{"id":41660,"date":"2023-10-20T15:15:35","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/dont-get-stung-domain-name-corp-scam-targeting-business-owners-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:15:35","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:15:35","slug":"dont-get-stung-domain-name-corp-scam-targeting-business-owners-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/dont-get-stung-domain-name-corp-scam-targeting-business-owners-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t get stung: “Domain Name Corp” scam targeting business owners – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Domain<\/div>\n
\n

Businesses have been warned by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to keep an eye out for a new scam hitting mailboxes across the country.<\/p>\n

However this time it\u2019s not email inboxes that are being affected\u2014scams are landing in the actual mailboxes of businesses.<\/p>\n

A wave of letters delivered to companies nationwide are offering registration of new domain names, but are disguised as invoices for existing domain names.<\/p>\n

Read more: Over 1000 unauthorised .au domains deleted as regulatory body doubles down<\/strong><\/p>\n

More than 100 businesses have already been caught out, with many believing the invoices are to renew already existing domain names.<\/p>\n

The ACCC warns there have been a number of reports of letters from \u201cDomain Name Corp Pty Ltd”.<\/p>\n

The unsolicited letters are offering a totally new domain name very similar in appearance to an already existing one owned by a business. For example, the invoice could include selling a website with a .com address when a business already owns one with a .com.au address.<\/p>\n

The ACCC warns busy offices rushing to get bills paid over Christmas are common targets for these types of scam letters, and says, \u201cletters dealing with domain names should be checked carefully\u201d.<\/p>\n

The letters themselves have the appearance of an invoice or renewal notice, with features like credit card logos, barcodes, or payment slips.<\/p>\n

Business owners pay the invoice without realising it does not relate to the domain they currently own.<\/p>\n

Cyber security expert at Sense of Security Michael McKinnon told SmartCompany<\/em> these styles of scams have been commonplace since the deregistration of .au domains in 2002.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompany details can be found through online tools such as Whois, which display contact details associated with domain names,\u201d McKinnon says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are then matched against address databases, and letters are sent to the company itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letters themselves also tread a \u201cthin line\u201d when it comes to legality, as they often are selling legitimate domains, despite the disguises.<\/p>\n

McKinnon says the unusual act of sending a hard copy letter is because letters are more likely to be opened and read, where emails can be caught in spam filters or easily ignored.<\/p>\n

Busy offices are also more likely to pay invoice letters without hesitation McKinnon says, especially at this time of year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe letter lands on the desk of someone who assumes someone has already authorised paying it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cTiming is also important, typically these letters will go out at Christmas and at the end of the financial year, where businesses want to pay bills quickly and get the books in order.\u201d<\/p>\n

SMEs \u201cparticularly bad\u201d at renewing domains<\/h3>\n

Although there are no official statistics, McKinnon estimates 40% of business domains are renewed on the day they expire.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmall businesses are particularly bad at managing domain name renewal. They\u2019ll come into the office and realise emails are bouncing, and then they\u2019ll renew the domain,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of this companies can get anxious about the next time they have to renew their domain, so scams like this can be particularly effective.\u201d<\/p>\n

To avoid getting stung by dodgy domain name scams, McKinnon says to \u201calways read the fine print\u201d and seek advice if you\u2019re still unsure.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s an invitation to register another domain name, consult with a web developer or SEO expert if there\u2019s any value in acquiring additional domain names for your business,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally if it\u2019s not for intellectual property or genuine SEO reasons, there\u2019s no reason why you need an additional domain.”<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on SmartCompany. <\/em><\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook,<\/em> Twitter, LinkedIn and iTunes.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Businesses have been warned by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to keep an eye out for a new<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41660"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}