I Got a Letter Saying My Domain Is About to Expire. Is It Real?

Usually not. Most of these letters do not come from the company you registered the domain with. They come from a different registrar using public registration records to send what looks like a renewal invoice but is really an offer, either to move your domain to them at a much higher price or to sell you a different ending you never asked for. Your real expiry date is in your account at your real registrar.

What the letter really is

Some of the contact details on every domain registration are public or easy to obtain. Companies harvest them and send letters, and increasingly emails, timed to land before your domain is due. The letter has the look of a bill, with an amount, a due date, a reference number and a warning that your website and email will stop if you do not act.

Read the fine print and it changes character. Paying it either authorises a transfer of your domain to the sender, who then charges you far more, or registers a different version of your name, so you end up owning .com when you hold .com.au, or the other way around. Your real renewal is still due with your real registrar. This practice is called domain slamming.

How to tell

Ask four questions.

1. Who sent it? If the name on the letter is not the company you pay for your domain, it is not your renewal.
2. Does it name the exact domain you hold? Look closely at the ending. A letter about your .com when you own the .com.au is selling you a new name.
3. Is it an invoice or an offer? Somewhere, usually in small type, the letter will say it is a solicitation or not a bill. A genuine renewal notice does not need that sentence.
4. Does the payment route make sense? Your registrar bills you through the account you already have, not by asking you to pay a new company.

What to do

Sign in to your account at your actual registrar and read the expiry date there. If you do not know where your domain is registered, a free lookup on the auDA website for a .com.au name, or any public domain lookup for other endings, will show the registrar. Then bin the letter. Do not reply, do not call the number on it and do not pay it. If it arrived by email, report it to Scamwatch.

Then tell whoever pays the bills. These letters work because they look like every other invoice in the pile and get paid without anyone asking.

What a real notice looks like

Genuine expiry notices do exist. Your registrar will email the contact address on the account, usually several times before expiry, naming your exact domain and asking you to sign in to your existing account to renew. If your domain renews automatically on a current card, those emails are simply confirmations. If not, set it to automatic now, because a lapsed domain takes your website and email offline together.

What to do next

Keep one list of every domain the business owns, with its registrar, expiry date and login, where more than one person can reach it. Keeping that list current and watching for this kind of letter is what we do under domain names and DNS management. If someone has already paid one, treat it as part of a wider cyber security review, because the same public records feed other targeted scams.

I already paid one of these letters. What now?
Check your real registrar to confirm your domain is still there and renewing. Then contact the sender in writing to cancel, dispute the charge with your bank, and report it to Scamwatch.

Is it worth owning both the .com and the .com.au?
Sometimes, but on your terms and at normal prices from your own registrar, not because a letter frightened you into it.

How do I find out which registrar I use?
Search your email for the words domain renewal, or run a public lookup on your domain name.

If this is happening in your business and you would like it sorted, call DM1 on (08) 6202 6012 or send us a message. We look after IT, Microsoft 365, websites and domain names for Perth small businesses.