I have been an OpenSRS Domain name reseller since 2000 and over the years have seen the rise and fall and rebirth of the .com industry, During that time I have witnessed numerous domain registration scams, most of which seem to fade away over time. There is one however that is able to reinvent itself over and over again. This company preys on the non-technical domain name owner and I have spoken with numerous customers that have fallen victim to this pariah. OpenSRS has developed some reseller tools that help me manage my customers domain name renewals. I can easily look into the future and see which names are going to expire within 90, 60, & 30 days, send out a renewal email to notify my customer and show them where to go to renew the domain. This company begins the deception a full 3 months before I send my customer their first renewal notice. What they do is Mine the whois database, obtaining my customers critical information and use the info to create a renewal letter that is mailed to my customer informing them that "their records show the domain in question is going to expire (in 6 months no less) and to avoid disruption of service the customer needs to mail them a check. The customer is also duped into signing a transfer request form and mailing the whole thing back with a check. The company makes the mail look like an official government document. My customers that do this are completely oblivious as to what they have done. I wish OpenSRS would implement the tools to help me thwart this activity. by simply giving me the ability to see my renewals 6 months before they come due. A default-locking feature would also be the icing on the cake for stopping these guys. Unfortunately when I call I am told to do it myself :( The company that does this is now called Brandon Gray Internet Services Inc. operating under the domain Namejuice.com but the scam originates from DROC (domain registry of Canada) here is a discussion form excerpt regarding this company.

Some Companies will do anything....

Posted: Apr 27 2004, 03:01 PM

 to get your business....I'm talking about Spam fraud. I don't know how many of you encounter such things, but you get a HELL of a lot more once you register a DNS.

Take this e-mail I just got, for instance:

-------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "OpenSRS Transfers" <transfers@opensrs.org>
To: <cyber@planethalflife.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2004 4:00 PM
Subject: Transfer Request away has been received for the domain lintbox.com


> A request has been received to transfer the domain lintbox.com
> away from the Registrar Tucows. This request was entered at 26-Apr-2004 14:53:58
> by Brandon Gray Internet Services, Inc. dba NameJuice.com
>
> If this is a valid request and you wish to approve this transfer,
> please visit the following url and follow the instructions:https://rr-n1-tor.opensrs.net/transfers/index.cgi?away=1
>
> You will need to enter the following information to complete the
> transfer:
>
> Domain Name: lintbox.com
> Password: **********
>
> If you do not wish to approve this transfer, you must visit the URL
> above, and use the Domain Name and Password shown to Decline it.
> Accepting this transfer will change the registrar of record for your
> domain from Tucows, to Brandon Gray Internet Services, Inc. dba NameJuice.com.If you are receiving this
> email, you should have initiated, or at least been aware of this
> request already. If this is the first time that you've heard of this,
> do not accept the transfer until you are satisfied that the request is
> legitimate.
>
> The transfer request will be automatically rejected within 5
> business days if you don't accept the request.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Team Lunarpages and Team Tucows
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Did you get this one Dalp?

Anyway, no, I never requested a Transfer.

Looking at their homesite, namejuice.com, it's safe to say that this was an act out of desperation. Still, it's pretty low.

If one weren't careful enough, this could damage businesses. It's the Nigerian Registrar Scam.