08 07/2010 WARNING: Domain Registration invoice scam from "Domain Register Pty Ltd"

Planetdomain Domain Administration team was recently made aware of a new Domain Registration invoice scam operating currently via “Domain Register Pty Ltd” (ABN: 17 127 506 807), registered in Perth WA (despite listing a Melbourne, VIC office address).

This company is sending out invoices for payment of domain registration for a .com version of their .com.au domains. The invoice appears as a renewal invoice for the original domain name, and is misleading customers into paying disproportionately high fees for domain registration ($249 AUD for 2 years) with a call to action (win an iPod if paid by specific date).

This group harvested postal address information belonging to owners of the .com.au domain equivalents by checking the “Contact us” area of their websites, making the invoice appear legitimate.

Planetdomain would like to warn customers against registering the .com domain equivalents with Domain Register Pty Ltd. The individuals operating this company are suspected to be associated with the original scammers who owned a pretend company “Netregister” which was setup in an attempt to confuse the Netregistry client base into transferring their domains and services away. The same operators are also associated with a company called “Domain Name Group Pty Ltd” registered in the exact same circumstances recently (see Netregistry Warning article regarding this).

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