The term "domain slamming" is derived from telephone slamming, where a subscriber's telephone service is changed without their consent - a practice particularly prevalent in the USA and Britain. Domain slamming has been rife for years, but people still unfortunately fall victim to the ploy.
The term "domain slamming" is derived from telephone slamming, where a subscriber's telephone service is changed without their consent - a practice particularly prevalent in the USA and Britain.
Domain slamming has been rife for years, but people still unfortunately fall victim to the ploy. While it can be an uncommon practice with country code Top Level Domains (ccTLD's) due to regulations in some nations, generic TLD's such as those ending in com, net and org are heavily targeted; particularly com.
Domain slamming usually consists of a registrar different to the one currently managing a particular domain name on behalf of a registrant sending out a letter to the registrant that looks like a registration renewal.
The communication is in fact a transfer form that will allow that registrar to transfer the management of that name to their own service. Other services may be tacked onto the "renewal" that further increases the cost.
The term "transfer" may even be on the form in smaller print and noticed by those with a sharp eye or who are aware of the practice, but in some cases this may not even be stated or stated in such a way the average person has little chance of realising what will occur.
It's not that the domain name is being "stolen" as such as the registrant still has access to it, but it's still in effect an unauthorised transfer - much like finding that one month you are subscribed to one company for telephone services and the next month, another - without ever having consciously made a decision to change carriers.
The other troubling factor is given the acquiring registrar's tactics; their service quality may reflect their approach to client "acquisition". Additionally, during the unauthorised transfer, vital settings may be changed that can render a registrant's web site and email non-functioning.
One of the safeguards implemented to improve security and help reduce the domain slamming problem was the "Registrar Lock". Domain names with the lock enabled cannot be transferred until the registrant accesses their account and clears the lock.
Registrants of com names who live outside of the USA and Canada are by no means immune from receiving domain slamming letters from overseas services. It seems the strategy is successful enough that it makes it worth the offending registrar's while to pay for the overseas postage.
To play things safe, registrants receiving such letters should always go directly to their own registrar's web site in order to check whether their domain name does need renewing or to contact their registrar to determine the authenticity of the letter.
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