Back in December, the Federal Trade Commission imposed a ruling stating that a firm called Domain Registry of America were to stop misrepresentation.
Domain Registry of America were using a somewhat underhand tactic in an effort to get sales.
They would send letters to literally thousands of people at a time, warning them that their domain name was due to expire.
The letters themselves are very real, what the Domain Registry of America failed to mention however, was that if you renewed the domain name with them, they would become the new registrant.
This basically means that you could loose control over your domain name.
UK based domain specialists, 123-Reg have warned their customers about the Domain Registry of America. An announcement also made on the 123-Reg website said,
"Subject: IMPORTANT NOTICE FROM HOST EUROPE
Sent on: 2004-01-12 10:33:19 Delete
If you receive E-mails or letters through the post asking you to renew your domain name(s) and it does NOT come on a letterhead paper from 123-reg or Host Europe, please take time to examine its content carefully.
We have been notified that The Domain Registry of America (or DROA) has been sending E mails and writing letters to domain name registrants worldwide misrepresenting themselves as the Registrars or the Host provider or ISP to the domain name. In this communiqu‚ it has been alleged that DROA have been changing the "From:" field to assume the identity of your host provider. Should you engage in this transfer unwittingly there is a high possibility that you will lose control of your domain name until payment is extracted by DROA for its release.
As a market leading host provider, Host Europe takes such matters seriously and will assist the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the UK Advertising Watchdog Authority (ASA) to the best of our ability. Please note that EU regulators have now ruled that it is unlawful for companies to send unsolicited direct marketing via E-mails (spam), SMS and fax.
To that end, we would be most grateful if you could kindly forward any such E-mails or letters you may have received from DROA or any other similar communication from other companies to abuse@hosteurope.com for E-mails or to Host Europe Plc, Host Europe House, Abuse Department, Kendal Avenue, London W3 0XA, England.
Best Wishes
The 123-Reg Team"
It would seem the Domain Registry of America didn't pay a blind bit of attention to Federal Trade Commission.
We here at I.T. Vibe got a letter from Domain Registry of America, sent from an address in South West London, this very morning.