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PSA: LEGAL BUT LURID

July 8, 2019

Domain Scams are Everywhere

We all think we’re pretty sharp. None of you have supplied a Nigerian Prince with your checking account routing number yet, right?

I think we can all agree that many of the scams born in the age of the Internet are so transparent that we collectively wonder who in their right mind can fall for them. But, as the Internet ages, so do we and so too does our acute awareness of the nefarious.
If there is any domain still akin to the lawless wild west it is the Internet. There is no centralized police force there and with the right amount of cover, bad actors can get away with a lot.
One repeated scam is to send out, by snail mail, invoices for hosting or domain renewal. There is nothing illegal about this practice but it’s a shady practice that, if acted upon, could really tangle up an organization. The senders scour the lists of expiring domains or hosting contracts that are public record–making them private costs more–and solicit them all with a very official looking invoice.

 

ASK VFC
A VFC client recently brought the most recent version of this scam to our attention and, although we recognized it as a scheme right off, we were surprised by the authenticity it portrayed and confounded that the practice is not illegal.

When your company is aligned with VFC as its brand management partner, you only have one DNS registrar and one web host and we take extraordinary measures to ensure that domains don’t lapse and secure hosting is maintained. VFC has established protocols for the services we offer—including consulting on questions like, “is this invoice legitimate?”

CASE IN POINT

Long time VFC client, Konell Insurance recently received a very official looking invoice and asked us about it.
Nearly everything about this invoice appears genuine and, it isn’t until the last paragraph where one might find a message stating that, “this is a solicitation for the order of goods or services, or both, and not a bill, invoice or statement of account due.” Even if accounts payable departments did expend the time and energy to read the full message, it’s a fairly innocuous statement and could be overlooked.
VFC reported the request as fraudulent to our client and they were pleased, exclaiming “Glad I checked with you first!”
But it made us wonder how many bookkeepers of non-VFC clients might pay this solicitation without questioning—effectively transferring their hosting contract from a trusted provider to… who knows what kind of scenario? Sunshine Biz Services of Coconut Creek Florida is just one of many trying to create income by tricking honest business people, and you can be certain that– after pulling a stunt like this– they do not offer the same level of service as VFC or your current host. 

V FOR VIGILANT 

In these times, all businesses should be as vigilant as Konell Insurance and utilize every resource to promote and protect their brands. VFC offers a lot of creative and organizational services and we’re standing by to help 24/7/365.
VFC is your brand’s best collaborator for success—an experienced, responsive team effectively communicating creative messaging to achieve meaningful results. But we’re more than that, we’re consultants that help business owners navigate the anarchic universe of online communications.

 

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Backed by years of solid agency experience, VFC is an innovative and energetic team of award-winning copywriters, designers, illustrators and programmers prepared to grow your brand and your business. VFC delivers strategic marketing, advertising and public relations campaigns for a diverse roster of clients from a 170-year-old, high-tech renovated farmhouse in the heart of Chester County, Pennsylvania. For more information call 877-GROW ART or visit VFC on the web at www.virtualfarm.com.

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