Thanks for referencing my blog post, David. The more we do to expose these companies, the fewer people will be taken in by their tactics.

You could ask your registrar if they provide “private WHOIS”. I own two domains registered by Name.com and Bluehost.com and both provide this service absolutely free!

Thanks for bringing this up. I get these all the time also and it’s easy to see how those new to this business can be deceived by these mailings. They are also targeting larger companies where these “invoices” may fall through the cracks and be paid unwittingly.

There are also similarly deceptive telephone directory mailings sent out to businesses.

These people are no different than spammers and don’t care how disruptive they can be as long as they get their percentage of dupes to buy into their scams.

I can’t stand it when companies disguise solicitations and advertisements as bills. It’s infuriating! The company that did the fumigation of my new home sent “bills” for services that weren’t even rendered yet, and even had the nerve to put late charges on it! Although they were contracted to provide the initial fumigation (which the builder paid for), I was never under any obligation or contract with them. I was livid! I promptly made several angry calls and even had an attorney friend of mine contact them just to ruffle their feathers. Unfortunately, their tactic works because I often see their signs in homes that were built well before mine.

Thanks for the heads up. I’ve just received one just like it here in London. I have returned it to them in their own envelope, without a stamp and with a moderateley rude comment scrawled across it. They’ll have to cough up for the postage fee. Snigger.

I got one from Domain Renewal Group, thank you por your post!

I paid a domain renewal group bill thinking it was the co i’m with, on going to the address i was sent to an other mbe buiness service centres 439 little bourke st melbourne they said they just look ater the mail and would not let me know were the cheques are sent on to

Yes I get these letters often. They frost me as I know they are a major scam to defraud those who are not wary. I call them and complain, but they hang up on me. They want my address and phone numbers which I refuse to give to them. Dude its on the domain! I’m not hiding! And yes they are way expensive.

Hi Everyone,
I got the same letter this morning. I was quick to ring the company to complain but ended up even angrier was talking with a crude and faceless “customer” rep. Anyway, I’ve reported this case to trading standards UK (https://secure.consumerdirect.gov.uk/reportascam.aspx)

I’m going to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Their website says they’re based in Buffalo, NY.

Isn’t this type of advertising prohibited by the INACC (or whatever the intials are) ? That is, my WHOIS record is NOT to be used for solicitation of services ?

Tom

Check out domaintools on droa.com and domainrenewalgroup.com. As far as I can tell by that information, it’s the same company. Liberty Names of America however might be another company which does the same thing as DROA.

Thanks for this page. I was not sure what was up with Domain Renewall Group, but it looked real until I read closely. Seems like fraudulent business practice to me.

Karen

Wow, I wish I found & read all this before I paid. Thank god i payed by card cause & the bank is covered & can refund. I can not understand how these guys have been running this scam for over 10 years & noone has found them to stop. They must be millionaires by now.

I receive these stupid “Expiration Notices” now for years.
Glad they send an empty envelope with it, so I fill it with some old leaflets (from lidl etc.) and send it back with no stamp on it.
Who’s the stupid one now?

Oh, that is too funny. Thank you for that idea dafini.

Good post, but GoDaddy is a terrible recommendation.

Thank you very much for posting this. We just received their “fake” bill in the mail today. The funny thing is that I have my domain registered with a totally different company than others have mentioned. When is someone going to stop these crooks?

Thanks for taking the time and explaining this issue. But I don’t think that “Liberty Names of America” does the same thing. I personally known the owners and they actually get a lot of complains regarding “The Domain Renewal Group”. So, please remove their name, that is not a good image for their company. If you have proof send it over! I’ll pass it on to the owners right away.

@J.J.: I got a letter from Liberty Names of America very similar to those that DRoA/DRG sends. It looks a lot like an invoice, just like the DRoA letters and the domains prices are very high, just like DRoA. Sorry, I shredded the letter, so I can’t provide proof on here, but I’m sure many others can confirm that this is true.

After receving this letter I called their toll free number and told them to remove me from their mailing list.

And Liberty Names Of America is owned by them too. They have many names.. sorry J.J.

I just sent them a check!! I thought it was from my original company and now feel very stupid for not checking first. What should I do now? I wished I paid by credit card so I could dispute it. Has anyone received a refund from them?

@Melanie: If they haven’t cashed it yet, I think you can go to the bank and cancel the check.

Hi Melanie… yes, Aleksy is right. You can issue a stop payment on the check. You should be able to do that over the phone or online, depending on which bank you are with. Some banks (mine, in particular) do charge a fee for this. But you will need to call them as soon as possible. Don’t let Domain Name Group get your money!

Sincerely,
Nancy Morrison
Multimedia Producer
MG FORCE, Multimedia

After several emails to this company they have agreed to refund my money! Without any problem at all, so I’ll let you know when money is back into my account.
Thanks for all your feedback.

Annie

I got the letter from Domain Renewal Group today and had my checkbook ready before deciding to Google the name. Thank goodness, it led me to you and saved me $30. Thanks for the information.

I received one of these letters a few days ago and thought “huh, I didn’t register through them… and I’m not paying 30 dollars to renew.” This is definitely deceiving and practices like this should be made illegal.

I recieved the exact “notice” from the Domain Renewal Group as you have posted here. The way it is presented led me to percieve it as a notice of “maintenance” for my present domain provider. The key word is “switch today”, prompting to this research them and find this sight. It reminds me of the companies sending out false virus notices to entice people to buy thier software to “fix” the notice they sent out! What a world, what a world.

Absolute top man, I just sat down in front of my laptop ready to pay this bill for £65 for 5 years, when I Googled this company just in case it was a scam. Your site came up about 3 down and just saved me big time. Thank you very much for sharing this with the world, and I owe you a drink.

I just called the 800# on the letter and asked them to remove my mailing address. The guy was polite, and it only took a minute.

Bluehost keeps my physical address private, listing my site under their business address instead. BUT for the first time I received this scam letter from Domain Renewal Group. This means either:

1: Bluehost sold my physical address info.
2: Domain Renewal Group challenged to obtain my legal physical address from Bluehost, and they were tricked/caved.
3: ???

by the way, my mailing address is not listed anywhere on my website (it is a porn site, so I have good reasons) and I have been successful up till now to not have it leaked. Where do I rage: Bluehost or Domain Renewal Group?

Bluehost Blues,
Most likely they got your address from the WHOIS database, associated with your domain. Your host has nothing to do with it.