Domain renewal scams are a long-running, global fraud pattern that also reaches Nepali businesses — official-looking notices, often by email but sometimes by physical mail, warning that your domain is about to expire and demanding urgent payment to an unfamiliar company.

How the Scam Typically Works

  • The notice looks official, sometimes closely mimicking your actual registrar's branding or using generic "domain registry" language designed to sound authoritative.
  • It creates urgency — "final notice," "expires in 24 hours" — pressuring a quick decision without careful reading.
  • The requested price is often dramatically higher than your actual registrar's renewal rate.
  • Paying it sometimes transfers your domain to the scammer's registrar rather than simply renewing it with your existing one — potentially the more damaging outcome.

How to Recognize a Fake Notice

  1. Check the sender's actual email address and company name against your real, known registrar — not just the branding shown in the message.
  2. Compare the stated renewal price against your actual account's known pricing.
  3. Look for excessive urgency language, a classic hallmark of scam communications generally.
  4. Log into your real registrar account directly (never through a link in the suspicious email) to verify your domain's actual expiry date.

What to Do If You Receive One

  • Do not click any links or provide payment information from the notice itself.
  • Verify your domain's real status by logging directly into your known registrar's website.
  • Report the notice as spam or phishing rather than engaging with it.
  • If genuinely uncertain, contact your actual registrar's support team directly to confirm.

Prevention Going Forward

  1. Keep your domain's WHOIS privacy protection enabled, reducing how easily scammers can target you with personalized notices.
  2. Know your actual renewal date and registrar so a fake notice is immediately recognizable as inconsistent.
  3. Enable auto-renewal with your legitimate registrar, removing the urgency scammers rely on.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are these scams common in Nepal specifically?

This is a global scam pattern affecting domain owners everywhere, not unique to Nepal, though local businesses have reported receiving them.

What if I already paid a scam renewal notice?

Contact your bank or payment provider immediately to dispute the charge if possible, and verify your domain's actual status directly with your real registrar without delay.

Verify your domain's real status. See our domain services or contact our team to confirm.