Sunday 28 February 2010

DRoA - Domain Name Scumbags - who's up for stopping them?!

OK, we've put up with the Domain Renewal Group for long enough. It's time for some action.

I wrote a post back in April 2009 - Domain Name Scam!

DRoA are still sending these letters out to thousands of Registrants (owners of domain names) and duping them into paying inflated renewal prices and attempting to get unsuspecting consumers to transfer their domain names to DRoA.

I sent a Tweet to Rod Beckstrom the CEO of ICAAN last week and he replied saying "Form a group to take them on if you wish!".

There MUST be something we can all do together to stop these letters being sent out by the Domain Renewal Group.

I am going to be contacting some of my peers within the ISP industry with a view to forming an action group. I will also be contacting the leaders within the domain name Registries.

Please post your comments here if you have suggestions and would like to get involved. This malpractice has gone on for far too long and MUST to be stopped!

In the meantime, please let everyone you know, know about this Scam so they don't become the next victim.

Friday 26 February 2010

Your Domain Name & Website - 3 Questions You Must Ask Yourself

As we move further into 2010 and beyond we are becoming more and more reliant on the web especially if we have an online business.

If you are running your own online business and relying on your website to bring you in new business then you NEED to think about these 3 questions:



If this video raises any issues for you please get in touch and I will be really happy to help you get your domain name or website issue resolved.

Drop me an email to dickie at dickiearmour.me.uk or add a comment below.

Wednesday 3 February 2010

Domain Name Scam or Clever Sales Tactic?

We hear about online Internet scams everyday but a little bit like the Domain Registry of America scam I wrote about in April 2009; this latest one is more of an underhand sales tactic than an out and out scam.

A client of mine who runs and owns bristolvaleting.co.uk & bristolvaleting.com contacted me recently panicking about a trademark issue. He had been contacted by a company in Hong Kong who told him someone was trying to register bristolvaleting.com.hk and bristolvaleting.cc and he asked me what he should do.

He was genuinely worried that someone was trying to steal his brand and thought that they might be able to "grab" his .com domain name too. But because the email he received was from a company in the Far East he was also concerned about the legal aspects of it.


See a copy of the email below. I've fudged some of the information to protect identities.



Click the image to see a larger version

I told him not to worry about it all and to just ignore the email.


This email is very common and used by many domain name registration business in Hong Kong and China as a sales tactic to get UK, European and US businesses to buy domain names.

As I said to my client, why on earth would anyone in the Far East want to register bristolvaleting as a domain name? It pretty much says what my client's business is - he's a car valeter in the Bristol area. I don't think owning bristolvaleting.com.hk would help him win any more local business!

But many companies do fall for these sales tactics. Make sure you check the source of the enquiry before panicking and don't get puffed into buying anything you don't want.

If you ever need any help or advice with anything Internet related then please get in touch. I'll be happy to help and I won't even charge you! My advice is free.