Scam Picks Up Speed — Domain Renewal

An old domain name renewal scam that uses the domain name domainrenewalonline.org appears to be kicking into high gear. I received three scam emails from the firm yesterday, each from three different sender names.

With subject lines such as “Regarding your domain” and “Information regarding your domain”, the notices signed by “ISP Renewal” try to get you to submit your credit card information to renew domain names. It appears the scam has been sniffed out by hosting firms, as none of the links in the emails I received over the weekend resolve to working web pages.

There are a number of clues in the e-mails that they are fake, beyond the fact that a firm is trying to get you to renew a domain name at another registrar:

1. Spelling and grammatical errors
2. The domains aren’t actually expiring in 60 days, as the email claims
3. In my case, I no longer own one of the domains

Here is the content of the scam emails:

Client

This is to remind you that, it is time to renew you domain name NEWLYWEDS.net, the expiry date is 60 days .
Renew your domain automatically with a Domain Renewal. Click to renew your domain name
————> http://WWW.DOMAIN.net.domainrenewalonline.org/

Once the payment has been completed the above mentioned domain name will Automatically be renewed and a conformation will be sent.
__________________________________

Sincerely ISP Renewal
__________________________________

Additional information.
Renewal reminder service has been developed for firms to avoid loss temporary dysfunction of domain names in case of failure of on time renewal. By using this service you will automatically renew your domain name without any additional changes to the whois database. The only change will be the fresh expiry date. You may also contact your current domain provider in order to perform the extension.
In case of any questions do not hesitate to contact us at
Tel: +44 20 3318 1883
Fax: +44 20 3318 1884