[plug] Domains Australia Pty Ltd - Consumer Alert (fwd)

[Shayne O'Neill]

fyi. This was actually spammed to me (I've emailed adam and asked he
provide opt out info for these messages) but yeah. Its worth letting your
customers be aware to only pay heed to DNS warnings from there own
provider and not use hyperlinks from mails, well, in general.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 23:22:47 +1100
From: adam.king at auda.org.au
Subject: Domains Australia Pty Ltd - Consumer Alert

You are receiving this email because you are the registrant contact for a
.au domain name. .au Domain Administration Ltd (auDA) is the Australian
company that operates .au.

auDA has become aware that a company called Domains Australia Pty Ltd is
sending letters and/or faxes to some domain name registrants offering to
arrange registration of a .com domain name for $225.

The letter is headed 'DOMAIN NAME AVAILABLE'. auDA has received numerous
complaints which indicate that some of the names being offered are either:

1. registered already to the recipient of the letter and not due to expire
in the near future; or

2. registered to a different entity and is not available for registration.

auDA is concerned that the letters may:

a) mislead people into believing that their .com domain name has expired
when it has not; or

b) mislead people into believing that a .com name is available for
registration when it is not; and

c) in either case induce people to pay money to Domains Australia for a
service that the company is unable to deliver.

Domains Australia is a company controlled by Chesley Rafferty, who is also
a Director of Domain Names Australia Pty Ltd.

auDA has successfully taken legal action against Mr Rafferty and Domain
Names Australia under the Trade Practices Act.
For more information see http://www.auda.org.au/news/dna.

If you have received a .com letter from Domains Australia and you wish to
lodge a formal complaint, auDA advises that you immediately contact the
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) either by lodging an
electronic complaint at
http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/3634 or by faxing details
to their Canberra office on (02) 6243 1199.

Adam King
auDA