Make sure your WHOIS information is up-to-date or you could lose your domain

While you might think that paying for a domain name means that it’s yours forever, that’s not always the case. Recently digital assets platform Wex learned this the hard way when they used fake contact information to register their domain name Wex.nz.

According to reports, the directors at Wex allegedly registered their internet address using fake contact details. For this reason, the New Zealand Domain Name Commission (DNC) revoked the wex.nz domain.
The DNC announced that it had suspended six Wex domain names following the commission’s “enquiries in to the accuracy of the registration details for each of these domains.” DNC said it “initiated an investigation following complaints made to it.”
Other than wex.nz, the DNC has suspended a number of domain names—wexbet.nz, wexcash.nz, wexcoin.nz, wxcash.nz and wxcoin.nz—that lead to the same cryptocurrency website. (Source – CoinGeek.com)

Now this particular case might be a bit more harsh given that the domain name is a .NZ and the New Zealand Domain Name Commission doesn’t work the same way that things do here in the US with .COM domains, but it’s still a good lesson that you certainly don’t want to learn the hard way.

One of the top reasons why domain names expire without their owners knowing about it is old WHOIS information with email addresses they no longer have access to or check. I’ve heard people complain about their domains expiring without warning, but often there have been tons of warnings, actually months of emails and sometimes phone calls, but if the WHOIS information is incorrect, none of those make it through.

So as we head into the end of 2018 now is as good a time as any to make sure your WHOIS information is up-to-date. If you don’t take the time to do this, don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton