Scam? DNS Ireland email

nickibopp

Hi folks,

I got an email this morning that I think is a scam and wanted to check with yis all. I'm posting the email down the bottom here - it's from a company with an address in Blanchardstown but there's no phone number on the website and the mail reads pretty much the same as the scam posted here: https://www.aqueous-digital.co.uk/scams/domain-name-scams-are-still-worrying-business-owners

Dodgy McDodge?

The email I received reads:

Dear Sir/Madam,


We have received a request for the registration of the website www.civictrusthouse.com Our system shows that you are the owner of www.civictrusthouse.ie. This can have far-reaching consequences for you in the future. We are therefore under the obligation to contact you, in order to offer you the first right of registration. This means that we will reject the application of the third party and the website:



www.civictrusthouse.com



After agreement we will link this website to:



www.civictrusthouse.ie



This means that you will have the first option on the domain name, in order to avoid possible future problems.


We are usually under the obligation to register the domain name and to protect it for a period of 10 years. The annual price for the .COM extension is € 19.95 per year. This means a one-off payment of € 199.50. When the link has been completed, all the Internet traffic that goes to the .COM extension, will be automatically linked to your current extension and website. This process will take a maximum of 24 hours. This domain name will then have a worldwide reach. The third party will be rejected and can no longer use your domain name.



Important information:

- You will receive a one-off invoice of € 199.50, exclusive of VAT, for a term of 10 years.

- This contract can be cancelled at all times after the first term of one year. The paid amount for the remaining number of years will be refunded to your account.

If you agree to our offer, please send an agreement by email within 48 hours after receipt of this email, stating your name, address and VAT number in a reply to this e-mail address.

The third party will subsequently be rejected by us, and we will then complete the link. You will receive a confirmation and all the information you need by email on the same day.



With kind regards,



Brendan Ryan
DNS Ireland
www.dnsireland.org

brendan@dnsireland.org

ArrBee

Surely the page you link to explains everything?

L1011

Devious marketing rather than a scam realistically. There will never have been a 'request to register' the .com.

If you want it, buy it from someone else - the ten years thing is an outright lie and you can get domain registration far cheaper.

nickibopp

Thanks to both of you, just checking...

L1011

Just got one of these in work, seems to be working their way through the .ie registry for domains where there is the same domain on another TLD still available. Was .eu in our case.

AnCatDubh

I have seen some commentary around this specific email campaign and I wonder how they are fixed in terms of GDPR.

Generally since May last, I'm finding that there are a significant number of companies who don't appear to have gotten the basics of GDPR in terms of the basics - like having consent or legal basis on which to collect/harvest/use your email/personal data and/or contact you without such consent being in place.

Graham

Plenty of chatter about this crowd and their dodgy marketing.

https://www.google.com/search?q=dnsireland+scam

KoolKid

Many hosting companies already warning about them.

mneylon

It's a scummy sales tactic, but apart from warning people not to be duped I'm not sure there's much else that can be done.
The only piece where there's a potential breach of the law is in how they got the contact details for the various people / companies / organisations they contacted.