Someone bought a domain under my name

now they want me to renew?

[clearvision]

I received a letter in the mail from a company saying my domain name was expiring (a domain I never purchased...its my domain name with a different end - widgets.info mine is widgets.com)

So I went to see who it is registered to and all the information entered is the same as my original domain...exactly.

I then called the company and they told me it was purchase for me for FREE for one year by Sipence Inc. I told them how can this be legal, I don't have access to any login.

I don't like the fact that they put my personal information on something I didn't authorize.
Is this legal...does that mean I own this web domain? Can I transfer this to a registrar of my choice?

What should I do?

[dauction]

This is a .Info marketing ploy to increase awareness (and registrations) of .info, the name was registered for you ..you are under no obligation to renew .

Not a big deal just ignore the mail ...

of course you are also free to sue anyone you want at any time for any reason..

Your pick ..hassle or hassle free

[abates]

If they were silly enough to enter your email address for the contact details, you should be able to take control of the domain and transfer it to another registrar...

[clearvision]

Email address was included,so I am giving it a shot and attempting to transfer through my current registrar. $10 is all it should take and I will have the full set :)

Can they deny this for any reason?

[Eltiti]

IIRC, you can't transfer names just after they were registered or just before they're about to expire (not sure how many days "just" is, though).

If you try to transfer and are told you can't, it may well be an attempt to scam you into registering the domain with them, and I would just let it expire unless you really, really want it now... :-)

[clearvision]

It is set to expire in September, so has been registered for that long.

I don't really need it, but what concerns me is the name, address, everything is listed with the Whois. If someone decides to publish something unacceptible it looks like I did it!

Thank you so much for all your help :)

[clearvision]

I was able to transfer it. I spoke with Enom and they said that there was a promotion from .info registering people who already owned the .com versions (hoping to expand the .info industry). They then sold their list to a company who sends out notices saying it is time to renew.

I was able to transfer it to a budget registrar so I now have posession of the whole set. I feel like a collector!

Thanks for all your help.

[webgeek1]

Think twice - Do you really widgets.info? What content do you put on it. You are not just taking the headache of taking ownership of the domain but also of its hosting and the countless hours of the effort you need to put in.

If you really feel the domain will be of any use, go ahead with the tranfer and get it started!

[nativenewyorker]

If you didn't want the domain and your contact information listed with it, you should have requested that they issue a cancellation of your domain.