This post is all about how some registrars (read as bugs & parasites) are taking undue advantage of expired domains. Their modus operandi is pretty simple.

Few of these unscrupulous registrars purposely do not inform the the registrant about an upcoming domain renewal and when the domain registrant forgets to make the due payment, they immediately snatch the domain and register it using a proxy which they indirectly operate.

Next thing that's seen on trying to reach the expired domain is a page listing the name for sale at inflated prices or some spammy site trying to capitalize on the domain's traffic. I personally have seen most of my expired domains pointing to these with a "For sale" link. Seems to be lucrative business for these registrars!

Moral of the story -- use a reliable and reputable registrar to register your domains and make sure that they either provide an auto-renew option or or initimate you when it's about to expire.