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Liberty Names & Corp.com Scams

A while back I posted about ListingCorp and how they were tricking people by sending out fake bills asking for money. In reality, it was a solicitation and no action was necessary, however the solicitation was made to look like a bill and it was made to convince the user that they had to pay.

Recently I’ve heard that Corp .com is doing the same thing and just a few days ago I got a letter from Liberty Names of America doing the same type of scam.

Liberty Names claims that my domain is set to expire and that I need to transfer it to their company in order to save it. The bottom of the letter even comes with a payment stub just like you’d find on most bills you receive.

Are these types of solicitations illegal? No, probably not. They are more un-ethical than anything else. Liberty Names at least makes it a bit more clear that this is not a bill. However, any legit company would not try to trick or scare unsuspecting people into paying for their service.

So how did they get your information? That’s easy. Anyone who registers a domain name has to put in owner information. This information is then made available to the public. To avoid this, register domains that offer protection. Some domains will give WHOIS protection for a cost or even for free. This blocks those shady companies from getting your information and sending you fake bills.

You can protect yourself by always double checking any suspicious mail before sending in money. Read the entire letter and, if you don’t feel comfortable, do a little research. Companies like Liberty Names of America, Corp.com and Listing Corp should not be kept in business by tricking people into giving them money.


19 Responses

  1. Jason B says:

    Nice post. I was doing some research on a piece of mail I recieved from ListingCorp when I came across your blog post in the search engine. I can see by your post and other sites that came up, that ListingCorp is nothing but a scam. Thanks for the heads up.

  2. candy says:

    SO I fell for it HEAVY, and sent in 2 yrs of payment as what was described as RENEWAL.. and then I realized 30 days later, Register.com my regular company. SO I called Liberty and ask for full refund, since it was still before my site expired and they said they would. UNfortunately I threw out their billing form, and never received my refund. My site has not been renewed , it ‘s a blank, I sent money to Register.com as well. But they say they no longer own domain name.

    YIKES>> does anyone here know how to contact Liberty Names? have a phone # or address?

    • Valerie says:

      Yes,I got scammed too! I have been fighting with them for 6 weeks now & have written complaints to every agency I can find. Please do the same. Here is the address & phone number:
      Liberty Names of America
      1623 Military Rd PMB 663
      Niagara Falls, NY 14304
      1-877-696-5662
      Good Luck!

  3. candy says:

    Too bad I didn’t read this blog in JULY@! we should all report this to BBB as it might help.

    someone linked to
    July 2006 consumer reports that states” Listing Corp.’s publicly available domain-name registration information lists a box at a New York City branch of UPS-owned Mail Boxes Etc. as the company’s mailing address. The Better Business Bureau in New York says it has only two reports on file for Listing Corp. However, a Google search for “Listing Corp.” produces links to scores of blogs and forums where people have posted complaints and warnings about the company and its mailings.

    Listing Corp. officials did not respond to repeated inquiries e-mailed to addresses in its domain registration information.”

  4. Listingcorp.com just sent a website listing service annual listing bill.
    Peek a-boo!
    What is the highest cost to enter into a one page sight as a substitute for my.yahoo.com?
    Now i can’t spend money as I am attempting to use city library’s computors and the share time is 90min./day.
    Just imaginary that we can run a front page on our own for the rate of 1.99/year. I would guess it will cost for a webmaster signiture at the bottom of my page. What I a going for is a local dinning space to use my web, as ad and cut costs as beginners. Then the listinglink could apply for added ad $.
    Now in hour of class at UIS and the name reference is M.Lingdens article that implies the legal side of copyright. Read on this subject, too.

  5. candy says:

    SO amazingly ..I did find my bill afterall, and called them again.. And they returned my $85. Received the check last week. Conclusion, Liberty names is sleezy in the way they solicit business, but have turned an ethical corner when it comes to returning your money if you ask for it. motto: keep an organized desk lol

  6. Thomas says:

    That’s good information Candy. Thanks.

  7. CH says:

    Oh Man these people should be fire bombed. Liberty Names did the same thing to us. Well, please submit:

    http://search.buffalo.bbb.org/codbrep.html?ID=17003127

    Number of complaints processed by the BBB since the firm’s BBB file was opened in August 2004: 127
    Number of complaints processed by the BBB in the last 12 months: 19
    Complaints Concerned:
    Selling Practices (117 complaints)
    4 Resolved
    113 Company did not respond

    Advertising Issues (2 complaints)
    1 Company made every reasonable effort to resolve
    1 Company did not respond

    Credit or Billing Disputes (1 complaints)
    1 Company did not respond

    Refund Practices (7 complaints)
    7 Company did not respond

  8. TomJaworowski says:

    I just got this bill today and I thought TuCows or iPower sold my information. 😮 (TuCows is the ICANN Accrideted Seller while iPower is one of there resellers) They didn’t 🙂 Then I did a Google search and I came up with your blog and did a little hunting that iPower warns you about this in there Knowledge Base.

  9. Dick says:

    I sent them $25 without so much as a thought of my actual hosting firm. Lots of bills, lots of checks. Any phone number? Please send to my email. Thanks

  10. Lisa says:

    I got f***ed by Liberty names also!!!!!!!WATCH OUT ALL AND TELL EVERYONE you know!

  11. Daniel says:

    On the envelope from Liberty Names I wrote “Rejected. Return to Sender” and dropped it in the mail box. At least they will have to pay return postage.

  12. rock_musician says:

    yeah, i just got one of those Liberty Names bills, and i shot of a frantic email to my usual domain manager. then i slapped my forehead and said “Google, dammit!” and here i am. thanks for posting this. people need to be warned.

  13. matt says:

    If you call this # 1-877-696-LNOA (5662) Mon to Fri 9am – 7pm EST.. you can request to be removed from their mailing list…

    I did it.. My boss has no idea who our domain is registered through… thanks to one of their mailings, he thought it was time to re-register..

    removal by phone is easy, and a good way to let them know what you think of their business practices.

  14. Harmonie says:

    To find out your registrar (who your domain name is registered through) go to whoi.sc and enter your domain name. Everything comes up. Hope this helps someone.

  15. Joe says:

    We had an e-commerce website built by Liberty Names. It’s been down since Oct 1st,09. They told me they are working on it. So far we are still down Oct 22nd,09. Joe

  16. anon says:

    Their website is no longer active, they go under a new business name: Choicehost.com. Of course they will claim they aren’t the same company but a reliable source has evidence that they are owned by the same company.

  17. greg long says:

    having issues with choicehost. they don’t answer their phones, you got on hold for 8 minutes then a full mailbox, they also do not respond to email requests.

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