: Cold calling using information from domain name WHOIS records Increasingly I am receiving a lot of cold calls, especially every time after purchasing a domain name, from companies across the globe

Increasingly I am receiving a lot of cold calls, especially every time after purchasing a domain name, from companies across the globe offering website design or app development services.

The terms of service for any domain name require accurate and up-to-date contact details to be provided for the records held by the registry/registrar.

For the majority of our domain names, it is mandatory for the contact details to be published as part of the WHOIS record, and for some domain names the registries do not allow any kind of WHOIS privacy protection service or masking of details or the providing of fake details.

How are these companies getting notified every time I register a domain name? Are the registries/registrars selling information such as notifications like this to web development companies?

Due to the large number of domains in our portfolio it is cost prohibitive to use a privacy protection service on them all (this would more than double the total cost) and I'm not looking for a solution to prevent these sales calls (at least that's not the question I'm asking here).

I understand the information can be harvested from WHOIS records, however, I would like to know how they find out every time I register a new domain name as thats what prompts a new cycle of sales calls each time.

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