Internet Register Ireland – potential scam

September 19, 2007 · Posted in Scam

The IEDR has notified us of a potential scam regarding an entity known as the ‘Internet Register Ireland’. To give you a little background on this case, a company called ‘DAD Deutscher Adressdienst GmbH’ operating under the name ‘Internet Register Ireland’ is currently in the process of contacting businesses with registered .ie domain names by post and by fax, soliciting them to register their domain name with the ‘Internet Register Ireland’. The letter will request the recipient to fill out their form and return it to them signed. It should be noted that they charge an excessive fee of approximately €958 for the registration of the .ie domain name in their database.

The IEDR has notified all IE Resellers about this scam and advised them to notify their clients accordingly. More information is available at the following url:

http://www.iedr.ie/NEWS/News-17Sept2007.php

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Comments

51 Responses to “Internet Register Ireland – potential scam”

Michele on September 19th, 2007 7:44 pm

They were at this last year as well and we’ve received several reports from clients about it this year.
Therese Hamill on July 10th, 2008 4:15 pm

I unfortunetely signed the document and am now being harrassed looking for payment.What can I do??

I have sent them numerous faxes stating that I do not want them to contact me again and to cancel my document but to avail. i keep getting letters and faxes from them. I ca never get through on the telephone.

Any suggestions??
Roseanne Smith on July 14th, 2008 10:47 am

Hi Therese,

That is a very frustrating situation. You should contact your solicitor for advice and inform them that you are doing same.

I hope you can resolve the situation. Keep an eye here – we may get more advice from other readers.

Roseanne
Rob Corbet on July 14th, 2008 12:48 pm

Therese
You should also report them to the Data Protection Commissioner’s office for refusing to cease their direct marketing activity but I’m afraid their location overseas would make any enforcement action by the DPC very difficult. As the matter involves fraud, you could also report the matter to the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation. I would not be inclined to continue correspondence with them as they are likely to just continually respond to you.
Regards
Rob Corbet, IIA Legal Working Group
Roseanne Smith on July 14th, 2008 1:09 pm

@Rob – thanks a million for that expert help.
Yvonne on September 17th, 2008 12:25 pm

Hi there
We just got one of these lovely letters today.

Interestingly, on the cover letter it says the entry is free, “The entry and any corrections to your basic details are free of charge”, while on the second page withe the company details it has the small print under ‘Order’: “…The advertisement costs 958 euros per annum and is payable after issue of invoice. The order is valid for the next three years from the date of order, and is subsequently extended each time by another year, unless written notice to terminate has been given three months prior to th end of the term of contract.”

These would seem to contradict each other.
I am sending this on to the DPC and might get on to the Garda also, thanks for this hints above.
Yvonne
Roseanne Smith on September 17th, 2008 1:09 pm

Hi Yvonne,

Thanks for letting us know about your experience. Good idea to send the evidence you have to the DPC and the Garda too. If nothing else it will help them build a case.

Good luck!
Roseanne
Leon Quinn on September 22nd, 2008 1:03 pm

Just got one of these myself today and I can see how they might confuse domain owners but if you already own a domain you really should know who you’ve bought it off and who you didn’t!

Bin these letters and any others coming from a company you never heard of, don’t encourage them by replying.
DmacMedia-Web Design » Internet Register Ireland Scam on October 2nd, 2008 5:05 pm

[...] IIA’s post on the subject The IIA, or Irish Internet Association, is a collection of professionals involved in the Web industry and can be an invaluable source of information regarding web related topics. [...]
Tim Rafferty on October 13th, 2008 12:17 pm

Regarding the Internet Register Ireland letters, does anyone have a copy of the original letter and order form, I’m particularly looking for the page that advertises the Free Offer. I’m being harassed on a daily basis by their debt collector.
John Thomspon on December 13th, 2008 3:11 pm

Hi Tim,

I have the original letter which I signed in error and I am now being harassed for not one but two years of their wonderful services. I have no intention of paying them as the letter is clearly deceptive. I have a jpg of the origional letter if you want it.
Maria Ward on February 9th, 2009 2:12 pm

Inadvertantly replied to this letter as it said it was a free update back in July 2008. Received an invoice today. Have absolutely no intention of paying it, has any one managed to cancel their order or taken legal steps? Any further suggestions on what to do?
Maria Ward on February 9th, 2009 3:12 pm

We signed up accidently in September 08 and received nothing until Feb 09. Person on phone mentioned we had an opportunity to cancel but no correspondance or cooling off terms were ever supplied. Has any one else received anything further from this bunch of crooks?
niall o loughlin on February 11th, 2009 12:54 pm

Does anyone know how they got our details in the 1st place?
Roseanne Smith on February 11th, 2009 1:53 pm

From any number of business directories I would imagine. In fact they are playing on the fears of business owners in relation to not being present in business directories and the attendant fear of loss of revenue to competitors who are. If you are approached by a company who are offering to include you in a business directory online or offline ask for information about their distribution/ their statistics and how they measure their reach and do their current customers have any information about their return on investment. Also you should ask them to send a copy of their current directory if it is printed; if it’s online you can have a look for yourself. Then approach companies who are listed and ask them what kind of return on their investment that they have seen from this directory. Has the online directory featured in the company’s analytics as a prominent referrer for example.

Roseanne
Squid on March 5th, 2009 12:54 pm

We also got caught by this..form came in Sept 8

Unfortunately before we realized what was happening, we have the form signed and sent back…

Now at the end of Feb 09 we get the invoice…

We also have no intention of paying but I have heard from looking at other peoples posts that the scammers employ overseas debt collectors to get the cash.

Looking at the form it clearly contradicts the contract…specifically where it says that the amount is payable in advance.

If you have not paid in advance then surely this voids any contract… (as long as you have not actually sent them the 958 euro and only signed the original order form)

Anyone have updates on this or where people stand legally?

if you look at their website http://www.internet-register-ireland.com it appears that they have caught mainly Charities in Ireland and even the Gardai station in cork..

Do we have to pay?
Breda O Kelly on March 5th, 2009 1:14 pm

I stupidly signed up last Septmeber. Never read the small print. I received an invoice last week and faxed it back to them saying ‘on legal advise please delete all of our details from your records. Please do not contact me again. Signed in error by junior member of staff with no authority to do so.
Today I have received another letter saying ’sorry but…..you have to pay the money.’ This is really upsetting me. How could I have been so stupid to sign up and now how am I going to shake them off. My boss will go beserk if he has to pay out legal fees and the sum of money they invoiced. Gggrrr
Roseanne Smith on March 5th, 2009 2:11 pm

Hi Squid, Hi Breda,

I’m sorry to hear that you have experienced this issue as well. It is heartening to note however that most of the people who have commented here have decided not to be conned and are refusing to pay. Let’s hope others are reading and not commenting but standing up to this deceptive tactics as well.

Again follow Rob’s advice of reporting them to the DPC for not ceasing direct marketing activities and your local Garda for fraud. Next time they contact you let them know that you are doing this and hopefully they will get the message.

Roseanne
Seán on March 10th, 2009 10:19 am

Hi,
I had also signed and returned the form without reading the small print. I now have an invoice and have done research into this company. It appears they are doing this a couple of years now, HAS ANYONE SUCCESSFULLY GOTTEN OUT OF THIS?
Ann on March 10th, 2009 11:07 am

I know someone that signed up for European City Guide, which is about the same price. After a first letter stating that after further consideration they were no longer interested and wanted to cancel the listing, they then received threatening notices saying that it wasn’t possible after a certain time as per the fine print on form they signed. As instructed by solicitor they never paid and have not responded to any further correspondence, as it’s just as unlikely that they’d bring legal action against you in their country as you would against them from Ireland. They’ve even received a renewal notice, which has also been ignored.

I know it’s scary to think they may take action and most honest people feel a bit bad about not paying for something they were duped in, but these practices are wrong and you should feel justified in not paying.

If you have already paid, it will be very difficult and costly to try get your money back.

I just found a site that may have some helpful info: http://www.stopecg.org/: “opposed to all companies that mail documents that they claim to be legally binding contracts where the document is formulated in such a way as to make it possible that people will sign it in error”.
Roseanne Smith on March 10th, 2009 11:16 am

Hi Ann,

Thanks for your comments. That’s a great link there too. As you will see from this link this is being taken seriously at a European level so there are steps being taken to close legal loopholes like this.

Good luck to all who are caught in this bind.
Roseanne
Seán on March 10th, 2009 11:53 am

Thanks Ann. The STOPECG website is interesting reading. I’ll give it a go.
fiona on March 10th, 2009 7:54 pm

Dirty scammers! So much for the open EU trading advantages. So we can be scammed across borders as well now..
Sara on April 6th, 2009 9:38 am

I feel a little less foolish (not much) for also signing the form as I also believed that it was ‘free’. the small print was very confusing and it appeared that the fee was IF you wanted further advertising. I emailed them to tell them to remove me but have the same letters back saying that I am legally obliged to pay. i have no intention of paying! I am a one man show, about to go on maternity leave too and am furious at being scammed.
In fact the stress of it is awful but I do feel better that others are also not paying.

i suggest that anyone receiving these letters returns them unopened to them.
Sandra on April 22nd, 2009 12:19 pm

Hi

I can’t believe I got caught out by this, returned the form last September and now receiving letters demanding that we pay. Do they go away eventually if you just ignore them or send back their own correspondence? Feel really stupid about it and just can’t bring myself to tell the boss!

Thanks to you all for making me feel slightly less stupid!
Sandra.
Matthew on April 29th, 2009 10:05 pm

This is still happening…. howcome they haven’t been closed down?
Roseanne Smith on April 30th, 2009 11:19 am

Matthew,

That is a very good question. I am putting it on my list of things to do over the summer (after Congress): investigate further why the Internet Register scam continues.

Thanks for your comment!
R
Italo Andrade on May 15th, 2009 3:46 pm

Hi, I send the first form signed as they mentioned free adv. and they use almost the same ”logo/name” internet register ireland .
I sent them few emails telling them to erase all the information about our site. Now they are sending a 958,00 bill of an invoice that was never ordered !
What can we do ??

Regards,
Damian Ryan on May 15th, 2009 4:51 pm

Someone filled this in on my behealf at work. It is fraud plain and simple. I have binned the letters without even opening them. I dont think they can force anyone to pay in Ireland. It would end up costing them more. They can threaten all they want. They offer no service!
Roseanne Smith on May 17th, 2009 9:46 pm

Hi Italo,
Tell them that you are going to report them to the Garda Fraud Squad and they will probably back off. Please read back over the previous which includes some advice from a member of the IIA Legal Working Group, Rob Corbet.
Good luck!
Roseanne
Roy Lalor on May 27th, 2009 2:46 pm

LTS First Aid Specialists is on many directories. We joined European City Guide as a free listing over three years ago

We never signed anything and keep getting invoices. I ignored them completely until I got an email last month. I advised them I would complain to the Fraud Squad. They have since sent another invoice.

I always thought it was a scam and I’m delighted with the advice i have got here.
Roseanne Smith on May 27th, 2009 4:10 pm

Hi Roy,

It’s so difficult sometimes to work out what’s legitimate and what’s not but as I point out in today’s Digital Digest IIA members are welcome to contact us if they are having trouble working out who’s legitimate.

Roseanne
Jonathan on June 22nd, 2009 2:20 pm

Hi,

We had a member of staff duped with the same letter last year. Since then we’ve had invoices, final reminders and now letters threatening legal action.

Has anybody taken the matter further in any way? I called the Garda Fraud Squad about it, they pointed out that no crime has been committed. While the small print is exactly that, small, once the document is signed its considered an acceptance of their services.

The person I was talking to couldn’t offer any advice on a professional level as we ‘knowingly’ signed up. They did however give their own personal view on the matter and said thats is unlikely it would be pursued given the difficulty/expense of doing so.

I’d still like to hear from anybody who might be further down the line with this scam than us and whether they’re just still ignoring demands or whether they’ve sought legal advice and acted on it.

Jonathan
Roseanne Smith on June 22nd, 2009 3:08 pm

Hi Jonathan,

I totally understand what you are saying, that you hate for your company to be dishonest when it was signed, small print or no. But look at it this way: you feel duped, so do all the others who find themselves in the same boat, some people think, “Oh well, I did sign it, my own stoopid fault.” and hand over the cash. That’s all these scammers care about. They won’t chase you through the courts because that is not where they are seeing their return on the very little investment they are making with their spam emails and the letters they send. They are making their money from people who pride themselves on their honesty (like you and others who commented here and many others who have phoned me.) That’s what makes it a scam. Similarly you can ask yourself everytime you hear from them what return are you getting on your investment? Have you seen a single sales lead from your listing? Have you even seen your listing?

I think the reason that we haven’t heard from anyone who has taken it further is because, due to media attention and the ease of finding details about this online, most Irish businesses are aware that this is a scam and have decided not to waste a single more second of their valuable time on it.

Good luck and all the best in your business!
Roseanne
Michael Dayl on July 20th, 2009 8:38 pm

I signed this, thinking i was updating my details on the proper Irish domain name registry. Instead I was conned. I have received dozens of threatening letters from these scam artists. I have written several times reminding them of their scam and that I will not be paying for a non-existent service. It is very stressful though. However, they can try to take me to court if they wish.
Seán F on August 10th, 2009 11:18 am

We have received a Final reminder from DAD gmbh. Do not intend paying but would like to know if anyone else is at the next stage i.e. being taken to court. For peace of mind we would like to know if these infuriating letters eventually stop ?
Roseanne Smith on August 10th, 2009 12:07 pm

Hi Seán,

Sorry to hear it’s gotten to that stage for you.

I have not heard of anyone being taken to court on this and not being a recipient I do not know when the letters stop. Maybe somebody else might like to comment?
Thanks
Roseanne
Jonathan on August 10th, 2009 12:16 pm

Hi,

Quick update on our situation. We received Final Demands, then letters from their Legal Department threatening to bring us to court. The last one we got was back in June. No sign of any of us being dragged off to court just yet!

I don’t think we’ve received any further letters since, but I suspect our name will pop up again in their mailing system and we’ll get a couple more. I know at the start I was a little concerned about these letters, but with the backing of management we’ve chosen to point blank ignore them. Haven’t lost a wink of sleep since!!!

Regards,

Jonathan
Roseanne Smith on August 11th, 2009 9:32 am

Jonathan,

Thanks for sharing your experience with us. Fingers crossed you’ve been taken off their list as un-bully-able.

Roseanne
Beware of the Internet Register Ireland « t2 creative technology solutions on January 4th, 2010 9:58 am

[...] This scam has been around at least 3 years now. Find more info on the IIA blog [...]
Tony McDermott on January 5th, 2010 2:03 pm

My 2010 version arrived the other day. I’m consigning it to the shredder to join its older siblings …. TMcD
gary on January 5th, 2010 3:59 pm

hi can any 1 help me where do i go to report a scam competition.
Denis on January 6th, 2010 11:49 am

Got letter this morning, postmarked Hong Kong. Did a quick search on Google and came across this discussion. Great to find out before being duped.

Regards

Denis
Eimear on January 6th, 2010 3:07 pm

They are still at it! We received a letter this morning. Can anything be done to stop them? Is this actually legal does anyone know?
Jonathan on January 7th, 2010 3:45 pm

Hi,

Update again on our situation. Nothing has ever come of the legal demands made last year… happy days. We have received… wait for it… 10 of the scam letters in the last week or 2. So out of curiosity I’ve just started to collect them!

We’ve been coming up with ideas what to do with them… the best suggestion so far is folding them up into a neat square and placing it under the leg of a wobbly table!

Regards,

Jonathan
Jonathan
Web Design Ireland - » Website Owners – Don’t get Caught for €958 on January 9th, 2010 4:06 pm

[...] second version in circulation at the moment is sent by “Internet Register Ireland” which is actually a German company. They want you to fill in the form to ensure that you [...]
Enda on January 11th, 2010 10:37 am

Hi.

I received three of these this morning (two for the one domain name…)

At least they were on recycled paper – now being recycled again.

Regards,

Enda.
Beware the scammers aka Internet Register Ireland : Irish Internet Association blog on January 11th, 2010 4:09 pm

[...] We’re obviously not alone as there has been an increase in trackbacks and comments on our original post on this matter. As one of our commenters points out at least it’s on Recycled Paper (you gotta [...]
Beware of “Internet Register Ireland” Scam « The FBD Money blog – investments, insurance, pensions, savings in Ireland on January 20th, 2010 9:58 am

[...] folks have been at this lark for quite a few years now and so they must be having some success. Our own internal processes ensured that this landed on [...]
mark Walker on February 24th, 2010 11:28 am

I have got caught as well
Just received an Invoice from them.
Is there any more update on this.
I dont intend to pay for it and have emailed them saying I didnt order this.
Has anybody been forced to pay yet
Thanks
Mark
Brian Judge on February 24th, 2010 9:15 pm

I got scammed by this, thought I was updating my real domain.ie registration information and signed. Have absolutely no intention on paying bill that arrived yesterday. Bring it on! Will forward on to all the bodies mentioned above.Thanks all for the ease of mind!