by Paula Neal Mooney
The other day I got another letter in the mail from Liberty Names of America.
"Avoid facing complications with your domain name in the future by renewing and transferring your domain name from your current registrar to Liberty Names of America," it read.
The Liberty Names of America scamy-sounding pitch reminds me of another domain name scam letter that was faxed to dot com owners and bilked at least 27,000 of them out of 70 buck each.
That's at least 1.89 million dollars!
Granted, Liberty Names of America doesn't actually lie the way that other scam artist did to get unsuspecting folks' money.
But Liberty Names of America uses scam tactics in their pitch letters' wording that could make people think they need to send in money.
The stupid irony of the whole Liberty Names of America domain name scam is that they're pitching me on paying for a domain name I'd set up for free with Microsoft Office and then abandoned."The renewal process must take place before your domain name expires, failure of which may result in paying higher renewal prices in the future and having your domain name in a 'Registrar Lock' status," it continued in foreboding language.
The Liberty Names of America letter went on to peddle their misleading wares:
1 year $25.00
2 years (they say recommended) $40.00
5 years (they claim this is the best value) $85.00
So some poor schlump who owns a dot com name might get this official-looking Liberty Names of America letter, run for his credit card and immediately shell out anywhere from $25 - $85 a pop to keep his domain name safe.
I wonder how much more than 1.89 million dollars Liberty Names of America has bilked out of people?
"Beware of online duplicators!" the Liberty Names of America letter ironically warns. "There are individuals who wish to take advantage of your online identity."
Well, I purport that Liberty Names of America is trying to confuse and scare folks into switching their domain name registrar when they don't need to.
Liberty Names of America already has 133 (and counting) complaints filed against them with the Better Business Bureau.
Stick with the domain name registrar you bought your domain name from in the first place.
Or, if you're unhappy with them, search around the web and talk to other webmaster to find a better registrar. And stay far away from Liberty Names of America scam pitch artists.
2 comments:
I disagree with the previous comments about Liberty Names. Personally, I welcomed Liberty's solicitation. The ad made it clear that I did not have a listing with them, but could if I choose to. Previously I had been duped by Verizon Superpages. Without my permission, Verizon locked my domain for two years, then required me to pay a $50 release fee. Compared to the decitful practices of Verizon Superpages, Liberty Names is a welcome relief.
I agree with the post. I received a letter saying my domain "verify-royalbank.com" was about to expire.
What in the world kind of domain name is that? The closest thing I've ever had to a website was a blogspot and myspace account.
I think they are obviously scamming. I did NOT welcome their solicitation and personally I hope their building burns down.
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