Hawk's Babble-Log

Greetings all,

I got a phone call from “Domain Support” the other day. The caller ID was “+001819″, which is probably some kind of VOIP network (VOIP means Voice Over Internet Protocol).

The lady wanted to verify my name and address for one of my domains “masterslacker.com” and get my FAX number so that she could send me some “important offers”. I knew exactly what was happening as soon as she told me she was calling from “Domain Support”. She would not give out her company name, or if she did, it was something generic like “Domain Registry”.

I told her that I was not interested and thanked her for calling. She said, “Okay.” and that was that.

WARNING: Your real domain host would probably never call you directly. Virtually anyone can get your contact info from your WHOIS domain info. Don’t be fooled by people from “your domain registrar”. I get such letters all the time from “Domain Registry of America” about my soon-to-be-expired domains. This is simply another company trying to register my domain and take it away form my current registrar. It’s really rather sneaky because it looks legitimate.

If you’re not sure if it’s your actual domain registrar calling you, then hang up and call them. Then you’ll know for sure.

I’ve had my domains registered at about three different domain hosts now, and I’ve had domains since the mid-to-late 1990′s. NONE of them have ever called me. They all use email. And if I do get a notice in my email about a domain expiring or whatever, I go to my domain registrar’s website manually (by entering the domain name myself) rather thank clicking through any links in the email. That way I know I’m going to the right website.

Same with Paypal, BTW. I’ll usually NEVER click-through a link in my email. Because I’m using Mozilla as my email client, I can see where the link goes to, regardless of any URL-hiding techniques. These techniques are useful for an email client such as Outlook, so I’m safe by using Mozilla. But still, I usually don’t click-through email links.

Just now, I got an email from “Domain Notification Central” with a big title “FINAL NOTICE”. It’s a very official-looking notice, complete with company URL and address, 800 phone number, and a notice tracking number. It is for one of my domains with a different TLD (top-level domain): masterslacker.us

So they’re not trying to switch me from my current domain, but they are trying to get some business by registering a slightly different new domain. It’s not quite as bad as others I’ve received. But I think the “FINAL NOTICE” on top is a bit cheesy. It’s also got some legal code at the bottom. Are they trying to make it look more official by quoting legal code?

Anyway… it seems domain registrars are getting _desparate_. Beware. I hope this helps.