Someone is squatting on gmail addresses, using domainers' IDs!!!

Ms Domainer · Sep 17, 2010

*

Defend Your ID and Reputation!!!

Domain Magnate (Domain Magnate » Blog Archive » Someone Snatched My Email!) has posted a disturbing article about gmail squatting. Evidently, someone is registering gmails, using the ID handles of various domainers, both well-known and less known.

Sure enough, when I checked to see if MsDomainer [at] gmail [dot] com was available, it was taken. In fact, even the variations were gone.

I checked Yahoo! as well--MsDomainer was still available, so I took it, just as a defensive move.

I can think of only two reasons an outside party would want to squat on an ID that someone else uses regularly on blogs, forums, and even in commerce:

1. To try selling the account to the ID owner (I’m not interested, by the way—I have just switched to domain-based emails for my business).

2. To scam others, using the gmail address to masquerade as the rightful ID owner. This second possibility is more disturbing because one’s reputation could be sullied in a domain scam perpetrated by the “owner” of the gmail account!

So I just want everyone to know that I am NOT the owner of MsDomainer [at] gmail [dot] com and that if you receive domain offers from this gmail, or ANY FREEBIE email using MsDomainer or its variations, it's not from me.

Starting today, when I send out emails to potential buyers or sellers, such sales messages will NOT originate from a freebie gmail or email account, but from a domain-based email, one that offers my Whois information in the light of day.

My message to you: I recommend that you check to see if your ID is available in both Gmail and Yahoo! and, if they are, to sign them up. Most importantly, keep vigilant.

Protect Your ID, even if it’s just an identity that you use on your blogs and in forums!

*

SiberForum · Sep 17, 2010

Domain Magnate (Domain Magnate » Blog Archive » Someone Snatched My Email!) has posted a disturbing article about gmail squatting. Evidently, someone is registering gmails, using the ID handles of various domainers, both well-known and less known.

I would like to ask you PM me some examples of that to have better look at it.

Ms Domainer · Sep 17, 2010

*

SiberForum,

Why a PM?

I already gave you two examples. I leave it up to the rest of you to check your own user names.

Why not check your own ID to see if someone has claimed it at the various freebie emails?

And then post your result here.

If someone has snagged an email/gmail address in your identity, there isn't much you can do about it EXCEPT let people know that it isn't YOU.

Yes, I should have claimed my ID gmail long ago--definitely my bad.

*

tricolorro · Sep 17, 2010

Ms Domainer said:
*

Defend Your ID and Reputation!!!

2. To scam others, using the gmail address to masquerade as the rightful ID owner. This second possibility is more disturbing because one’s reputation could be sullied in a domain scam perpetrated by the “owner” of the gmail account!

Right.

That's why it's important to put the gmail address into Google
to see if it appears.

That won't stop nefarious usage but it's a start.

Google prohibits gmail squatting and multiple gmail hoarding so if
a gmail address is being used to scam maybe, just maybe, Google will step in...especially if enough people complain.

Michelle · Sep 17, 2010

mellowmasher is not available :o

My old nic

Please be advised this is not me ............

tricolorro · Sep 17, 2010

SiberForum said:
I would like to ask you PM me some examples of that to have better look at it.

SiberForum

Just to be clear this is about User Names that are truly unique
to a particular person such as:
DomainMagnate
SullysBlog
MsDomainer
tricolorro

Put any of the above names into Google.

Each one yields results that point to just one particular person unique to each of the names.

No one else uses those IDs.

StargateCapital · Sep 17, 2010

how lame :/

tricolorro · Sep 17, 2010

Ms Domainer said:
*

Defend Your ID and Reputation!!!

Domain Magnate (Domain Magnate » Blog Archive » Someone Snatched My Email!) has posted a disturbing article about gmail squatting. Evidently, someone is registering gmails, using the ID handles of various domainers, both well-known and less known.

Sure enough, when I checked to see if MsDomainer [at] gmail [dot] com was available, it was taken. In fact, even the variations were gone.

-------------

My User ID which is unique to me is being gmail squatted.

I went thru the Password Recovery process at gmail just to see what I could find out.

I discovered that someone using this partially hidden email address
below as a gmail back up address squatted my User ID at gmail.

••••••@h••••••.com

I put his ID thru the Password Recovery process and got this result:

"Password assistance for [email protected].

How can Google contact you about recovering your account?
Email to ••••••@h••••••.com Partially hidden to protect your privacy

Receive an email with a link that resets your password."

That partially hidden email is an exact match to the result I received.

••••••@h••••••.com

It's clear that whoever is at ••••••@h••••••.com is squatting gmail accounts perhaps targeting domainers.

Unfortunately ther other User IDs I plugged in like MsDomainer, SullysBlog, DomainMagnate don't have any email listed as a back up option at gmail.

But I'll bet it's the same person.

Ms Domainer · Sep 17, 2010

*

It's been a pain in the rear, but I have decided to switch completely over to domain-based email, at least for business matters. I have nothing to hide, so, for these emails, my Whois is public.

I now have an email just for domain queries (listed on my domainer and various sales blogs) and a forum and blog email reserved for posting on forums and comments on blogs. It is not attached to my Whois or registrar email addresses.

I'm betting that ••••••@h••••••.com is a hotmail account.

I also claimed the hotmail/live version of MsDomainer. I HATE having to do this.

*

cdboard · Sep 17, 2010

since you are switching, it might be cheaper/easier to use google's or microsoft's free email service for domain owners.

you can host the webpages anywhere, and use their domain-email services.
extra handy if you want to change webhosts, as the email doesn't have to move.

mis_chiff · Sep 17, 2010

I just checked mine as mischiff cause it doesn't accept the _ and it says it's gone,
so I emailed it to see where it went as I thought I set it up years ago....

I have no idea where it went or how to check....this isn't good

Ms Domainer · Sep 17, 2010

cdboard said:
since you are switching, it might be cheaper/easier to use google's or microsoft's free email service for domain owners.

you can host the webpages anywhere, and use their domain-email services.
extra handy if you want to change webhosts, as the email doesn't have to move.

*

A simple email is free at GoDaddy as well.

*

tricolorro · Sep 17, 2010

mis_chiff said:
I just checked mine as mischiff cause it doesn't accept the _ and it says it's gone,
so I emailed it to see where it went as I thought I set it up years ago....

I have no idea where it went or how to check....this isn't good

-

I just went thru the Password Recovery process for [email protected] and got this:

"Password assistance for [email protected]

How can Google contact you about recovering your account?
Email to ••••••@m••.edu Partially hidden to protect your privacy

Receive an email with a link that resets your password"

It's not the same person I mentioned before and is a .edu email address..

If you type mischiff into Google, there are a number of results for that User Name that don't point to you so that indicates mischiff
is not unique enough to you so someone could have taken it without you in mind.

mis_chiff · Sep 18, 2010

Thanks tricolorro for checking that out.

Good to know it's not that unique, I've seen the google results.
But first time seeing a .edu being used.

Guess I'm glad it's gone then

NLP · Sep 18, 2010

I went and looked it up, and sure enough, my handle is taken. With my name, I *know* it’s directed at me, because my blog and the associated branding has only been in existence since July.

However, when I went through the recovery procedures, the same randomized @h******.com address did NOT come up for me. It was: ••••••@g••••.com.

I’m guessing that’s another Gmail address. This will be harder to track if the person’s using multiple addresses to sign up for these accounts.

I always use my company domain for anything domain-related, so no worries there, but if people haven’t received emails from me before, it’s very easy that they could assume that something saying domainsushi[at].com could be from me. *Note*: It isn’t.

npcomplete · Sep 18, 2010

Oh the irony!

Domain sellers discovering that their free gmail address is taken. Just send them a message asking how much they want for the address.

Yeah, mine is also taken. Life's tough. My FirstLastname.com is taken too. I just figured I had that one coming...

OTOH, my standard response when dealing with domain requests is that "I do not discuss business with people using gmail addresses". Moving to a more professional email address is probably a good idea anyway.

I wonder what the market valuation is for free gmail addresses? Would Escrow.com deal with it? Maybe the world needs an "Estibot for gmail addresses".

Not meant to offend... but it is kind of funny.

.

footodors · Sep 18, 2010

Nobody stole mine.
I am nothing....NOTHING!!

tricolorro · Sep 18, 2010

npcomplete said:
Oh the irony!

Domain sellers discovering that their free gmail address is taken. Just send them a message asking how much they want for the address.

Yeah, mine is also taken. Life's tough. My FirstLastname.com is taken too. I just figured I had that one coming...

OTOH, my standard response when dealing with domain requests is that "I do not discuss business with people using gmail addresses". Moving to a more professional email address is probably a good idea anyway.

I wonder what the market valuation is for free gmail addresses? Would Escrow.com deal with it? Maybe the world needs an "Estibot for gmail addresses".

Not meant to offend... but it is kind of funny.

.

------

npcomplete

You are missing a very important point.

This matter is much more than the inconvenience of not being able to get a gmail account with your User Name.

This squatter could impersonate each and every one of us affected that has a User Name uniquely ours.

NLP · Sep 18, 2010

It is kind of funny. And kind of ironic, but still frustrating.

One thing I wanted to add is that Gmail accounts are deactivated if they're not used for about 9 months. The usernames are also never made available again, so if someone in the past had a legitimate reason to use the same name, it's gone forever.

I checked, and both "domain sushi" and "domain.sushi" are gone. Part of me is paranoid that it's a recent squatter, but I also know that my blog's domain was previously registered as far back as 5 or 7 years ago, and most recently in 2008. After that, it was dropped and lapsed so long that it was recycled and appeared to be a fresh registration.

So while it's not likely, it's possible that the person who owned the domain in the first place registered the Gmail addresses several years ago, let them lapse, and now they're simply coming up as unavailable. I'm not sure if the "password recovery" steps would work for a deactivated name, or not. You'd think the secondary email address would be deleted from the system.

Still. Not likely.

DU · Sep 18, 2010

I'm not sure.. but with the size of the gmail population what it is, why do we think this is nefarious?

When I wanted a gmail account, the first 100 or so entries I made were taken. I had to make something up.

MsDomainer?
No offence.. but that's not overly original

Domain Magnate?
Two words. One means great... maybe someone saw it and liked it.

SullysBlog?
Perhaps due to Captain Sully? Sully is also a word.

Tricolorro
This one is more tricky.

Pretty sure my handle is taken but then I shouldn't be

I don't think it's that big a deal really. Do you really do ALL your business just through these handles?

---------- Post added at 11:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:44 PM ----------

tricolorro said:
This squatter could impersonate each and every one of us affected that has a User Name uniquely ours.

Domainers complaining about GMAIL squatters? Pot meet Kettle

Seriously - there are far more effective ways to impersonate you.

npcomplete · Sep 18, 2010

tricolorro said:
------

npcomplete

You are missing a very important point.

This matter is much more than the inconvenience of not being able to get a gmail account with your User Name.

This squatter could impersonate each and every one of us affected that has a User Name uniquely ours.

No, I didn't miss the point at all. It is no different than somebody taking my first/lastname.com, or for that matter somebody registering tricolorro.net (available) and using that to scam. It looks like tricolorro.com was recently registered (maybe you).

Do I like it? No. Other than register all variations of my name and username in all extensions, and all known free and paid email providers there is not much I can do about it... and I am not about to do that.

Like I said above in the previous post, I didn't mean to offend, but it is a bit ironic.

.

nucleotide · Sep 18, 2010

thanks for the reminder. Got mine.

johname · Sep 18, 2010

johname gmail is not available, its not me lol

Remember if your name is quite nice like "Ms Domainer" it's a very good chance your name would be taken on gmail by now even if they didnt target you. But yeah people seem to hit these ids specifically.

Ms Domainer · Sep 18, 2010

*

I no longer use freebie emails to do business.

The point is, defaultuser, we're worried that a scammer might be doing damage under our user ID's. I have used Ms Domainer for three years and have the domain to match.

I don't particularly want to own that gmail address, but I also don't want someone else to scam an innocent buyer who might think that he or she is doing business with me.

This is the main reason I started this thread--not to whine and bemoan the fact that my user ID gmail belongs to someone else.

When I selected my user name, I wasn't looking for "original," but an ID that was descriptive of what I do. There aren't any other uses for my name.

On the other hand, defaultuser's ID could have multiple uses having to do with computers, so it seems to be more generic.

*

cdboard · Sep 18, 2010

npcomplete said:
Oh the irony!

Domain sellers discovering that their free gmail address is taken. Just send them a message asking how much they want for the address.

that is funny.

soon the owner of the email address will contact the domainer with an offer to sell the email address. along with a reasonable price, included will be some informative and helpful comments about how having the email address will help sales, SEO, branding, and internet business presence.

Someone is squatting on gmail addresses, using domainers' IDs!!!

Top Member

Established Member

Top Member

VIP Member

Top Member

VIP Member

Established Member

VIP Member

Top Member

Top Member

Top Member

Top Member

VIP Member

Top Member

Top Member

VIP Member

Established Member

VIP Member

Top Member

Secret SantaTop Member

VIP Member

Established Member

Planet FutbolTop Member

Top Member

Top Member

Similar threads

We're social

Pinned

Appreciation

Agreement