Domain Registry Of America - DRoA - support@droa.com - Namejuice - Brandon Gray Internet Services sends official-looking misleading notices to consumers telling them to renew their domain and then charges hundreds of dollars to transfer domain to DROA. Internet

DRoA sends notices from support@droa.com to consumers. The notices look like they're from some official United States registry, but Domain Registry of America is just a misleading name for a private company that registers domain names. DRoA sends notices saying that the consumers's domain is going to expire, taking advantage of the fact that a lot of people don't know all the details of how domains get renewed. They'll charge hundreds of dollars to renew the domain name (compared to $9 with godaddy.com for a renewal). Domain Registry of America then gets the client to transfer their domain to DRoA and continues to charge them exorbitant prices to keep renewing the domain every year.

I work for a company that makes websites for working professionals. We have had several clients who have been tricked by this scheme into paying hundreds of dollars because they got a notice in the mail that had their name, their domain name, and other personal details listed in the notice. However, this information is public knowledge. If you want to check if your domain is really expiring and where it is, simply go to http://who.is or http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp and type in your domain name. You will be shown all the public information on your domain name.