We have had a growing number of questions lately about these very hasty emails and letters that start with something like “Final Notice of Domain Extension”. They go on to explain how you will lose this opportunity to secure your domain if you don’t act right away – by contacting them and, of course, paying some money – to register it.
People ask, “Is this a scam?”
Well, not technically. But it sure is easy to be confused, and that is what they are counting on. If you look very closely, somewhere in the middle, you will notice the domain name has an unusual extension. Do you really care about yourdomainname.US?
If not, you can breathe easy and ignore that notice. It may look official, but it really isn’t.
Unfortunately, many people don’t realize the deceptive nature of these kinds of notices. They receive the fax, email, or letter – and they quickly panic and fork over some money to the mysterious company behind it. If this does happen to you, you might still have an opportunity to contact the company back and request a refund and cancel the services. But when possible, it is best to become familiar with the providers that do manage the registration for the domain names that you use. Be aware of your due dates or expiration dates for current domain names and stay on top of renewal invoices.
And if you do ever receive a suspicious-looking bill or statement, research it, ask your website developer, look at your past billing statements, and verify it is legitimate.