Warning: scam letters from "Domain Renewal Group"

/

I recently received a letter on important-looking letterhead from a company named "Domain Renewal Group" warning me that registration for the domain chillichocolatemarketing.com would be expiring shortly.

Domain name: chillichocolatemarketing.com

Reply requested by May 31, 2010

You must renew your domain name to renew exclusive rights to it on the Web (...) failure to renew your domain name by the expiration date may resultin a loss of your online identity making it difficult for your customers and friends to locate you on the Web.

You may yourself have received a letter like this.

It is a scam.

Do not respond or reply to the letter in any way. The letter is designed to trick the recipient into panicking that a critical domain name is about to expire in the hope that, panicked, the recipient will transfer control of that domain name to "Domain Renewal Group".

This scam has been well-known among technology circles for years; that it is still occurring means that the scam is successful at least some of the time.

Here are the results of a Google search for "Domain Renewal Group":

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=%22domain+renewal+group%22

Have a look at some of the discussions taking place online right now, many of them complaints from Australian small businesses.

Don't become a fraudster's next victim - throw that letter in the trash!

--