Head Guru Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Updated September 06, 2011 at 11:47 AM Dear TotalChoice Domain Clients, Like many of you, I awoke to a strange email from a 3rd party that appeared to be a phishing email from another domain registration company. This email appeared to be targeted at all of our domain registration clients. If you did not receive this email you may disregard this communication. As you may be aware, there are only a few domain registrars that actually handle the registration and renewal of domain names. TotalChoice has contracted with one of the largest registrars to handle our domain business for the past ten years. It appears that this company failed to renew our contract and that resulted in our domain portfolio being placed into a temporary hold status. The email that was sent out was a very large mistake and should have never been sent to our clients. We have contacted the registrar and our domain portfolio is secure and they are in the process of unlocking it and all will be back to normal very shortly. They are informing us that this should take no longer than 24 hours. Please refrain from logging into the links provided to you in the email that was sent out to you and our regular domain page will be active again in the next 24 hours. This issue does not effect your web hosting accounts and only is directed at domain registration clients. I am very sorry for this issue and the stress it may have caused to our domain clients. Yours in Hosting! Bill Kish Hello TCH Family, It appears that some our domain clients have been receiving emails from another register of domains in an attempt to steal away our client base. Please be advised that TotalChoice Hosting has been in the hosting and domain business for over 10 years and we have no plans of going anywhere. TotalChoice owns and operates all its own hardware and is a cash based company with zero debt. We ask that all our domain clients please refrain from clicking on the links in the phishing emails. We are working to determine where and how these emails are being sent out. Once we determine the cause and have corrected this issue we will again reach out to you and give you a status update. Thank you for being such a valued client of TCH. Thank you again for your business and for the trust you place in us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lianna Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Got FOUR of these this morning... do you want them for tracking purposes? Lianna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveW Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Thank you for responding so quickly. I got this email today also. Would it help you to have a copy of it with all headers? If so, just let me know who to send it to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silica Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 I received the same sort of email. The email stated: This notification is to let you know that some or all of the products you purchased from TotalChoice Hosting will now be managed through Domains Priced Right®. Domains Priced Right offers the same great domain and service management tools, as well as friendly, 24/7, expert service. Luckily, I checked the forum prior to clicking on any link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Crabb Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Holy Crap! what a nightmare. Bill, I'm glad that you put the word out so quickly that it is a scam. I got two emails this morning, and if you want them forwarded to TCH, please let me know. and we have no plans of going anywhere Neither do I. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Thomas Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Bill just told me there is no need (at the moment anyway) to forward these emails or their headers to TCH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotlandview Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 I did click on one of the links and ended up with domains priced right.... Tried to login and it worked! Before I did so, I checked with wwww.totalchoicehosting.com website and clicked on menu services -> domains. That link ( www.securepaynet.net/default.aspx?prog_id=simple ) didn't work anymore which was a reason for me to trust the email, stupid of course.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Thomas Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 This is just a wild guess from me now but the "problem" with that link on the TCH site may have have been some sort of safety step from TCH side in the investigation of this. However, Bill and the gang will see your post regarding it and probably tell us why the link was down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotlandview Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Hi, What I also don't understand is how they gained access to my email addresses? I have received three emails to three different accounts. Thanks for any info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMovieman Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 (edited) Yeah, I clicked the link and was able to access my account. Please advise what to do! Edited September 6, 2011 by TheMovieman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ostrich99 Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Bill, I'm quite confident it's not a phishing attempt. I got three emails from them this morning about the same thing with the domains I registered with TCH. I believe the answer is more simple. You let your Domain Reseller account expire. I tried to notify your support team that this was likely the case, but instead I just got a canned response to please visit this forum post. Domains Priced Right is the generic reseller account for the company you use as your domain registration processor. I won't mention the company name here, but if you need to know the reseller, just let me know. When a reseller account with them expires, all of the domains from your reseller account get moved to this generic reseller account, and the customers get an email saying that is now where they'll go to update their domains. I know because this happened to me a couple years ago to my reseller account with them. Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srm_creator Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 (edited) Thank you for sending the notice so quickly! I was going to contact you guys directly anyway to make sure what was going on. Those scam artists are getting better every day. Keep up the good work, and thank you again!!! Edited September 6, 2011 by srm_creator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakewaytexas Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 I have not let my domain reseller account expire, and I got an email... Bill, I'm quite confident it's not a phishing attempt. I got three emails from them this morning about the same thing with the domains I registered with TCH. I believe the answer is more simple. You let your Domain Reseller account expire. I tried to notify your support team that this was likely the case, but instead I just got a canned response to please visit this forum post. Domains Priced Right is the generic reseller account for the company you use as your domain registration processor. I won't mention the company name here, but if you need to know the reseller, just let me know. When a reseller account with them expires, all of the domains from your reseller account get moved to this generic reseller account, and the customers get an email saying that is now where they'll go to update their domains. I know because this happened to me a couple years ago to my reseller account with them. Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head Guru Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 Hey Guys, What a total nightmare! I am still getting updates from our registra, once i have a answer you will be the second to know what the heck is happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ostrich99 Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 I have not let my domain reseller account expire, and I got an email... It has nothing to do with your Hosting accounts (reseller or otherwise) with TCH, only the domain registrations which is completely separate from hosting. TCH used a service to process their Domain Registrations (ie: not hosting stuff, just domain registrations) and I'd venture to guess that something happened to that account. Likely it was accidentally let to expire. It's hard to explain without mentioning who TCH used to sell their domain registrations (again, registrations, not hosting) which I'm not sure they want mentioned yet. Just know it's a large reputable company, just like TCH, and that in my opinion you have no reason security wise to be concerned with TCH or Domains Priced Right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMovieman Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 That seems logical because when I went I had to recover my account number, it was sent to my e-mail address (and looking at it, it is my account number). I know phishing scams are really good but not that good unless they hacked into to other site or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakewaytexas Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 I don't use TCH to get my domain registration. I use another company... My daughter got one of these, and she hasn't had an account with TCH for years. It has nothing to do with your Hosting accounts (reseller or otherwise) with TCH, only the domain registrations which is completely separate from hosting. TCH used a service to process their Domain Registrations (ie: not hosting stuff, just domain registrations) and I'd venture to guess that something happened to that account. Likely it was accidentally let to expire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMovieman Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Then the registration site got hacked because I have no idea how they were able to send my account number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srm_creator Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Wait a minute.... The e-mail that I got did not have any account number. They only found out my e-mail address(that's why I got the message). They were asking me to enter my account username and password, which I did not (of course). So, are there different e-mails floating around? Thanks, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ostrich99 Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 I don't use TCH to get my domain registration. I use another company... My daughter got one of these, and she hasn't had an account with TCH for years. I'd guess that the reason you (and your daughter) got this email was that you/her had a something (Domain name, SSL Cert, etc) registered with them at some point. They probably sent the email to all customer records, regardless of if the domain name or other product was still registered there or not. Meaning your customer record still existed, and as such, they probably sent the email to all customers as the entire customer record would have gotten moved to Domains Priced Right. I'm still confident it's not a hack as I've gone through this same thing previously myself. Domains Priced Right is run off the same database as the TCH Domain registration system. There is a reason all of the screens look very similar except for the name across the top. It's just the same website with a different skin/name on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head Guru Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 Here is the official latest news. We will get thru this, and once we do we will be offering a coupon code to any client effected by this mess. Dear TotalChoice Domain Clients, Like many of you, I awoke to a strange email from a 3rd party that appeared to be a phishing email from another domain registration company. This email appeared to be targeted at all of our domain registration clients. If you did not receive this email you may disregard this communication. As you may be aware, there are only a few domain registrars that actually handle the registration and renewal of domain names. TotalChoice has contracted with one of the largest registrars to handle our domain business for the past ten years. It appears that this company failed to renew our contract and that resulted in our domain portfolio being placed into a temporary hold status. The email that was sent out was a very large mistake and should have never been sent to our clients. We have contacted the registrar and our domain portfolio is secure and they are in the process of unlocking it and all will be back to normal very shortly. They are informing us that this should take no longer than 24 hours. Please refrain from logging into the links provided to you in the email that was sent out to you and our regular domain page will be active again in the next 24 hours. This issue does not effect your web hosting accounts and only is directed at domain registration clients. I am very sorry for this issue and the stress it may have caused to our domain clients. Yours in Hosting! Bill Kish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMovieman Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 (edited) Nevermind. Just read Bill's update (which seems to validate what ostrich99 said). Edited September 6, 2011 by TheMovieman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jberg Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 (edited) I also received a few of these emails, mainly for my client that have TotalChoice Hosting. Thanks for the quick follow-up Bill. However, I only have one client that uses TCH for the domain registrar. The others are just using the hosting product and those were sent emails also. ------------------ Posted this while Bill was making his last post. Thanks for the update. Edited September 6, 2011 by jberg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakewaytexas Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 I am confused. I have a reseller account through TCH, but I get my domain registration through another company. My daughter has neither domain registration nor web hosting through TCH, and she got one of the emails. Years ago she had web hosting but never domain registration through TCH. It seems that this problem is somehow tied to web hosting... This issue does not effect your web hosting accounts and only is directed at domain registration clients. Bill Kish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head Guru Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 This issue would only effect clients that have registered domains thru us. It does not effect web hosting accounts in any manner at all. I promise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin-esque Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 So... say I clicked the link in the email, and the service provider change went through. Is my domain now managed by Domains Priced Right? What can I do to move it back to TCH? I don't want to leave! Thank you for keeping us informed through this process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMovieman Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 So... say I clicked the link in the email, and the service provider change went through. Is my domain now managed by Domains Priced Right? What can I do to move it back to TCH? I don't want to leave! Thank you for keeping us informed through this process. Ditto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pamw Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 So I did click and log in. What should I be doing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Dick Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 So I did click and log in. What should I be doing? If you did log in, you have nothing to be concerned with. We are just recommending clients not make any major changes in the next 24 hours if possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotlandview Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Thanks for providing quick answers and solutions. You guys are the best!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMovieman Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 I wanted to make sure, do those who did log in (before all this came to light) have anything to worry about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Bruce Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 See Dick's post two above yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMovieman Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 See Dick's post two above yours. Not sure how I missed that. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kayaker Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 I just got an email from Domains Priced Right telling me that TCH would be handling my domains from now on, so I guess things have gotten straightened out. Karen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Dick Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 The changes for this issue are still being processed and will take some time to complete. Therefore, if you have received your notice email but still can not log, then please give it 30-60 minutes and try again. I have my personal account there as well and it took about 40 minutes after receiving the email before I could log in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montty Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 (edited) Hello, huuuuh what an ordeal... like others I got caught by the issue after receiving 2 contradictory email notifications since yesterday. As I couldn't login to my account today, I decided to call UK tech support via: 020 3027 4996 (phone number displayed on the TCH securepay.net page) which for some reason seems to have landed me @ DomainsPricedRight support). After giving all security details and explaining that I received 2 emails, one yesterday saying that all my domains were transferred to DomainsPricedRight and one today saying the exact opposite (that all my domains were transferred to TCH) and because I wasn't able to connect to my account via TCH securepay.net URL, the person I spoke to told me that from now on I should use the DomainsPricedRight's URL which indeed accepted all my login details. At this point I could login fine. Well as 4 of my domains were close to expiration, tech support asked me if I would like him to renew them for me and although I hesitated, I went ahead with the idea. I am now very concerned that, although I believe the transaction was genuine (status of these domains now marked as renewed in my account), I would hate to see all my domains transferred for good to DomainsPricedRight (which I have never heard of before) especially when TCH domains management service has always been second to none and very professional. Please advise on the procedure to follow (if any) to ensure that my domains are returned to TCH in due course. Thanks in advance for your time. Montty Edit: Worst still, I have now noticed that the renewal was more expensive (by $4.16) Although not a big difference I am not very happy - especially when considering the 2 hours I have lost chasing all this and the nasty feeling of having been stitched: 2 .com domain @ $10.17 2 .net domains @ $15.17 Total (USD): $50.68 Edit 2: Login is now possible again via the TCH page. Edited September 7, 2011 by Montty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Dick Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Montty, Just log into your domain manager and make sure you see the TotalChoice header. If you are seeing our header then your account has moved back successfully and there is nothing to be concerned about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montty Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Indeed Thank you :-) I have noticed it but we criss-crossed each others while I was updating my first post (Edit 2) - thanks again :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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