Phishing is nothing new

Everybody seems to be talking about phishing now.  The thing is though, phishing has been around for ages, even before the Internet.  People have been tricking others through postal mail for ages.  I was reminded of this when I was talking with a client about receiving an official looking government notice saying that you must buy a poster set that has all of the federally mandated posting requirements or face high penalties.  The issue though is most businesses can obtain these posters from the agenciies themselves for free or through organizations such as the Indiana Chamber for a low price.

Anytime you receive any type of request for payment you really have to think through what it is.  We see this same type of postal mail phishing with companies trying to get you to switch over your domain name.  They monitor the WHOIS database (which is where contact information for domain name owners is kept) and send out notices before a domain name expires.  Again these companies focus on the fear factor and try to scare you into paying them.  You think you are doing the right thing, because it seems like if you don't you will lose your domain name, however you are really switching providers and are going to probably pay a much higher rate.

There is a way to stop all of this nonsense though, and its quite simple.  You need to simply not buy from these companies, and tell everyone else not to buy too.  People send these notices out because people actually do pay them and they find it to be profitable.  If more people were aware of the real reasons for these notices then that equation will change, and as soon as it loses it profitability then
the mailings will stop.