Domain Registry of America. A simple scam?

I stumbled across this piece on the Shaw Web Designs page concerning notices being sent out by Domain Registry of America.

“I just received this in the mail (real mail) from Domain Registry of America. My initial reaction was that this is a bill to renew my domain names. Just one funny thing, I am my own registrar. So why am I getting a notice that my domain is expiring and it needs to be renewed? Who is Domain Registry of America and what do they have to do with my registration? Well, one Google search and you will see that there is quick a lot being said about DRoA, not many of which is very positive.

There are plenty of articles describing their tactics as a scam. I will not say that, but I will definitely say they are trying to tick people into transferring their domain registration to them. Yes, the letter does state in the third paragraph, that you do not have to register with them. It also states in the last sentence that “This notice is not a bill, “. But I can see to how the average person, who registered a domain for their small organization, recieves this notice and just assumes that Domain Registry of America is their registrar ( to begin with.

So, please if you receive any notice from a company you have never heard of about your domain, stop. DO NOT SEND MONEY or CREDIT CARD info, until you find out who is your registrar. Many organizations do not know who, when, or where their domain was registered. It was probably years since it last had to be renewed. If you are unsure of who is your registrar, checkout Domain Tools Whois Lookup. This is just one of many sites, that can provide you with some of the basic information about your domain. Who is the administrator of your domain (person who can make changes, basically legal owner), who is the registrar (main company that your domain is registered with or the ICANN Accredited company).”