Watch out for domain name renewal scam spam

A customer brought a £168 domain renewal notice to our attention. The email named their business and website, set a payment deadline and linked to an invoice. But this wasn’t a domain renewal at all. Buried in the small print: the sender wasn’t their registrar. They were merely charging £168 just to send reminders.

The domain itself wasn’t due to expire until May 2027. The November deadline was for the notification service—not the domain.

Your details don’t make it genuine

Knowing your company name, address and website doesn’t prove the sender manages your domain. Those details can be found publicly and used to make an unsolicited payment request look familiar.

A payment button, an invoice and a warning about interruption don’t establish that you owe anything either.

Before you pay

• Check who normally invoices you for your domain.
• Confirm the actual expiry date and registrar independently.
• Read what you are buying: registration, hosting, email and renewal notifications are different services.
• Contact your usual provider using details you already trust—not the payment link in the email.

The registrar listed in a lookup may be the wholesale supplier behind your usual provider, so an unfamiliar name isn’t automatically a problem.

For comparison, Datasouth is a registered Nominet registrar and charges £22.50 for a two-year UK domain renewal. That renews the domain itself—not just a reminder.

Our customer did the right thing: they asked before paying.

If a domain renewal notice doesn’t look right, forward it to Datasouth and we’ll help you check it. Better a quick question than an expensive reminder.