Nick, a regular reader, offered this advice on a scam known as domain slamming. If you have any domain names registered then take note of the following.
A company known as "Domain Registry of America" has been sending letters (the paper kind) telling people that their domain will expire soon and that they need to pay to renew it.
Normally you would renew your domain name with the company you’ve already used to register. But this company sends out letters that look like invoices hoping that some people will just pay it without questioning where it came from.
When you register a domain name you’re required to provide your name, mailing address, and email address. This information is made publicly available (use any of these free Whois services to view this information about any domain name). This is where they get your details from.
There’s plenty of information about domain slamming on these pages here, here and here.
If you own a domain name, especially a .com name, make sure that it’s locked. This is just an option you select when you setup the domain name. Then ignore any letters (or emails) you receive from other companies about your domain name.
Note that this happens in most countries, not just USA.