Who has my domain?

I bought a domain for us to use to hide ugly staging URL's (like what Azure gives you for staging).

I pretty exlusively only buy domains from MyDomain.com, but I might have bought this one from NetworkSolutions.com as a test (as we had a client having trouble with them, we wanted to walk their footsteps).

Now when I look for this domain it is with neither host. When I WHOIS this domain it says that it's owned by "Click and Name"... I went to clickandname.com and this is definately not a site I have ever visited before.

The domain is still active for me and the ICANN info still points to me. I even got renewal notifications from Click and Name to renew, but these emails don't point me to any site. Any help before I approach these guys (that I don't trust)?

Edit:

I didn't give a great timeline of this... I would have bought this about 10 months ago, and I've now started getting these renewals from a company I know I didn't register with. Of which, the WHOIS inforation says these guys own my domain. This is why I don't quite remember who I registered this with. I've looked back through invoices to no avail.

Solution 1:

There exists a business model (I, among others, would call it very dodgy, just short of fraud) where registrars send out letters that look very much like renewal notices for domains that they do NOT handle.

When you reply to these notices (which are confusingly similar to regular renewals if you don't read them carefully) that is legally interpreted as a request for them to take over the domain. So suddenly, the domain is transferred to them and they are in control of it.

Domain Registry of Canada is notorious for doing such a thing. It's made worse, IMNSHO, by the fact that if you don't look carefully, you may mistake it for a governmental organization.

It sounds like this is what happened to you. What you should do is approach your preferred reseller, have them transfer the domain back to them and lock it.

Solution 2:

Perhaps you registered thru your hosting provider? For example Dreamhost does there own registrations?

If not I'd suggest a phone call to MyDomain.com and to netsol.com as well as any other regisrty you mat have used. They maybe able to explain what happened. If its only be 10 months its not likly it expired and someone else renewed it.

Perhaps click and name bought the registration?

Take a look at the whois for click and name

> Registrar: TUCOWS.COM CO. Whois Server: whois.tucows.com Referral URL:
> http://domainhelp.opensrs.net Status: clientDeleteProhibited,
> clientTransferProhibited, clientUpdateProhibited
> 
> Expiration Date: 2012-02-12 Creation Date: 2002-02-12 Last Update
> Date: 2011-01-14
> 
> Name Servers:
>     ns1.hostingmatrix.net
>     ns2.hostingmatrix.net See clickandname.com DNS Records

Interesting they are not there own Registrar like most Registrars are...