If you own a domain name or someone has it registered on your behalf you will probably come across these devious letters in the mail.

They come from fraudulent domain registrars others who prey on people who don’t fully understand the domain registration service or directory listings in full.  So send letters in the mail about something expiring like your domain name or similar and request payment before “renewal” of something is up.

And because they know businesses and nonprofits are busy, many simply send these in the mail to their accounting folks (I know actual clients who did) to get paid.

We get asked about these from our clients, which tells me they have clearly deceived their letters pretty well to try to trick some domain owners into thinking a domain renewal invoice.

So I first wrote about this other iDNS mail letter a couple of years ago, but my clients and myself are still receiving these. Which is a problem. Why? Because it means many of you are still falling for the scam and paying these fraudulent scammers 300-500% higher cost to own the registration to your domain.

Why is this considered Spam? Because its unsolicited (you didn’t ask for it) and is a fraudulently deceiving letter, making you think the worlds going to end if you don’t transfer your domain name to them. In which after they own your domain name registration, they can jack your price higher/hold your domain hostage to force you to pay.

So we want to provide this information to protect you, whether you have registered your domain name with Northwoods Web Designs or some other provider. Here is the word for word mailing that you may receive. Hoping you are finding this from searching, ultimately protecting yourself from this spam company.

You can even fight against this by filing a BBB complaint. Here is the link to file a complaint against Internet Networx and read other complaints filed against this company.

These companies who send these letters, such as NETWORX,  attempt to convince you into transferring or renewing your domain using their service. Which on average is 500% above the market rate for domain name services. 

The actual letter text:

Internet Networx
PO BOX 957269
Duluth, GA 30095-7269

Annual Renewal Domain / Website Amount: $194.00 (ouch)

Website: <they list your domain, which is easily retrievable from your website>

Description of services: Annual Renewal Website Listings | Service From x/xx/xxxx thru x/xx/xxxx. Total for DNS Listing Renewal: $194.00. 

Subscription Include: Annual Website listings on internet directory for details visit – www.internetnetworx.net. Please note: name change from web domain listing. Please email to update w9 on file.  (they actually state this) THIS IS NOT A BILL. THIS IS A SOLICITATION. YOU ARE UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO RENEW.  

Thank you for your payment.  Inquires: www.internetnetworx.net Customer Server: contactus@internetnetworx.net

I did some discovery work and checked out their website. Their website is a basic scam site, where some yahoo created a website and started scraping the internet with already available listings and added it to their website, which is not seen from anywhere else.  Then they send scammy letters like these trying to collect money from inspected folks.

So to recap, you have no worries if you have your Domain registered with Northwoods Web Designs, we are well aware of its expiration dates and unless specified otherwise; have it set to auto-renew 30 days before payment is due.

That is right, we already pay the fees and assure its renewed ahead of time even before you get an invoice.  Just one of many perks customers receive when they choose Northwoods Web Designs as their Web services partner.

If you have any questions or have received other deceptive letters, let us know by contacting us. We will be happy to post them to give warning to consumers.

Let us know if you have been receiving these (or similar ones) in the comments below.