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Apr
2
Domain Scam
Posted by Meredith B on 02 April 2021 11:46 am

We wanted to let you know about a domain scam. There is yet another scam going around trying to get some of our clients to pay to “renew” their domain. Please don’t click on any links in this email.

Domain Scam

The scammers aren’t even emailing you. What they’re doing is using the contact form on your website to send you this domain scam. This should be the first clue that this is a scam. If it were a legit bill, they would send you a bill to your email address, not the contact form on your website.

Secondly, if you google what is .ga domain, it is some other country. Then, if you look at where they’re asking you to remit payment, again, that is different than where the email is coming from.

If you ever have a question about your website domain, check out this website:

https://www.godaddy.com/whois

This can provide you with all the information you need such as:

  • Who the domain is registered to
  • When the domain expires

So this should clarify any misleading information that this “invoice” is trying to tell you otherwise. Furthermore, just call your web hosting company and check with them. Please, do not pay anything that looks suspicious, or click on ANY links in an odd looking email. Just give us a call or send us an email with a copy of the invoice if you’re unsure. Webtivity is always happy to help! Don’t fall victim to a domain scam.

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Oct
12
Beware of Website Hosting & Domain Billing Scams
Posted by WDS on 12 October 2020 05:05 pm

website hosting scamWebsite hosting & domain name renewal scams

There are numerous website hosting and domain name renewal scams or deceptive advertisings circulating today. We were even recently target with this “invoice” only to discover it was a deceptive way to try to host our website. We host our own website along with about 99% of our clients’ websites so knew this was not right. Unfortunately, we have had clients lose money thinking they were paying for their website hosting and/or domain name renewal based on similar mailings. One client that managed their own domain name and lost it through a scam. By the time we were notified it was too late. They had to get a new domain name losing all that search engine optimization power behind their original domain.

All of these scams or deceptions are about the money. Some just take your money and you get absolutely nothing. No website hosting, no domain name renewal just less money in the bank. These companies tend to disappear quickly. Others do deliver on there promise but now they control your website and domain name. Can you trust them? Unfortunately, they may not provide the service that you were accustomed. Worse if you try to leave they hold your website and domain name hostage to try to force you to stay. Yet others target popular domain names to hijack and resell at a high price either back to you or someone else.

What can you do?

Thoroughly read the notice you received. While this one looks like an invoice, further down it does say it is a solicitation not a bill. If it’s not a bill, then why make it look like one? They do it with the hopes that you don’t realize it is just a solicitation and pay it. If you have an accounts payable department, it may slip through.

If you are still not sure, contact your website provider. Here at Webtivity Marketing & Designs offer website hosting, website support, and domain name management.  99% of our clients would receive invoices for these services directly from us. If you are part of the 1% that only receives support, we know where website is hosted and domain name managed. Scan or take a picture of the notice and send it to us. We are more than happy to determine if it is legitimate.

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Jan
16
Generic Top Level Domain Names (gTLDs) Explained
Posted by Troy Newport on 16 January 2014 11:46 am
We’ve had some questions recently about the new generic top-level domains (gTLD) that are hitting the marketplace.  It seems phone book companies are at it again, telling their customers “just buy this domain name and it will help you rank high on the search engines!”  If only it were that easy, Mr. and Ms. Phone Book Rep.
 
In years past exact match domain names (domains with your keywords in them such as www.florida-web-design-company.com) did get preference with the search engines.  Problem was, people were buying these kinds of domains and putting up crappy websites that weren’t useful.  Over the past several years, Google has taken steps to devalue “exact match domains” in their results.  Historically Google hasn’t given preference to one TLD over another either, and so far Google says they don’t have a reason to give preference to gTLD’s
 
But today’s blog post is regarding a discussion of the TLD itself:  .com, .net, .biz, .org, etc.  ICANN, in its infinite wisdom, is unleashing a ridiculous number of gTLD’s to the marketplace.  (See the entire list here.)  So if you’re a plumber and your domain name is HandyPlumber.com, you could potentially purchase HandyPlumber.plumber–or Handy.plumber.  Wow doesn’t that make life easy! 
 
Well now hold on a minute.  Didn’t they learn anything from the O.co debacle?  When the .co TLD was released, Overstock.com thought they would make it easy on their customers by changing their domain name to O.co.  So instead of having to type thirteen whole characters to get to their website, consumers only had to type four!   The masses obviously said, “Thank you Overstock.com!  We love you!!”  Right?  Nope.
 
Customers weren’t so grateful.  In fact, there was such a backlash from confused customers Overstock.com had to stop advertising O.co.  How people could be that confused about something so simple, I don’t understand… and the good people at Overstock.com who paid $350,000 for O.co sure didn’t anticipate it either.  (You can still get to their website by typing O.co into your web browser if you want to take advantage of the streamlined domain.)   So now that the market is going to be flooded with a f*ckton of TLD’s how do you think consumers will react?  Think there will be some confusion out there?
 
Many top brands sure are paying attention.  They’re concerned confusion will become rampant and they will lose control of their brands and internet presence.  Heavyweights such as Kraft Foods, Proctor & Gamble, Samsung, WalMart, Siemens and many others have voiced concerns about it.  But ICANN, who likely stands to make money from this initiative (they deny this by stating that they are a not-for-profit organization), participating registrars, and the denizens of lawyers who will be fighting copyright battles are quite content with the move.   It sounds like a confused CF waiting to happen, but only time will tell.
 

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