SCAM: D N S Services Invoice Scam

Have you received an invoice from a company called DNS Services located in Vancouver, WA?  Take it or leave it, our suggestion is DON'T PAY IT!

This company tends to poke it's head from time to time - usually at least one or twice a year.  Apparenlty it's that time again.  Over the last few days, we have received inquiries from several of our clients asking about an invoice they received from a company named DNS Services based in Vancourver, Washington.  If you look at the invoice, it looks pretty legitimate; however, a closer look and you'll pick up on their deceptive tactics.  Unfortunately, to the unsuspecting recipient, these invoices may end up in the Accounts Payable Department with a check getting cut before you even know what they are charging you for.

The DNS Services in Vancouver, Washington's invoice is for what they call Managed DNS Backup Business Services for $65.00 per year.  The invoice lists valid Name Servers and the Mail Server for the registrant's domain names along with the registratant's name and address.  By all appearances, they look like charges you should be paying.

Solicitation Disguised as Invoice Scam Alert - The fine print

If you take a closer look at the fine print towards the bottom of the charges section, you see the true nature of the solication tactic.  The image to the right has the solicitation disclaimer outlined in red.  The disclaimer states:

"This is a solicitation for the order of goods or services, or both, and not a bill, invoice or statement of account due.  You are under to obiligation to make any payments on account of htis offer unless you accept this offer."

Several Internet reports indicate that the above disclaimer statement was not included in the invoice they received from DNS Services.  If this is correct, DNS Services could be in violation of mail fraud.

What you can do about this nonsense.

If you receive an technology 'like' invoice and do not know what it is for, you are encouraged to do the following:

• Check with your accounting department or someone in your company and see if this invoice is from a company you normally do business with.
• When in doubt, do not pay the invoice until you get down to the bottom of it.
• Ask a trusted company like your IT provider or hosting company to review the invoice - our customer's did and we thank them for making that call.
• Investigate the invoicing company with the Better Business Bureau - the review at the BBB for DNS Services is a hoot and speaks for itself.
• Check a fact finding website like Webutation.net to inquire if there are any negative reports.

Some preventative steps you can take to avoid scams like this one:

• Check with your domain regristar and make your domain information private (aka business registration). Your information will no longer be public record and your contact information won't be plastered all over the internet.
• Make sure your domain is transfer prohibited which means no one can just take your domain away.  This prevents companies from 'hijacking' your domain name without you knowing about.
• Use a tool like Network-Tools.com on a regular basis to check for any irregulaties with your domain name.