By this time, in the fourth decade of the World Wide Web, the concept of Web scams is well understood. Most everyone with a computer or a smartphone or a tablet has come across a text message, web page, or email that has directed them to a site that promises one thing but delivers something else. Most of the scams are aimed at invading your privacy, selling you something you don’t want at a price you don’t want to pay, or in some other fashion compromising your identity, privacy, or solvency.
But if you own a website, you are also subject to all kinds of scams, from attacks by criminals trying to compromise the site, to individuals or companies trying to drain your bank account in some way. This leads us to the Domain Listings Scam. This company, which apparently lives in a post office box in Las Vegas, has a website filled with generic clipart. The site is unclear on exactly what it has to offer, but if you pay (by the due date) the rather exorbitant fee, you can have your site listed in their database for a year.
What does this listing do? It holds the name of your site in its database. What can you do with this service? You can go to their site and look yourself up. What good does this do? It gives you the satisfaction of finding yourself in their database.
Does it increase the security of your site? No. Does it bring visitors to your site? No. Do they act as a domain registrar, keeping DNS records of your site? No. Do they host your site? No. Does it make your site more visible in search engines? No.
Does it bring them $288.00 per year (up significantly from last year’s price of $228.00)? Yes.
Does this $288 provide any other benefit to anyone? No.
