Protect your Domain Name
If you own a web site, you know how valuable your web site's domain name is to you. Make sure to protect this valuable asset from unscrupulous domain name registrars and domain name thieves.
A few things to look out for:
- The domain renewal scam. An official looking document shows up asking you to renew your domain name. The letter usually shows up several months in advance of the renewal date, encouraging your to renew now to "protect" yourself from losing that domain name. When you pay the invoice and renew the name, the domain gets renewed, but not in your name. It's transferred to the jerks who initiated the scam.
- Domain name theft. You're searching for a domain name on the website of an unethical company and the next thing you know, the company registers the name for which you just searched. What happens? You can still register the domain, but ONLY from THAT unscrupulous company - for a premium price, of course.
- Domain name theft Version 2. It's nearing time to renew your domain name registration, but you figure you'll get around to it one of these days. The next thing you know, some company has snatched it from under you and you've lost it. A good domain name registrar will put a 30 day hold on an expired domain name. This gives you a chance to pay up before someone else grabs your domain name.
Tucows, a leading domain name registrar, offers these suggested ways to protect yourself:
- Enable WHOIS Privacy. This is the absolute best protection, stopping the renewal scam dead in its tracks as there is no way for the scammer to contact the Registrant directly. Make sure your domain is locked. A locked domain can't be transferred.
- Make sure your domain is locked. A locked domain can't be transferred.
- Know your Reseller and Registrar. Don't assume someone will take care of this for you. You should keep on file all the information about where and when you registered your domain name. You should know your username and password as well. Keep it somewhere you'll find it when you need it.
Some other tips to help you protect your domain name.
- Make sure the domain name is registered in your name and to your business.
- Make sure you are listed as the administrative and billing contact for the domain name. Your web host or web designer should only be listed as a technical contact.
- Use a generic email address as a domain contact email. Much better to have an email of "hosting@xyz.com" that forwards to a responsible party, than to have the domain registered to "suzy@xyz.com". When Suzy leaves the company, and her email account is disabled, the domain registrar can't contact you.
- On a related note, make sure the contact email address is from a different domain name than the one you've registered. If your email gets shut down for any reason (because you forgot to renew your domain name, for instance), your domain registrar can't contact you.
