Domain Registry Scam
Don’t be fooled by an official-looking letter from Domain Registry.
If you have purchased a domain name and not added privacy services, your personal information, like your email address, home address, and phone number, are available on the World Wide Web. You will receive emails from a variety of Internet scammers who would like to sell you SEO services or that promise you more website traffic.
One of these scams is from Domain Registry. On very official looking letterhead, they ask you to pay $50 per domain per year, when the cost of purchasing a domain should be under $15 annually.
My recommendations about purchasing a domain name:
- The primary owner of the website should purchase the domain name. The entity who holds the ownership has control of it.
- Do not purchase a domain name as part of a hosting package. Make the domain name a separate purchase. This is important so you can change website hosts.
- Purchase your domain name from a place that provides FREE privacy services. GoDaddy offers sales on domain names, but they charge an additional $20 per year per domain for privacy.
- The domain name price should be under $15 or you are paying too much. Avoid a first-year low-price deal, because that often means you will be paying more than you should after the first year.
I recommend purchasing domain names from Hover.com. Hover has a good price and great user experience. My second choice for purchasing domain names is Domains.Google.com. Their price is even lower than Hover.com, but the user experience isn’t as good. They push Blue Host hosting services, which at the present time isn’t a strong choice for hosting provider.
Confused by any messages you are receiving about your website? Feel free to send them to me at susan@whitebuffalowebsites. I can help you interpret whether the message is a scam or an important action item. If you manage your own website, we can support that as well. Check out our DIY websites. With a little coaching, you can make your website yourself.