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Don't Be Fooled - Domains Australia

21st March 2005: Domains Australia Pty Ltd is at it again!  This time advising that .com domains which are registered and valid are available to be purchased.  Again at a very high price (well above retail prices).  When visiting their (new) website it advises that there was an error made with the mail out, and that in fact it should have read yourdomain.net.au.  Here's hoping the "botched" mail out didn't cost too much!

As always, contact your domain reseller that you have an existing relationship with before sending any money or providing registry keys to anyone.

This continual reinvention of the same old scam can only be stopped by awareness of what is happening - and therefore no one falling for the scam.  Please make sure that anyone you know who owns a domain is aware of the scam and to always, always read domain letters very carefully.

8th November 2004: While the auDA has been successful in proceedings against Domain Names Australia (http://www.auda.org.au/news/dna), new letters are now being received from Domains Australia Pty Ltd.  Funnily enough these have the same postal address.  Note that while there is technically nothing wrong with the letters, the prices quoted are above the standard retail.

Also note, as per usual, the letters may relate to variations of your domain name - substituting .net.au for your .com.au name.

(previous notification below)

June 2003: A company called Domain Names Australia is currently under investigation by auDA (for all consumer alerts from auDA check http://www.auda.org.au/news/alerts/) for issuing letters that will advise that the .COM or .NET.AU version of your domain is not registered or up for renewal (not your real .com.au domain). This letter may resemble an invoice and it contains misleading information.

Domain Names Australia quote a price of $237 for 2 years which is way above the recommended retail price of around $140 inc GST (contact Computer Image for a discounted price below this). Domain Names Australia director Mr Chesley Rafferty is also the director of Internet Registry Pty Ltd, who attempted this scam last year with .com.au domains.

Contact Computer Image if you receive any correspondence about your domain and are unsure of what to do. Many of these fraudulent letters use terminology that implies that if you don't take action soon your real (and safe) domain could be lost - which is not the case.

As always Computer Image recommends that you continue to deal with the company that provided your domain in the first place.