I am receiving more and more domain renewal scam. This is because some of the domains registrars do not offer privacy protection (or want extra money for it) so the contact information is available via the whois services. The scammers could be from different countries (most recent I received was sent from the States but the contact address was from Panama). So far it is nothing really sophisticated - they even don't do it close to the actual domain expiration date but nevertheless some people may fall into the trap.
What they do (at least in the example below) is actually legal but it is a trap for people who do not read or try to understand what they receive. Here is how it may look:
ATTENTION: IMPORTANT NOTICE
Domain SEO Service Registration Corp.
Order#: XXXX
Date: 02/11/2015
EXPIRATION OFFER NOTICE
DOMAIN: XXXXX
Notification Purchase Offer
EXPIRATION OFFER DATE: 02/19/2015
To: XXXX, Private
XXXX
Singapore
Singapore, NA, SINGAPORE
Domain Name:
Registration SEO Period:
Price:
Term:
XXXXX 03/05/2015 to 03/04/2016 $64.00 1 Year
SECURE ONLINE PAYMENT
Domain Name: xxxxx
Attn: XXXXX
This important expiration notification notifies you about the expiration offer notice of your domain registration for XXXXX search engine submission. The information in this expiration notification may contain confidential and/or legally privileged information from the notification processing department of the Domain SEO Service Registration to purchase our SEO Traffic Generator. This information is intended only for the use of the individual(s) named above.
If you fail to complete your domain name registration XXXXX search engine service by the expiration date, may result in the cancellation of this SEO domain name notification offer notice.
PLEASE CLICK ON
SECURE ONLINE PAYMENT
TO COMPLETE YOUR PAYMENT.
Failure to complete your domain name seo registration XXXXX search engine service process may make it difficult for customers to find you on the web.
CLICK UNDERNEATH FOR IMMEDIATE PAYMENT
PROCESS PAYMENT FOR
XXXXX
SECURE ONLINE PAYMENT
ACT IMMEDIATELY
This domain seo registration for XXXXX search engine service notification offer will expire 02/19/2015.
Instructions and Unsubscribe Instructions:
You have received this message because you elected to receive special notification offers. If you no longer wish to receive our notifications, please unsubscribe here or mail us a written request to Domain SEO Service Registration Corp., 5379 Lyons Rd. 452, Coconut Creek, FL 33073. If you have multiple accounts with us, you must opt out for each one individually in order to stop receiving notifications notices. We are a search engine optimization company. We do not directly register or renew domain names. We are selling traffic generator software tools. This message is CAN-SPAM compliant. THIS IS NOT A BILL. THIS IS A NOTIFICATION OFFER. YOU ARE UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO PAY THE AMOUNT STATED UNLESS YOU ACCEPT THIS NOTIFICATION OFFER. Please do not reply to this email, as we are not able to respond to messages sent to this address.