Beware of scam mails during the holidays

The holidays are a busy time for scam artists and cyber criminals. Therefore, it is important to be particularly alert in regards to scam mails during this time of the year. Scam mails are often sent out during holiday periods, when the people responsible for domain names and IT security may not be working, in which case the incoming mail will be handled by an employee without relevant experience or knowledge – and, therefore, may react in sheer panic.

Here are a few situations you should be particularly aware of:
1. You are contacted by a helpful domain provider, who informs you that a third party is about to register a domain name containing your brand. Fortunately, if you respond within a very limited period of time, the friendly provider can stop the pending registration and instead secure the domain name for you. This, of course, requires a fee, which is usually disproportionately high. This is definitely a scam! No one can see when a domain name is about to be registered (unless they are doing the registration themselves, of course.) The registration of a domain name is not published until the registration is completed.  

2. You are warned by another helpful domain provider that your domain name, usually your main domain name, is about to expire. Fortunately, the friendly provider can renew the domain name before it expires, but also here you need to respond within a very limited period of time. Again a fee is required and again it is usually disproportionately high.This is most certainly a scam! If you are in doubt about the status of your domain names, contact your domain provider. If your domain names are managed by IP Dots, they will automatically and without exception be renewed in due time. 

Always check the sender of the received email. Sender can very easily change their name, if they want you to believe they are someone else. But you can usually view sender’s email address next to their name at the top of the email. If the name and the email address do not match, it is usually a scam mail.

If you receive suspicious emails from unknown organizations, do not click on links in the mail. Instead, delete the email immediately! Scam mails can vary a great deal. Scammers have become quite good and more often than not, everything looks both professional and seems completely legitimate. So be careful!

At IP Dots we are always well-informed about current threats and opportunities in the industry, inclusive of the latest scams, and we will be happy to help you determine if you are dealing with a valid inquiry – or a scam mail. Furthermore, we always send out warnings to our clients, when we are aware of scam mails being circulated.

You are always welcome to contact us, if you have questions or if you just want to receive our scam alerts, when we send them out.