Be Careful with Emails from Unknown Sources like DomainVerification.net

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When you get an email notification from someone, it’s always a good practice to double-check the validity of where the email came from and who is sending it. With domain registrations of .BIBLE domain names now open to the public, even owners of newly-registered .BIBLE domains may be contacted by solicitations that contain official-looking language but actually are not official.

Here’s 3 things to check to confirm whether or not an email notification about your domain verification is legitimate and official:

1. Confirm that the email is being sent from the registrar where you registered your domain name. Do not click on any links in any emails that come from other sources. If you’re not sure, please check with your registrar or contact us at the .BIBLE Registry about any doubts.
2. While verification of your domain’s contact (WHOIS) information is required by ICANN, this domain verification is FREE and you should not be paying anyone for verification.
3. When checking the validity of any website’s products and services, check for the physical address, phone number and contact information for the company or organization. If that information is not available on an “about” page, be extra careful.

As confirmed by a domain industry blog, be alert from emails from unofficial sources. In the article titled, Watch Out for DomainVerification.Net emails; Charging For ICANN Whois Verification, notice this important warning:

In this case however the notice is NOT coming from the registrar but a different company.

Of course your domain registrar does not charge you anything to verify your information as required by ICANN.

If you did pay money to verify your domain with DomainVerification.net but did not respond to a email from your domain registrar, I think your domain would wind up being suspended anyway.

The email asks you to click on a link to say the whois info is Accurate or not accurate and no matter which you click on you go to the following site which is charging between $93.95 and $49.95 a year ($9.95 for a 501 c-3)

The DomainVerification.net site has in the about us section only a contact form, no address, phone number or email and nothing else about the site or the company behind it.

This screen shot illustrates something that looks official, but actually is not official. Be careful out there. There’s another suspicious note on that website’s FAQ page—notice the invalid phone number:

Unfortunately, this is the reality of the Internet world today, there are these occasional “bad actors” that are misusing the Internet for illegitimate purposes. And we all have to be discerning and on our guard. Like it says in Matthew 7:15, “Be on your guard against false prophets; they come to you looking like sheep on the outside, but on the inside they are really like wild wolves.”