Beware Domain Name Renewal Phishing Attacks

ByEmily Dolloff

Most phishing attacks are easy to identify, but we’ve just seen one that’s more likely to evade detection. Those who own personal or business Internet domain names—to personalize their email or provide an online presence for their website—may receive fake messages claiming that a domain has been deactivated due to a payment issue. Because scammers can determine when domain names are due to expire and the name of the company hosting the domain, the urgency triggered by a message that appears to be from the domain host and arriving near the renewal date may cause someone to click a link they shouldn’t. This particular one wasn’t even that well crafted and still caused the recipient brief concern until they manually went to DreamHost and verified that nothing was wrong with their domain payment. Stay alert out there!

(Featured image by iStock.com/weerapatkiatdumrong)

Social Media: Phishing scams are becoming more sophisticated. A message that seems to come from an Internet domain host and arrives around the time of a domain renewal could deceive even experienced users.

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