Here’s another in a long line of scams that has hit our desk. In this case, it’s not actually an email as these cheeky buggers have managed to piggyback the contact form on one of our WordPress websites and sent us a threatening note via the form submission.
Whatever, we’re reproducing it here in full so no one else has to get caught by this.
We know if’s a fake as we work with this every day and see hundreds of scams like this, but far too many website owners won’t be familiar with this sort of extortion. So, if you get something like this, please just delete it’
From: Joe Miller <info@domainregistercorp.com>
Subject: TTNLV
Message Body:
Notice#: 491343
Date: 2021-02-15
YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION TO THIS MESSAGE IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY!
YOUR DOMAIN yourwebsite.com WILL BE TERMINATED WITHIN 24 HOURS
We have not received your payment for the renewal of your domain yourwebsite.com
We have made several attempts to reach you by phone, to inform you regarding the TERMINATION of your domain yourwebsite.com
CLICK HERE FOR SECURE ONLINE PAYMENT: https://domaincorp.ga/?n=yourwebsite.com&r=a&t=1613302767&p=v4
IF WE DO NOT RECEIVE YOUR PAYMENT WITHIN 24 HOURS, YOUR DOMAIN yourwebsite.com WILL BE TERMINATED
CLICK HERE FOR SECURE ONLINE PAYMENT: https://domaincorp.ga/?n=yourwebsite.com&r=a&t=1613302767&p=v4
ACT IMMEDIATELY.
The submission notification yourwebsite.com will EXPIRE WITHIN 24 HOURS after reception of this email
—
This e-mail was sent from a contact form on Your Website (http://www.yourwebsite.co.uk)
NB – I’ve disguised the actual domain name was ‘your website’ for obvious reasons…
Of course, what ‘Joe Miller’ and his or her cohorts don’t know is that they sent this to the owner of a Digital business. And we know a scam when we see one.
Firstly, anything with shouty capital letters to try and get your attention is very likely to be fake. On that basis, this fails at the first hurdle.
After that though, they go on to tell me that my domain will be terminated within 24 hours. An interesting threat, seeing as there is no mechanism anywhere in the world that will allow this to happen. Even if I had allowed the domain to lapse, it won’t be gone in 24 hours.
Then, they say they haven’t received payment for my domain. True, but then again it’s not registered with domainregistercorp so you shouldn’t be expecting a payment. And even if you were, then you wouldn’t need to get in touch with me via the contact form on the website.
Next, they say they have made several attempts to reach me by phone. Unlikely, given that the website in question doesn’t have a phone number showing anywhere.
Then they reiterate the threat to have my domain terminated within 24 hours, in case I didn’t read it the first time.
And finally, to put the tin lid on it I am supped to ‘act immediately’
Well, the good news is that I have. Despite it being a Sunday I’ve taken time out to write this up and publish it in the hope that no one else gets caught by this errant nonsense.
In short, Domain Register Corp is a scam. Delete the email and don’t pay.
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