If you have a domain registered in Canada (this very likely happens in other countries as well) you may receive a letter in the mail, such as this one shown here, informing you that your domain name registration will soon expire, and that you should renew it as soon as possible.
Be very careful – it may be a scam. This letter usually looks very official. It may list the domain or domains you have registered, along with their expiry dates. On the surface the letter looks like it’s coming from your domain registrar, but upon closer inspection you realize that this is in fact a letter from a domain registrar with whom you have no prior relationship. The letter is from a competing registrar trying to trick you in transferring your domain registration to them.
Although in most cases the registrar may be a genuine business, most likely the prices offered are much higher than the regular price you’d pay to your original registrar.
Why is this happening? You may not be aware of the fact that your name and postal address are publicly available from your domain registrar, and unscrupulous companies may abuse this system by sending you offers which in most cases are not in your best interest to pursue.
In Canada, due to the recent changes to the dot-ca WHOIS search tool, if you registered a domain as a private citizen your contact information is kept private, however, if you registered as a business, then your postal address and possibly other information, such as your name and telephone number may be available for “harvesting.”
Keep an eye on and protect your important business assets: your domain names. My personal recommendation for domain registration is 1&1 who offer free “private” registration, which is usually an additional fee of at least $10 annually per domain with other reputable registrars such as GoDaddy.com and NetFirms.com. A private registration hides all of your information from public view.