We have recently been made aware of a phone scam targeting domain name registrants. 

In the scam, registrants are contacted by telephone, by someone claiming to have 3rd party ownership of the registrant’s domain. They then make a demand for money or they will sell the domain on.

Please be wary of any unsolicited calls or emails regarding your domain name(s) or web presence.

If you have an existing domain name and you receive an unsolicited call or email about its registration, you should contact your registrar in the first instance and they will be able to give you advice and verify if any action needs to be taken.

If you don’t know who your registrar is, for .uk domains you can use the WHOIS search on Nominet’s website. Enter your domain name in the WHOIS search box and it will return details of your registrar. If you have a domain name that is coming up for renewal, your registrar will generally give you notice of this well in advance, rather than a matter of days before expiry.

Alternatively click here for .coms and .nets, or  for .orgs click here. 

You can find more information about domain name scams and how to avoid them on Nominet’s website. There is also more information about scams in our guide.