Beware of Fraudulent Domain Expiration Emails

Have you received an email notification that your domain is about to expire? Most website owners have. But do you pay close attention to who it is from and the renewal fee? If not, you may be throwing money away to a scammer.

This example from Domain SEO Service Registration is a prime example of a scam. We received this email regarding the “expiration offer” for our domain KrackMedia.US. This is one of our secondary domains registered to protect our brand.

Fraudulent or Fake Domain Expiration Notice Email

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Domain Name SEO Registration

The email talks about “domain name seo registration”. There is no such thing as “domain name seo registration”. They are throwing around the 2 terms, domain and SEO, in an effort to confuse the recipient in hopes they will just concede and pay the nominal $64.

Legitimate Domain Renewals

Domain renewals usually occur once a year unless you pay for a multi-year term. Most 1-year term renewals cost below $20, some even less than $10. If you receive something similar, check with your web developer if you are paying them to manage this.

Which Domain Registrar Holds Your Domain?

If you are managing your domain and website yourself and do not recall where you registered your domain name. Then look it up with a WHOIS service. You are looking for the “Registrar”.

Here are a few reputable WHOIS services, enter just your domain (mycompany.com).

ICANN WHOIS

WHOIS Lookup by DomainTools

GoDaddy WHOIS Lookup