The Business of Software

In the last few days I've received several bogus "warnings" of inaccurate domain contact information, from several of the large domain registration back-ends like Network Solutions, etc. The link in the emails actually goes to an address like http://www.enom.com.ssl78.biz.

Evidently the purpose is to induce you to try to log into your domain control panel through their link, and thereby hand over the keys to your little kingdom.

FYI.

They look like this:

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To: <myname@mydomain.com>
Subject: Attention: Inaccurate whois information.
From: "eNom Support Team" <info2@enom.com>
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2008 22:52:53 +0300
Dear user,


On Fri, 31 Oct 2008 22:52:53 +0300 we received a third party complaint of invalid domain contact information in the Whois database for this domain Whenever we receive a complaint, we are required by ICANN regulations to initiate an investigation as to whether the contact data displaying in the Whois database is valid data or not. If we find that there is invalid or missing data, we contact both the registrant and the account holder and inform them to update the information.


The contact information for the domain which displayed in the Whois database was indeed invalid. On Fri, 31 Oct 2008 22:52:53 +0300 we sent a notice to you at the admin/tech contact email address and the account email address informing you of invalid data in breach of the domain registration agreement and advising you to update the information or risk cancellation of the domain. The contact information was not updated within the specified period of time and we canceled the domain. The domain has subsequently been purchased by another party. You will need to contact them for any further inquiries regarding the domain.


PLEASE VERIFY YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION - http://www.enom.com


If you find any invalid contact information for this domain, please respond to this email with evidence of the specific contact information you have found to be invalid on the Whois record for the domain name. Examples would be a bounced email or returned postal mail. If you have a bounced email, please attach or forward with your reply or in the case of returned postal mail, scan the returned letter and attach to your email reply or please send it to:
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I got my routine notice of ICANN contact info updates from GoDaddy the other day. 

That particular email was not a phishing expedition, but domain owners ought to check very carefully before clicking on embedded links, no matter who your registrar is.

Thanks for the heads up.  I got a similar email a couple of years ago, and almost bit.  Since then I've been paying $8/year to hide my contact information from whois services, which seems to have eliminated emails from other domain registration services as well as the phishers with bad intent.

Thanks BB! I honestly wonder how we can continue to be captive to a bunch of criminals who've turned email into 99% spam.

If stuff like this is encountered, where do we report it (in the U.S.)?
What's the name of the government organization which deals with cybercrime?