Melbourne IT has been made aware this morning that
unsolicited notices are being sent from the email address
noreply@melbourneit.com.au to Registrants in which the
entity sending the notices :

1. Claims to be Melbourne IT

2. Claims that the registrant's domain name is due for renewal

and

3. Asks the registrant to access the online facility and
make payment to renew the domain name at, for example,
http://www.melbourneit.com.au:renew.cgi@80.47.222.225?XXXXX.COM*
*Note that the URL appears to be changing.

A sample of the notice is attached below.

The entity sending these notices has no association with
Melbourne IT. The notices appear to be intended to mislead
and deceive the registrants in order to obtain their credit
card details.

Melbourne IT is pursuing this matter down a number of
avenues to try to ensure that the online facility is
rendered inoperable. Melbourne IT has also reported the
matter to the relevant police authorities.

However, it is possible that some of your customers have
received this notice and may be confused. We recommend that
you contact your customers to warn them to ignore these
notices as they are not from Melbourne IT, and to confirm
that their domain names are safe.

Melbourne IT has put up a consumer alert located at
http://www.melbourneit.com.au/renewalpayments.html which
we would be happy for you to refer to in warning your
customers of this issue.

In addition, we would suggest that you continue to be alert
to this practice as this is the second example of its type
which Melbourne IT has seen in the last 2 months. We would
be grateful if you could notify us as soon as possible if
you become aware of any similar issues which arise in future.

Please do not hesitate to contact reseller@melbourneit.com.au
should you have any additional questions.

Regards,
Andrew Field
Company Secretary
____________________________________________________________

Melbourne IT Ltd - 'Global Registrar Of Choice'
____________________________________________________________
email : hasan.tacan@melbourneit.com
phone : +61 3 8624 2439
fax : +61 3 9620 2388
website : www.melbourneit.com
Offices : Melbourne, San Francisco, Madrid
Head Office : Level 2/120 King Street,
Melbourne Vic AUS 3000

___________________________________________________________

EXAMPLE OF UNATHORISED NOTICES :
___________________________________________________________

>From: "Melbourne IT" <noreply@melbourneit.com.au>
>Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 15:06:40
>Subject: Renewal Notice (XXXXX.COM)
>
>Dear Customer,
>
>PLEASE NOTE: You may have registered your domain name through a
Melbourne
>IT partner such as Yahoo!, MSN or your other Internet Service Provider.
>However payment for renewals must be made directly to Melbourne IT.
>
>Your domain name XXXXX.COM is due for renewal.
>
>If you renew your domain for more than one year you save.
>$35/year for 1 year
>$30/year for 2+ years
>
>Please submit your payment online at:
>
>http://www.melbourneit.com.au:renew.cgi@80.47.222.225?XXXXX.COM
>
>Please note that if you fail to renew your domain promptly it is
subject
>to deletion and will become inactive.
>
>Renewal Department
>Melbourne IT