I received a letter in the mail stating that I needed to pay to keep my domain name and that additionally I would receive web ranking help. I sent the check, which was cashed on November 25, 2009, by Dominion Bank of Toronto.
Once I was informed that they were not in fact my registrant (by my webmaster) I contacted them and asked for a refund and was told I would receive one in 4-6 weeks. Now it is over 3 months later and they will not answer my emails. I also have since found the following information:
According to Whois the domain was registered to James Madison in New Britain, CT yet there is no street address listed anywhere and the company is not recognized by the Connecticut Corporation database. A reverse lookup goes to a landline at the Barnes 7 Noble College bookstore and other offices at Central Connecticut State University. A reverse address lookup yielded an address at The UPS Store, 1623 Military Road, Niagara Falls, NY 14304, an email address from them was from an IP address in Palo Alto, CA.
Clearly this is intentional mass mail deception and the person(s) are hiding behind various pseudonyms and addresses.
I am an older person not very familiar with such things and so I have to wonder if I was targeted. were it not for the help from my webmaster I would never have known I was ripped off.