Is a letter in the post saying my domain name is expiring from a company I don't recognise real?

Domain renewal scam letters are physical mail sent to businesses and website owners. They look like invoices or renewal notices but are actually solicitations from a different, usually much more expensive, registrar trying to get you to transfer your domain. The letter uses urgent language about expiry and is formatted to resemble a genuine renewal. Paying the invoice transfers your domain to the sending company at rates far above market. In some versions, the domain is actually close to expiry, making the urgency appear legitimate. Your real registrar communicates renewal through the email address on your account. Always renew domains directly through your existing registrar's account panel, not by responding to any postal letter.

The letters work by exploiting the gap between whoever pays a business's invoices and whoever manages its technical accounts — an office manager sees an official-looking renewal notice with a real domain name and deadline and processes it in good faith. The expiry date is often accurate because registration records are public, which makes the urgency feel verified. The fix is administrative: designate domain management to one owner, document which registrar you actually use, and route any renewal correspondence to that person. Under that arrangement, every postal 'renewal' from an unknown company identifies itself as solicitation the moment it arrives.