It must be amazing how many people and employees respond and pay these bills. In the case of an employee of a company you do not want to be one to take the blame for the loss of a domain name to the firm and its vital website Worse yet these firms ( leeches) often target trusting people in small towns etc. Often social engineering is done to obtain information - for example for similar scams with office equipment consumables contracts ( at high prices) , the phone rings innocently . Its Mary - what model is your photocopier etc. What is amazing in the case of domain names is how these groups are able to get names and emails of registered users who are supposed to have their identities shielded by proxy owner services of the isps or domain issuers. Thanks for the article and warning. It is the first such description and warning to this practice that i have seen online.