Another “Domain Registration” Scam

Here’s some junk email that showed up this morning:

ATTENTION: IMPORTANT NOTICE
Domain SEO Service Registration Corp.
Order#: 780438
Date: 12/14/2014

EXPIRATION NOTICE

DOMAIN: [redacted]

Notification Offer
EXPIRATION DATE: 12/22/2014

Bill To: [Redacted]
Domain Name: [Redacted]
Registration SEO Period: 01/05/2015 to 01/05/2016
Price: $64.00
Term: 1 Year

SECURE ONLINE PAYMENT

Domain Name: [Domain Name Redacted]
Attn: [Owner Name Redacted]

This important expiration notification notifies you about the expiration notice of your domain registration for mydistilpuremsm.com search engine submission. The information in this expiration notification may contain confidential and/or legally privileged information from the notification processing department of the Domain SEO Service Registration. This information is intended only for the use of the individual(s) named above.
If you fail to complete your domain name registration mydistilpuremsm.com search engine service by the expiration date, may result in the cancellation of this domain name notification offer notice.

PLEASE CLICK ON SECURE ONLINE PAYMENT TO COMPLETE YOUR PAYMENT.

Failure to complete your domain name registration [redacted] search engine service process may make it difficult for customers to find you on the web.

CLICK UNDERNEATH FOR IMMEDIATE PAYMENT

PROCESS PAYMENT FOR
[Domain Redacted]
SECURE ONLINE PAYMENT
ACT IMMEDIATELY

This domain registration for [Domain Redacted] search engine service notification will expire 12/22/2014.

Instructions and Unsubscribe Instructions:

You have received this message because you elected to receive special notification offers. If you no longer wish to receive our notifications, please unsubscribe here or mail us a written request to Domain SEO Service Registration Corp., 5379 Lyons Rd. 452, Coconut Creek, FL 33073. If you have multiple accounts with us, you must opt out for each one individually in order to stop receiving notifications notices. We are a search engine optimization company. We do not directly register or renew domain names. We are selling traffic generator software tools. This message is CAN-SPAM compliant. THIS IS NOT A BILL. THIS IS A NOTIFICATION OFFER. YOU ARE UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO PAY THE AMOUNT STATED UNLESS YOU ACCEPT THIS NOTIFICATION OFFER. Please do not reply to this email, as we are not able to respond to messages sent to this address.

Notice several things about this garbage:

1. The emphasized text in the spam disclaimer, written in tiny, gray print so as to be ignored, states clearly that you are signing up for worthless services, not domain registration. This shows the blatant deception being perpetrated here.
   
2. It’s designed to look like an invoice. There are, sadly, many unwitting office managers and secretaries and even executives who will take one look at this, pay the invoice, and kiss their money goodbye.
3. The “registration service” being offered comes from http://www.domainrseo.net/, which has been flagged by Web of Trust (WOT) as Phishing, Scam, Potentially illegal, Misleading claims or unethical, and Spam site. The two posted comments are informative:

User Carl Legg posted on 11/29/2014

WARNING: New Internet scam out of a shoebox office in Florida. Called Domain SEO Service Registration Corp. It’s the same, tired old false flag operation.

1.) Perpetrator looks up domain names (owner contact information is public)
2.) Perpetrator e-mails domain-name owner with an official looking “Payment Notice”
3.) Threatening “expiration” deadlines are made in the Payment Notice
4.) Payment notice written in legal-technical gobbledegook to scare people into paying.

The perp makes it look like you are renewing your domain name, but in reality, and through some seriously twisted use of English language (that leaves one’s head swimming), you are signing up for one year of expensive search-engine optimization. Many people would not understand this, and the perp wants it that way.

Registered in Florida, but likely owned by a Hong Kong firm? Hard to tell. Here’s the registration data:

Florida Profit Corporation DOMAIN SEO SERVICE REGISTRATION CORP.
Filing Information Document NumberP14000093458
FEI/EIN Number NONE Date Filed 11/17/2014 State FL Status ACTIVE
Office/Director/Agent: TAUBERT, MATTHIAS (Matthias Taubert)
Principal Address 5379 LYONS RD. (452), COCONUT CREEK, FL 33073″

User eden-g posted on 11/29/2014
“Scam site engaged in misleading illegal activity owned by Chinese criminal Zhu Bing.”

I can’t speak to the source of the name in the second comment, but whoever is behind this scam is a dirtbag.

Be very careful out there. Domain registration scams are rampant, SEO firms are, for the most part, offering useless and expensive services, and most unsolicited commercial email is deceptive.

The Old Wolf has spoken.