The requirement for valid contact info in your domain whois information is an ICANN requirement, not a requirement of our TACOS. As a practical matter, this requirement is only very rarely enforced.
The primary risk you face if you don't abide by this requirement is having your domain suspended or canceled if someone makes a complaint. If someone doesn't like you or your domain's content, invalid contact information can give them a pretext to cause trouble or get your domain immediately shut down.
However, that is not the only problem. If your domain contact email address is invalid, you're likely to miss renewal notices or other potentially important messages. There are good reasons for requiring accurate information.
Although the validity of domain contact information isn't something we have the resources to proactively monitor, if you ask for support related to a domain with obviously false information we'll have to ask you to correct it before proceeding. We are also required to resolve complaints when they arise, which typically means suspending domains with obviously bogus contact information until the registrant is ready to resolve the issue.
We urge you to follow the rules and provide valid contact information. And even though we enforce those rules reactively, rather than proactively, we absolutely can't be responsible for anything bad that happens to you or your domain as a result of invalid contact information.
If you use our ID Privacy service, your domain information is considered valid by definition so long as you comply with our Terms & Conditions of Service requirement to provide accurate account and contact information to us.
