Q. I am a little ignorant of www things and today received a letter from "Domain Registry of America" advising that my domain registry of myname.com expires on 12th Sept 2007. The letter is like a proforma payment request asking for either £18, 30 or 50 to cover 1,2 or 5 years respectively. Is this normal and are they legitimate? - They state that I could renew online at their www site = www.droa.com.

A. I'm afraid that its an illegal scam , and the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have already requested that the appropriate federal district court instruct the Internet domain name reseller "Domain Registry of America" from making misrepresentations in the marketing of its domain name registration services.

They are, in fact, simply a reseller who use the following ICANN accredited registrars: eNom Inc. (eNom.com) and Brandon Gray Internet Services, Inc. (NameJuice.com). They obtain your contact information through the publicly accessible WHOIS database, and send renewal notices through regular mail in an envelope and on stationary intentionally designed to look like an official renewal notice.

If you do remit any payments to "Domain Registry of Canada"/"Domain Registry of America" or "Domain Update Center" and "Domain Listing Center Inc" in order to renew your domain not only will they have defrauded you to get your money, but they may also get control of your domain if they persuade you to sign it over. If you have already made a payment to this company, you should contact your bank or credit card company and ask for the payment to be stopped or reversed. Your credit card may also be compromised.

Another similar situation exists with "EU Registry Services" - Cambridge -  a company calling itself "EU Registry Services" is sending out letters regarding domain names with upcoming renewals. The letters are entitled "DOMAIN EXPIRATION NOTICE" and have a tear-off slip at the bottom for you to detach and send with your cheque. The "EU Registry Services" have already received attention from the Advertising Standards Authority regarding a misleading claim over .eu domains. but the UK police can only take direct action where material falls within their local jurisdiction and the only specialist centre that we are currently aware of if the  Metropolitan Police Service Computer Crime Unit which only covers Greater London - so UK based companies are more of a happy hunting ground for scammers.