The Slam Game Hits Domains

Dec 1, 2008

Slamming isn’t just alive and well in the telecommunication industry. It is now rearing its ugly head on the internet and relates to domains.

Isn’t that just like unethical people finding a scheme to rip off consumers and then have another scammer come along and do one better? Such appears to be the case with slamming. No one knows that better than the Wannamaker Law firm in Houston, Texas.

Slamming is often found in the phone industry where customers suddenly find their long distance or local carrier has been switched without their consent. If that isn’t enough to choke a bill paying consumer, people have now found a way to reassign Internet service to another provider without consent.

One of the first things that needs to be done these days is check any bills that get dumped in the mailbox. If there is a charge on there that doesn’t ring a bell, then question it.

If the name of the service provider abruptly changes, raise cain with the company. Part of the reason this kind of practice is so prevalent is because people do not make it a habit to pay attention to what they are being billed for and by whom. Dan Wannamaker, of Wannamaker Law, Austin, Texas, cautions people to always be aware of what is going on with billing for the services they receive.

Domain slamming is plain and simple domain hijacking. It happens when a registrar who wants to snag people’s accounts sends what appears to be a domain renewal or expiry notice to customers. This is done by email or the U.S. postal service.

If the notices aren’t read in detail, they tend to look like a person is actually registered with that company or domain name registrar. The note goes on to say the domain is about to expire and it needs to be renewed.

Responding to that notice means the domain is not being renewed with the regular domain registrar. It is being registered with this less than ethical company who is scamming for business. “No one needs to find their whole livelihood compromised by schemes such as this,” said Wannamaker.

The least of the problems that a consumer will have with this type of fraud are increased fees for services they might not require or want. The worst-case scenario is the existing website no longer works and email services may be compromised or, and this is the ultimate insult, the domain points to someplace raunchy. If that happens the end user may end up losing their domain name entirely.

Phone slamming now requires third party verification to have phone services moved to another carrier. It’s not too much of a stretch to see that happening with domain name registrar services.

To learn more, visit https://www.wannamakerlaw.com.

Adviatech Corp. PR for Wannamaker & Associates
9280 Bay Plaza Blvd Suite 706
Tampa, FL 33619
1.813.600.3017

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