Drastic? Perhaps.
Effective? You bet!

These free email services require absolutely no proof of identification and cannot be traced to any real person, providing the thief a perfect veil to hide behind.

Online merchants that have implemented this type of policy have shown a dramatic decrease in fraudulent orders-more than 80 percent according to online fraud agencies.

Rarely are fraudulent orders placed through a standard, ISP, website or domain based email address which can be easily traced to its owner. And since every ISP and hosting company issues at least one email with an account, virtually everyone with a free email address, also has a traceable ISP or domain-based address.

So be sure you have a 'legitimate' email address that readily identifies who you are. In the fight against online fraud, it's the merchant's front-line of defense.

Register.com (or the Canadian variation) is not hiding the fact that this mailing comes from them. But just like the VeriSign scam that came before it, their mailing is deceptive: it's a request for transfer disguised as a renewal notification.

The purpose behind these notices is to get the unsuspecting customer to transfer their domain name(s) to Register.com, at significantly higher prices.

Those customers who fall prey to the Register.com scheme will have their domain name(s) renewed at a price almost 3 times higher than would be the case if they renewed with other reputable companies.

For a .com, .net or .org domain name renewal, the victimized customer would pay as much as US$29.95 for the transfer to Register.com, instead of the charges as little as US$9.95 with other reputable companies.

Whatsmore, they will not receive any better service or value and will have been tricked out of nearly $20 per domain name.

If you believe, as we do, that practices such as those of Register.com is misleading and predatory, we invite you to make your feelings known by writing to ICANN (who is the governing body for all Registrars and Registries) and Register.com.

ICANN Registrar Complaint Form (hosted at InterNIC)
http://www.internic.net/cgi/registrars/problem-report.cgi

Register.com Customer Service
http://www.register.com/contact_us_bridge.cgi
U.S. & Canada: 800-899-9723
Outside the U.S. & Canada: +1 (902) 749-2701

Here are some common tricks to watch out for:

Bait-and-switch transfers: Some companies offer extremely low-cost or even free transfers. But when it comes time to renew, they sock you with prices that are two, three, or four times the amount that most reputable web hosts/domain registrars charge.

Unbelievably low prices: All registrars have to pay the registry for the domains they sell, and that price is fixed at a set amount. If you see domains priced at less than US$6, the seller is actually losing money. How do they make it up? That’s right – they sock you at annual renewal; provide inadequate or no service; and/or charge unreasonably high prices for the other services you need.

Vanishing companies: One technique the “big guys” use is to launch small companies that offer incredibly low prices. They advertise all over the Internet for a while; capture all the customers they can and then – they disappear. Those unfortunate enough to have registered or transferred a domain to them will be rolled back into their parent company – at the parent company’s much higher rates or, approached right away by a new operator (really the old one in another name), only too pleased to take you in (pun intended!) once again, in your time of need.

Please do not respond to these notices. Responding to the notice will NOT cause your .BIZ name to be renewed. Instead, you will merely be providing your credit card information to Mr. Goudie and possibly other unknown individuals who may be running a credit card scam. The notices being sent out read as follows:

Domain Support Group hopes to trick our customers into purchasing or renewing domain names through them, at significantly higher prices than they would pay by purchasing directly from say us at onlinegiftbaskets.com.

Customers who fall prey to this scheme could have their domain name(s) transferred to another registrar at a price much higher than would be the case if they purchased directly from onlinegiftbaskets.com.

Their telephone representatives also claim to have contracted with their domain provider to provide certain support services. This is not true. Your domain registrar has no relationship with Domain Support Group.

Further, as best as we can determine, the Domain Support Group is getting telephone numbers through the public, "Whois" database.

If you believe, like we do, that this practice of Domain Support Group is misleading and improper, we invite you to make your feelings known by writing to the Federal Trade Commission, your local Province/State's Consumer Protection Office, and/or ICANN.

Use a good virus detection tool, such as McAfee virus protection. It acts as a frontline defense by scanning your web-based (IMAP) WebMail communications for viruses. We recommend you also purchase a general anti-virus program that scans your entire computer. The little you'll spend now can save you from major or irreplaceable loss later.

Second, most harmful viruses and the like are spread via email attachments. So look carefully at the emails in your inbox before you open them. Look first to see if the message has an attachment; this will be indicated by a small graphic. If the email has an attachment, proceed with caution! Look at the "FROM" line. Don't know who it's from? Don't open the email; delete it. Even if you do know who it's from, be careful: many viruses spread by getting legitimate addresses from unsuspecting recipients address books and sending themselves from that address! So if you weren't expecting an email with an attachment from someone you know, confirm with them before you open. If you can't confirm, delete it. Now look at the "SUBJECT" line. Many email viruses get opened because the subject line seems friendly or fun; "Cute picture" or "Fun game" or even "Thought you might like this" sound innocent enough, but should be a tip off. Again, delete if you don't know the sender. Confirm if you do.

Third, know who you're dealing with. OGB takes extraordinary security measures to help ensure our email doesn't cause you problems. Some scammers will intentionally send email that looks at a glance like it's from someone you trust. You'll always see "@onlinegiftbaskets.com" in the address if it's from us.

So there you have it: Three simple, common sense ways to protect yourself from email mischief. If you ever have a concern about email from onlinegiftbaskets.com, or if we can help in any way, just give us a call at (877) 228-5855 or email us at memberservices@onlinegiftbaskets.com.

Someone is sending emails to recent domain registrants.

The scammer's email instructs recipients to divulge – via fax (usually requesting the information be sent to a fax number in Nevada) – for account verification purposes, their Social Insurance/Security Number; and proof of address.

You should know two things: First, legitimate businesses, banks, organizations would never ask for this information, in any form, period.

Second, these scam artists constantly probe the “Whois” database, the central repository of ownership information for all domain name owners. (You can think of the Whois database as being the Internet equivalent of your local County Recorder's office. Real estate ownership information is required by law to be public; it's the same with domain name ownership.)

We won't speculate as to the intent of these scammers, but it can't be good. So please: If you receive one of the emails we've described above (or any other communication that makes you suspicious in the future) please do not respond to them! Instead, forward them to the special address we've set up: alert@onlinegiftbaskets.com.