Domain Renewal and Google Listing Scam for Shops by email

How it looks by email, the red flags and what to do.

Email scams copy the logos, colours and wording of real companies, and the sender address often differs from the real one by one letter. Domain Renewal and Google Listing Scam for Shops is one of the ways this shows up: A small shop gets a domain-renewal invoice or a call to 'verify' its Google listing for a fee. Learn how these bills and calls work and how to check.

What domain renewal and google listing scam for shops looks like by email

• A generic greeting instead of your name.
• A login page that opens from the email and asks for your password and OTP.
• A sender address that is almost, but not exactly, the real domain.

Scammers take the shop's name, address and phone number from public listings and send a bill with a due date and a bank account. The invoice names a 'domain registry' or a 'search listing service' and sounds like a renewal. Owners who have a website or a listing may think it is a routine notice from the company that manages it, and pay without checking.

Red flags to check on the email

• An invoice for a service you do not remember buying.
• A bill that names a generic registry or listing service, not your own provider.
• A call that asks you to read out a verification code.
• A threat that the listing will vanish in a day.
• The sender address has an extra word or letter.
• The tone is urgent and the grammar is slightly off.

What to do

1. Do not pay. Check with the company where you actually bought your domain or hosting.
2. Log in to your listing account yourself to see whether any action is pending.
3. Never read out a verification code to a caller.
4. If you typed a password on the page, change it at once and turn on two-step verification.
5. Do not open the attachment and do not press the button.
6. Go to the company website by typing it yourself and check your account there.

Use Report phishing in your email app. If money or accounts are affected, call 1930 and report at cybercrime.gov.in.

If money or a code is already gone

1. Call 1930 and report at cybercrime.gov.in with the invoice and payment details.
2. Tell your bank on the number printed on your card about the transfer.
3. If you shared a code, secure your listing account and change the password and recovery details.
4. Contact the listing platform's official support to reclaim your page.

National Cyber Crime Helpline: 1930; report at cybercrime.gov.in.

Safeavio's scam check can read the invoice or message text you paste and mark the invented deadline and the fee for a service you did not buy, and the link check can warn about a lookalike payment page. It cannot see your domain or listing account, so confirm renewals with the provider you actually used, and never read out a code from a caller.

Full guide: Domain Renewal and Google Listing Scam for Shops: how it works, signs and what to do. Other channels: phone call, WhatsApp, SMS.

Questions