04 Jan Watch out for DNS Services Invoice Scam

Watch out for DNS Services Invoice Scam

Have you recently received an invoice from a company called DNS Services charging you for “DNS backup services?” Be warned, it’s not an invoice, it’s a solicitation from DNS Services.

A client recently sent us a copy of an “invoice” he received from DNS Services — DNSsvc.com, a DNS backup provider. Take a look at the picture below to see the actual letter they received:

(click the image to see full-size)

On the surface, it looks like a bill, complete with a mailer to send in with a payment of $65. However, if you look closely (the block of text below the total in the account summary details box), you’ll notice that it’s actually “a solicitation for the order of goods or services, or both, and not a bill, invoice, or statement of account due. You are under no obligation to make any payments on account of this offer unless you accept this offer.”

In other words, it’s not a bill; you owe nothing. DNS Services simply wants to charge you so they can provide a service that you are not yet receiving. Think of this more like an advertisement — albeit, one so cleverly disguised to look like a bill that unsuspected customers might feel compelled to pay it, and that’s the problem. Unsuspecting customers have been sending DNS Services money for a service they didn’t want or need. What’s worse, we’ve read first-hand reports from other sites warning about DNS Services that a lot of these folks are having trouble getting their money back.

But what about a DNS backup service? Is this a service you actually want or need? Probably not, especially when you consider that NEPA Geeks already provide a backup domain-name server for web sites hosted with us. In general, 2 domain name servers are all you normally need. A DNS is, basically, an internet-connected computer that resolves a web address (the WWW.COM) to the computer where your website is hosted. It’s very rare that these servers go down. Therefore, a backup service isn’t really needed.

In short, if you receive an “invoice” from DNS Services, throw it away. You owe them nothing. And would you really want to do business with a company that conducts themselves in this way? Probably not.