My younger sister recently had an encounter with the folks at ICLS.net. Here is how I managed to get my money back.
The scumbags at ICLS.net are well known for their scams. They mine whois data for various domains and then send a “bill” to the domain owner.  They make every effort to make the thing look like a bill or invoice, but at the very bottom in a smaller font the letter says “this is not a bill or invoice”, explaining that in fact it is only an offer to submit your site to search engines. I’ve received these in the past and usually dump them without a second thought. However, about a year ago I setup a domain for my 12 year old, with her own gallery and wordpress blog.
The domain was registered in her name, and while I was out of town she received a letter from ICLS.net. To her and my parents it looked like a bill from the domain registrar for the domain, and they paid it. Their registrar is actually Godaddy. When I returned from Argentina, and noticed they had paid into this scam, I pulled up ICLS.net to look for their contact information.  Unfortunately, they didn’t respond to e-mail and their listed address is in Antigua.  They did however claim that if you use their service, you will receive a report as to the results and your new search engine rankings we never received this.
Doing some quick googling I found that both the FTC and the US Postal Service have been investigating these practices, so we filled complaints with their online forms. Additionally, I filled a complaint with the BBB and as them to contact ICLS.net on my behalf. After a few weeks, ICLS finally responded to the BBB, claiming to be a legitimate service, but that since we hadn’t received the report they would refund my sister’s payment.  Anyways, we’ll see how this works out, but as I’ve said a number of times the BBB is great at helping to resolve complaints about companies. If you are ever unhappy with a product or service give them a call. It won’t always work, but often it does.
So we got this bill, and not being internet savvy, we paid it for two years before we *just* figured it out, thanks to your blog. We were scammed for a total of about 70 bucks over two years, and feel bad about it, but as far as scams go, I suppose we got off pretty easy.
So Thank You, first of all. Second, did you ever get resolution? Thanks.
Yes, she received a check for the full amount. Sorry to here you were hit by this. You might consider following the steps I outlined in my entry.
Thanks so much for this info. I was on the phone with GoDaddy trying to figure out if they had sold my account. Then I looked more closely at the ICLS.net website. They claimed that they send reports. Since I knew I hadn’t received any report even though they claimed we had paid for this last year, I started to wonder. On a hunch, I Googled ICLS and found your warning.
Thanks!!!
Just received an invoice in the mail today to subscribe to this service. It was the reports part that interested me and the rates are not bad. Glad I did a search on the internet on them and found these comments. I tore it up!
The last couple of domains I registered they picked up and sent me a fake “bill”. I didn’t bother falling for it from the first time I got one since I knew who my domains were registered with and ICLS isn’t any of them.
I gawked at their idea of what they thought I’d pay for. I wish I chould get them to stop sending me this crap…however i didn’t pay the extra for private registration, so I guess this is what I get.
Yeah, i just got this too. I am a web designer and just cringe when I see this kind of thing. This is a great post and I commend you for bringing it to people’s attention. We just set up a new domain about 2 weeks ago and have already received a letter from these despicable people. They have a mailing address in New York. Thanks again for putting it out there and helping people.
Can anyone even name 25 major search engines ???
I mean really. . . . . Who gives a rat$ a$$ if your website is listed on Ask Geeves or Lycos !!
I just received two of these letters for 2 of my websites, I have 7 in all. They’re still at it. I’m glad I read your post. Thanks for the service.
I was very suspecious of this bill right when I received it. It even had the same amount that I “supposedly” paid last year , which I never did. Your blog confirmed my suspecions. Let’s expose these scammers and protect any “would be” victims.
The “Internet Corporation Listing Service” recently sent the company I worked for a “solicitation” that was obviously intended to be mistaken for an invoice or a bill. It even included a self-addressed envelope which on the back said “Please include your Remittance Stub”. I feel that they have an intention to deceive and it is rather unethical.
Just got one too. Looks like a bill. It just reminded me to pay my domain bill on the bright side!
I have been falling for this for a number of years now. Just got another “Invoice” but for grins, I Googled ICLS and saw your and others postings on these bad people.
Thank you very much for the heads up.