Have you just received a letter in the post from ‘Domain Registry of America’ (DRoA), urging you to pay them for renewing your domain name? The paper, with a London address on the back, looks like a bill and tries to scare the reader with “Your registration will expire on May 10, 2005. Act today!”

Don’t worry about your domain, this is a scam! There is no need for you to renew now, and certainly not with DRoA!

Following a few reports from our users regarding some ‘phoney bills’ they have been receiving from a company trading by the name of Domain Registry of America we felt it important to inform you of the procedure you can go through to report the issue and avoid confusion.

GreenNet has had numerous conversations at the end of June 2008 with the Office of Fair Trading and the Trading Standards department and it seems there is little they can do. Their advice is, since it’s a business-to-business dispute (the way they see it), we should get legal aid and take it up directly with DRoA.

If you receive(d) one of these letters, which at first glance may appear to be an invoice with a header on the top right warning “Domain Name Expiration Notice”, please ignore it! Do NOT complete the payment slip at the bottom or make ANY payment to this rogue company.

The letter has a UK address: 56 Gloucester Rd, Suite 526, SW7 4UB London. This happens to be the same address as Mail Boxes Etc, so it’s probably just a mail box.

We contacted DRoA directly, and confronted them about using our users information from the WHOIS database (which is legally required to be there and up-to-date) for marketing purposes. Although it is illegal to use this information to contact organisations by phone or by email, there is no law protecting users from being contacted by post.

If you, as a user, would like to make a complaint here are a few numbers you can call:

Consumer Direct: 0845 404 0506

Westminister Trading Standards Office: 0207 641 1111
(where DRoA have a registered address)

Camden Trading Standards Office: 0207 278 4444

Other mentions of the scam:

Tags: domain name registration, domain name transfer, domains, support, support announcements

Comments

2 July 2008 - 1:13pm — Sharif (GreenNet)

sharif's picture

DRoA Scam

If you have received one of these letters, or have contacted any of the numbers provided above please use the comments space provided here to update us and other users of any progress or encounters you may have had. Thanks. Sharif Fanselow GreenNet User Support

20 December 2008 - 11:51pm — Frank Khoury (not verified)

DROA, (Have I got a case!)

Hello, I'm in need of legal advice regarding Domain Registry of America. Something has just transpired that will put a stop to their scams, but I need someone to assist me in proceeding correctly. Please, only contact me if you are qualified. Frank...

9 January 2009 - 11:39pm — Anonymous

We got hit by them.

My sister fell for this back in 2003 before they were required to stop completely misrepresenting themselves. She ‘renewed’ for two years and I didn’t even realize that this company had her site until 2006. We tried to transfer it away from them at that time and then again in 2007. In 2008 we thought we finally had it taken care of, but our other hosting company and made a mistake, so we were back to square one. I’ve spent hours trying to get one of their managers, Eric, to allow me to transfer. Turns out the hosting company and Brandon Gray International (aka Namejuice dot com) all lead back to the same people. It's such a complete and utter scam. Before I realized how debase these people really were, I thought I could reason with them. I pointed out to Eric that he was violating ICANN policy, but he said his company policy required me to wait 120 days for my credit card to clear — what total BS!!!!. He didn’t care that he was violating ICANN policy. He then offered to let me transfer it for $200 dollars. Since, he refused to allow me to transfer because of his ‘company policy,’ I asked him to show me where it stated he could charge me for the transfer. He had the audacity to put me on hold and go in and change his policy before getting back on the phone and telling me where to find it. Since I was already familiar with the company’s business practices, I had already opened all the policy pages in tabs in my browser, so of course my copy didn’t have the one liner saying he could charge me!!! I can not believe this guy could be so blatant and stupid. I’ve already submitted a complaint to ICANN. And after repeatedly seeing this company’s complete and utter lack of ethics, I will do whatever I can to help see them pay for their crimes. If anyone has a copy of the letter they send out, please get it posted on the web where I can find it, or send it in here so it can be forwarded to me. I’m particularly looking for one of their earlier ones that only state in small print that this is a transfer. I'm trying to find the one they originally sent us back in 2003. I appreciate any help. My hope is to get my sister’s domain out of these crook’s hands and try to stop them from causing anyone else this pain.

10 August 2009 - 7:00pm — Anonymous

Domain Registry of America

I too am having problems with Domain Registry of America. I tried to transfer to a different provider, but 6 weeks later the transfer hasn't occurred and DROA now informs me that my account has a redemption status. They now want $50 and another 1 year subscription to their service. Bottom line is that it looks like they dragged their feet just to make some bucks. What a scam. I spoke to their supervisor, Eric Voisard, who was extremely rude. My recommendation is to do what I'm going to do; file a complaint with the FTC (they have a nice website that makes it easy) and ICANN.org, the folks that watch over such things.

1 June 2009 - 5:47pm — Anonymous

Domain Renewal Group

As of this month we are also hearing reports of a company "Domain Renewal Group" (possibly the same one) using identical tactics. As with DRoA they appear to be abusing the public "WHOIS" database to get postal addresses, explicitly breaking the terms of service of WHOIS.

25 June 2009 - 2:39pm — Anonymous

June 2009 Letter - now from Domain Renewal Group

I received one of the deceptive letters today (25 June 2009) and was suspicious given that my domain name does not expire for another 5 months so I checked into it and found a great summary of this company's unethical practices at http://www.synuk.com/droa/ . I have complained to Cambridgeshire Trading Standards, Consumer Direct and the Advertising Standards Authority.

29 June 2009 - 11:01pm — Anonymous

Trapped

I'm trying to get a domain out of their slimey hands right now, but am having a terrible time of it. Has ANYONE successfully gotten a domain away from them?

25 July 2009 - 4:13am — Stewart Engelma...

DRoA Scam

Hello,

I am a domain reseller, and I have received a ton of these letters. Do you know whether it is a trick to get you to trasnfer your domain, or are they just trying to simply steal your money?

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