Hi Webmasters

I have received several email asking me to renew a domain name:

REMINDER: Renew early for multiple years and lock in your savings!

For your review, listed below are domain names and their expiration dates. F.....COM - Mar. 09, 2011

Since I lost the domain name long time ago and couldn't get it back I asked if it was available again. Goddady replyed: According to WHOIS the domain name is registered to a Japanese company with the expiry date: 2011-12-02.

I wrote to Godaddy: According to your information the domain holder is a Japanese company as described below. Can you give me an explanation why you send me an email asking me to pay for a domain name which I do not own? (Expiration Date: 2011-12-02) I am just curious, I am sure there is no ill will on your part.

Godaddy answered:

Dear Sir or Madam, Thank you for contacting online support. This was just to let you know the domain is registered to someone else and who.

Then today I got yet another invoice asking me to renew the same domain name once again:

**REMINDER: Renew early for multiple years and lock in your savings! The product(s) listed below have expired or are at risk of expiring: Product NameNext Attempt Date.COM Domain Name Renewal - 1 Year (recurring)03/14/2011 F........COM You are at risk of losing the service(s) or product(s) listed above. Your products are currently set to renew manually – they will NOT be renewed automatically on the next attempt date.**

The expiry date has now been changed from the 9 of March to the 14 March.

Another party owns the domain name and further the domain name was never registered with Godaddy. This appears like a way to make a few buck on a unsuspecting customer, it might even be illegal. Any comment how to take this futher would be most welcome.