{"id":2403,"date":"2013-12-06T17:23:01","date_gmt":"2013-12-06T21:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/?p=2403"},"modified":"2025-07-01T10:34:45","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T15:34:45","slug":"domain-registry-of-american-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html","title":{"rendered":"Domain Registry of America SCAM"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you are a website owner or operator, you&#8217;re used to receiving notifications from your provider that your domain name registry is up for renewal. For most of us, each year we have to update certain properties on our websites: copyrights, hosting, and domain name registration. However, &nbsp;if you had a third party marketing company, employee, friend, step-son, cat sitter etc. set up or handle your website you might receive a notice asking to renew your registration, pay the money, and be none-the-wiser that you actually just got scammed.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.droa.com\/index.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Domain Registry of America<\/a> may seem like a legitimate service and, in fact, they are. They have a decent website in which they market that they will give you &#8220;free hosting services&#8221; with domain registration. They do serve as both a hosting and domain registration company. It is their tactics used to acquire new customers that should be considered unethical at best.<\/p>\n<p>From what has been buzzing around the internet, Domain Registry of America uses <a href=\"http:\/\/www.whois.sc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Whois<\/a> sites to find current domain names and physical addresses of websites that use another hosting and domain provider. Then, they send a letter informing the recipient that their domain name is expiring soon and they must renew.<\/p>\n<p>The top right of the letter reads in large text: &#8220;DOMAIN NAME EXPIRATION NOTICE&#8221; (pictured below). If you continue reading it becomes clearer that they want you to &#8220;switch today&#8221; to their services from your current provider. &nbsp;However, for many people who see that header declaring their domain name has expired, they pay the bill and switch their services to DROA without even realizing.<\/p>\n<p>Now, this may not concern everyone and DROA keeps it legal by declaring on the page:&nbsp;&#8220;This statement is not a bill&#8221; in bold text. It is the ethics (or lack there of) in their approach that is questionable.<\/p>\n<p>As a domain name registration and website hosting company, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/\">Directory One<\/a> is very familiar with handling the renewal of these services. We needed to let our clients and others on the web know about this domain name registration scam. So be careful and make sure to take the time to read every statement received carefully.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2404\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/droa-scam-pic.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2404\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2404  \" src=\"http:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/droa-scam-pic-300x29.jpg\" alt=\"Domain Registry of American SCAM \" width=\"300\" height=\"29\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/droa-scam-pic-300x29.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/droa-scam-pic.jpg 589w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2404\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Header of Domain Registry of American scam letters.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you are a website owner or operator, you&#8217;re used to receiving notifications from your provider that your domain name registry is up for renewal. For most of us, each year we have to update certain properties on our websites: copyrights, hosting, and domain name registration. However, &nbsp;if you had a third party marketing company, employee, friend, step-son, cat sitter etc. set up or handle your website you might receive a notice asking to renew your registration, pay the money, and be none-the-wiser that you actually just got scammed. Domain Registry of America may seem like a legitimate service and, in fact, they are. They have a decent website in which they market that they will give you &#8220;free hosting services&#8221; with domain registration. They do serve as both a hosting and domain registration company. It is their tactics used to acquire new customers that should be considered unethical at best. From what has been buzzing around the internet, Domain Registry of America uses Whois sites to find current domain names and physical addresses of websites that use another hosting and domain provider. Then, they send a letter informing the recipient that their domain name is expiring soon and they<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4662,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,491,511],"tags":[901,902,900,898,899],"class_list":["post-2403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-computer-security-consulting","category-domains","category-hostin","tag-domain-owner-scam-alert","tag-domain-phishing-warning","tag-domain-registration-scam","tag-domain-registry-of-america-scam","tag-domain-renewal-scam"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Domain Registry of America Scam Warning for Owners<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Watch out for the Domain Registry of America scam. Learn how to spot fake renewal notices and protect your domain from deceptive solicitations.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Domain Registry of America Scam Warning for Owners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Watch out for the Domain Registry of America scam. Learn how to spot fake renewal notices and protect your domain from deceptive solicitations.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Search Engine Marketing &amp; Optimization Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-06T21:23:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-01T15:34:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/domain-names-domain-registration-website-name-url-address-web-page-hosting-on-website-creation-internet-and-web-telecommunication-robotic-hand-touching-digital-interface-illustration-vector-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip O&#039;Hara\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip O&#039;Hara\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Philip O'Hara\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b2c12d79fe6de0228be0c8b1a5f638e8\"},\"headline\":\"Domain Registry of America SCAM\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-06T21:23:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-01T15:34:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html\"},\"wordCount\":384,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/domain-names-domain-registration-website-name-url-address-web-page-hosting-on-website-creation-internet-and-web-telecommunication-robotic-hand-touching-digital-interface-illustration-vector-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"domain owner scam alert\",\"domain phishing warning\",\"domain registration scam\",\"Domain Registry of America scam\",\"domain renewal scam\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Computer Security Consulting\",\"Domains\",\"Website Hosting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html\",\"name\":\"Domain Registry of America Scam Warning for Owners\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/domain-names-domain-registration-website-name-url-address-web-page-hosting-on-website-creation-internet-and-web-telecommunication-robotic-hand-touching-digital-interface-illustration-vector-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-06T21:23:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-01T15:34:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b2c12d79fe6de0228be0c8b1a5f638e8\"},\"description\":\"Watch out for the Domain Registry of America scam. Learn how to spot fake renewal notices and protect your domain from deceptive solicitations.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/domain-names-domain-registration-website-name-url-address-web-page-hosting-on-website-creation-internet-and-web-telecommunication-robotic-hand-touching-digital-interface-illustration-vector-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/domain-names-domain-registration-website-name-url-address-web-page-hosting-on-website-creation-internet-and-web-telecommunication-robotic-hand-touching-digital-interface-illustration-vector-1.jpg\",\"width\":667,\"height\":400},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Domain Registry of America SCAM\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Search Engine Marketing &amp; Optimization Blog\",\"description\":\"Directory One\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b2c12d79fe6de0228be0c8b1a5f638e8\",\"name\":\"Philip O'Hara\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f50ee825a5ca27a3414764c22cebf5cf053ea9e8fed32b88969d19e919bfbb54?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f50ee825a5ca27a3414764c22cebf5cf053ea9e8fed32b88969d19e919bfbb54?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f50ee825a5ca27a3414764c22cebf5cf053ea9e8fed32b88969d19e919bfbb54?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Philip O'Hara\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/author\/philip\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Domain Registry of America Scam Warning for Owners","description":"Watch out for the Domain Registry of America scam. Learn how to spot fake renewal notices and protect your domain from deceptive solicitations.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Domain Registry of America Scam Warning for Owners","og_description":"Watch out for the Domain Registry of America scam. Learn how to spot fake renewal notices and protect your domain from deceptive solicitations.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html","og_site_name":"Search Engine Marketing &amp; Optimization Blog","article_published_time":"2013-12-06T21:23:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-01T15:34:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":667,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/domain-names-domain-registration-website-name-url-address-web-page-hosting-on-website-creation-internet-and-web-telecommunication-robotic-hand-touching-digital-interface-illustration-vector-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip O'Hara","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip O'Hara","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html"},"author":{"name":"Philip O'Hara","@id":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b2c12d79fe6de0228be0c8b1a5f638e8"},"headline":"Domain Registry of America SCAM","datePublished":"2013-12-06T21:23:01+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-01T15:34:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html"},"wordCount":384,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/domain-names-domain-registration-website-name-url-address-web-page-hosting-on-website-creation-internet-and-web-telecommunication-robotic-hand-touching-digital-interface-illustration-vector-1.jpg","keywords":["domain owner scam alert","domain phishing warning","domain registration scam","Domain Registry of America scam","domain renewal scam"],"articleSection":["Computer Security Consulting","Domains","Website Hosting"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html","url":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html","name":"Domain Registry of America Scam Warning for Owners","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/domain-names-domain-registration-website-name-url-address-web-page-hosting-on-website-creation-internet-and-web-telecommunication-robotic-hand-touching-digital-interface-illustration-vector-1.jpg","datePublished":"2013-12-06T21:23:01+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-01T15:34:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b2c12d79fe6de0228be0c8b1a5f638e8"},"description":"Watch out for the Domain Registry of America scam. Learn how to spot fake renewal notices and protect your domain from deceptive solicitations.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/domain-names-domain-registration-website-name-url-address-web-page-hosting-on-website-creation-internet-and-web-telecommunication-robotic-hand-touching-digital-interface-illustration-vector-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/domain-names-domain-registration-website-name-url-address-web-page-hosting-on-website-creation-internet-and-web-telecommunication-robotic-hand-touching-digital-interface-illustration-vector-1.jpg","width":667,"height":400},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/domain-registry-of-american-scam.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Domain Registry of America SCAM"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/","name":"Search Engine Marketing &amp; Optimization Blog","description":"Directory One","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b2c12d79fe6de0228be0c8b1a5f638e8","name":"Philip O'Hara","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f50ee825a5ca27a3414764c22cebf5cf053ea9e8fed32b88969d19e919bfbb54?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f50ee825a5ca27a3414764c22cebf5cf053ea9e8fed32b88969d19e919bfbb54?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f50ee825a5ca27a3414764c22cebf5cf053ea9e8fed32b88969d19e919bfbb54?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Philip O'Hara"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/author\/philip"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2403"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4320,"href":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403\/revisions\/4320"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.directoryone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}