transfer your domain to a different registrar.
Here is how it works, what to look for, and what to do if one shows up at your door.
How the Scam Works
When you register a domain name, that information gets listed in a public database called WHOIS. It includes the domain name, the expiration date, and often the registrant’s mailing address. Anyone can look this up. Scammers use automated tools to scrape this data and send mass mailings to domain owners whose registrations are coming up for renewal.
The letter looks like an invoice. It might say something like “Domain Expiration Notice” across the top in bold. It includes your domain name, the expiration date, and a payment coupon for anywhere from $35 to $100 per year. That is often three to five times what legitimate registrars charge.
Some letters are designed specifically to trigger a domain transfer. If you send payment and sign the authorization form buried in the fine print, you may be authorizing a transfer of your domain to the scammer’s registrar. Once that happens, regaining control can be a headache, especially if the new registrar holds the domain hostage or simply lets it expire.
The companies behind these mailings have gone by many names over the years. Domain Registry of America and Domain Registry of Canada are two of the most well-known. The Federal Trade Commission took action against Domain Registry of America back in 2003 and again years later, but similar operations continue to pop up under different names.
What to Look For
The red flags are consistent across versions of this scam:
It arrived by mail. Your actual domain registrar communicates with you by email, not physical mail. A paper invoice for domain renewal is almost certainly not from your real registrar.
The sender name is vague. “Domain Name Services,” “Internet Listing Service,” and “Domain Registry of [Country]” are not registrars. They are generic-sounding names designed to look official.
The price is high. Legitimate domain registration for a standard .com runs between $10 and $20 per year from reputable registrars like GoDaddy, Namecheap, or Google Domains. Anything significantly higher should raise a flag.
It creates urgency. The language is designed to make you feel like you need to act right now before your domain disappears. That pressure is intentional.
There is fine print about transferring. Some versions of the letter include language authorizing a registrar transfer. You may think you are renewing a domain and actually be transferring it.
What to Do
If you get one of these letters, the right move is simple: do nothing with the letter. Do not call the number, do not visit the website, and definitely do not send a check.
Instead, log in to your actual domain registrar account and check your renewal status there. You can also go to a WHOIS lookup tool like lookup.icann.org and enter your domain name to see the current expiration date and who your registrar actually is.
If you are not sure who your registrar is, check your original registration email, your email inbox for past renewal notices, or have your IT provider look it up for you.
If your domain is legitimately coming up for renewal, renew it through your actual registrar at the normal price.
If someone in your organization already responded to one of these letters, contact your real registrar immediately. You may be able to stop a transfer in progress or dispute it after the fact. Act quickly because there are time windows that govern the transfer dispute process.
Why This Keeps Working
The people most likely to fall for this are business owners and office managers who are not deeply familiar with how domain registration works. They see their company name, their domain, and an expiration date, and they assume the letter is real. The scammers know exactly who they are targeting.
For small and mid-sized businesses, a compromised or lost domain is a serious problem. Your email runs through it. Your website lives on it. Clients find you through it. Losing control of a domain can disrupt operations, damage your credibility, and cost real money to fix.
The best defense is awareness. Share this with whoever in your organization handles mail, vendor invoices, or administrative tasks. If they know what this looks like ahead of time, they will not be caught off guard when it shows up.
If you have questions about your domain setup or want someone to take a look at how your DNS and email infrastructure are configured, that is something we help clients with regularly. Reach out and we can take a look.
Brian Largent
Father to five, husband to one, founder, CEO, and all around swell fella (or so I'm told)
