Unfortunately, WHOIS data, that can identify you as the owner of the domain is out there and is publicly available unless you pay for additional privacy fees per domain. So many companies make it their business to harvest that information and contact people regarding their domain names.
For my customers, I usually bring their domains into my registrar account and manage them for them. This makes it easier for them and also means that I'm the one getting notified by pirate registrars. I get letters from them all the time. Often they do not lie outright, but the underlying message they are trying to give is that they are the ones you need to business with. This is a lie and usually the renewal prices they charge are much more that what you would pay normally.
A few I get constantly:
| Name | |
|---|---|
| LibertyNames of America | Information at http://www.azaleatech.com/lnoa.php |
| Domain Registry of America | Owned and managed by ENOM.com another Registrar service. This is their advertising ploy to trick people into transferring to their company. The documentation they are sending is 'legally' allowable as the fine print does note that they are attempting to get you to transfer from your current registrar. |
Reputable registrars like directNIC commit to their customers not to sell their contact information and even warn against such practices (this is from directNIC:
Warning! Be Careful with Sneaky Domain Renewal Notices
A number of customers have reported to directNIC that their domains disappeared from their directNIC account after they responded to renewal notices by snail mail. It turns out that they actually transferred the domain to another registrar who had sent them a renewal notice by mail and urged them to renew the domain immediately. Without knowing that these notices were not from directNIC, these unsuspecting users transferred their domains away from directNIC, paid a much higher price, lost their virtual domains, erased their email forwarding rules and POP3 accounts, and consequently took their websites offline.
To see several of these deceptive expiration notices, visit
http://notice.reference.directnic.com For the record, directNIC relies almost solely on email to contact customers and does not solicit business through the U.S. mail. If you receive notices in the mail regarding renewing your directNIC-registered domain names, be sure to read them carefully and consult with directNIC before you make any decisions.Several registrars are mining WHOIS data and sending deceptive and predatory expiration notices to owners of domains that are not registered with them. They have one common purpose: To steal domains from their competitors without lowering their price or improving their service and products. A few that have participated in this practice include Domain Registry of America, Network Solutions and Register.com, among others.
We believe competition should be fair, legal, and ethical. directNIC has attracted many customers by constantly improving its website and user interface, adding new services, launching new products, listening and responding to customer feedback, and protecting customers against hackers and unethical solicitors. In order to better protect your domains and our
business, we invite you to join our efforts. If you have received the
mentioned paper-based renewal notices from other registrars, please report this activity to ICANN, the governing body of the domain registration industry.
You can file a complaint, but that hasn't worked for me- http://www.internic.net/cgi/registrars/problem-report.cgi.