Internet Registry director fined for bogus invoice scam.

A Toronto man who targeted over 73,000 business and non-proft organizations across Canada with a deceptive mailout for the renewal of their Internet domain names has been sentenced to a $40,000 fine and a five-year prohibition order.  The sentence results from an investigation by the Competition Bureau into Mr. Daniel Klemann and Internet Registry of Canada (IROC) under the misleading representations provisions of the Competition Act.

The deceptive mail piece informed recipients that their Internet domain name registration was about to expire and gave several options for renewal.  It was designed to mislead recipients into believing that they were existing customers of IROC's domain name registration service.  The mail piece also gave the general impression of being an invoice mailed on behalf of a department or agency of the Government of Canada in charge of the registration of internet domain names.

According to the terms of the prohibition order, Mr. Klemann and 1480455 Ontario Incorporated, operating as IROC, are prohibited from engaging or participating in any activity involving the making of representations for the purpose of soliciting business for five years.

The Better Business of Windsor/Chatham continuously sent out alerts to all members when these phony invoices appeared in the Essex-Kent area.