IT.COM

I may have got scammed. Thoughts anyone! Worst part I paid for it too

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xploitz

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Hey guys,
I'm new to the domain business but I guess, i already got scammed. I got an email from one Aaron Gottesman. before purchase, i googled him but found nothing on him. Rather I found a doctor with the same name. This is his email

On Fri, Aug 9, 2013 at 4:22 AM, wrote:
Hello!

I represent a rich investor from Dubai. He is interested in buying "domain.com".

Please respond with how much you are looking for it. Just specify this price in the subject line.

If you have other names for sale please email me your list with prices.

Regards,

Aaron Gottesman

Domain Realtor

ASP Hosting Web

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CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This email communication may contain private, confidential, or legally privileged information intended for the sole use of the designated and/or duly authorized recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient or have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately by email and permanently delete all copies of this email including all attachments without reading them.

Gottesman
Aug 9 (5 days ago)

to me
Yes, it's a great domain.

9999 - Ok. Do you sell a domain (not a web site)?

He has 150,000 usd budget for several domain names.

How can we pay you (PayPal, Western Union, escrow.com etc.)? If this is your first time domain sale I may help you with the sale/transfer process.

Are you a member of domain seller communities/forums? Probably, we know each other under some nicknames?

He is going to invest in hosting, adult and online shopping related names.


I wrote
Aug 9 (5 days ago)
to Gottesman

Mr Gottersman,
Thank you for your offer.
This is a just a domain name. You can however, make your own website and host it in the domain.
you can pay me via paypal, direct deposit.

I am not part of any domain community. We can discuss the terms of payment if your client has approved. In order to prevent fraudulent transactions or transaction that can affect credibility, my only condition is that payment should be made first, upon clearing I shall transfer the domain over to you.


Gottesman
Aug 9 (5 days ago)

to me
Ok. I can help you with the transfer process if you need it. Before we go further my client needs only one thing:

Please send us an official certificate of market price (appraisal). He needs an appraisal service that also verifies possible trademark infringements. It's important for us to know that your domain has no problems with trademarks. It won't be a problem for you since some official appraisers offer this option (trademark infringement verification) as a bonus to the appraisal service. It will take only 2 minutes to order it.

Please don't worry - the appraisal value will be very good. You won't get a low figure. I work with an official appraisal company. I send them clients and they appraise names at the values I need. My client is a rich person and I work on a commission basis. So I'm not interested in low figure appraisals too.

Just order the service and email them your domains with the comment that you have a buyer with $X,XXX offer and you need the appraisal near this value.

To avoid mistakes and wasting money on useless automated services I asked in the forum about reliable manual valuation/TM verification services.

The process is very easy:

1. Go to the appraisal site and order the valuation with the TM verification. After several hours you will get the results.

2. Send these results via email and we'll proceed with the deal.

If you are new to the appraisal process I can help you with a step by step instruction.



I Wrote
Aug 9 (5 days ago)

to Gottesman
I am unfamiliar with this process. I may need some help with this if this is absolutely necessary. I used Register.com to register this domain. and it has buyer protection.
This is an authentic domain and no one has yet claimed it.
Is it not possible for you to check the domain name and appraise it yourself?


Gottesman
Aug 10 (4 days ago)

to me
My client never buys without the appraisal. This is his financial policy and I cannot do anything with that. In the Emirates everything is different. We should accept their rules or leave it.

You should obtain an official appraisal from the official ICAAN source -

Then you send me the results and we go further.


At this point I went ahead and got the appraisal (Which happens to be ICAAN and not ICANN- what a douche). And now I cannot claim it back because they are european based and i doubt I'll see a dime from them in this lifetime.


Thoughts comments and suggestions?
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
How did you pay ? Credit card, paypal ? In both cases you should be able to charge back.

If you have a payment receipt, please show details of the entity that is the beneficiary of the payment (so that the information is indexed.

You don't find it strange that a total stranger contacts you about newly-registered domains (I guess), saying he's got plenty of cash available (inviting you to charge a lot), will not haggle on price, yet he can't pay the appraisal himself ?

Also do yourself a favor: if you are looking to acquire more domains - shop around. There are plenty of registrars that are better than register.com.
 
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I may have got scammed

yes. you got scammed 100%.
that's sad and you probably can do nothing about that now.
please post scammer's email/ip addresses in Warning thread as it may help others to avoid this common mistake.
good news is you only lost $30-50 - not too much for for a good domaining lesson

best of luck


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Scam.

Lots of red flags including the budget disclosure. Sorry but it's a tough lesson learned!
 
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Lessons learn, if in doubt, always ask.
 
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Ok my question. What are good site to list my domains for sale? I have parked my domains in sedo and activated the sedo MLS premium option? Wise idea?
 
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so seams like after all these years and all these threads and blog posts and search results in google for 'appraisal scam' and similar search strings .....these appraisal scammers are still making a lot of money with noobs .... unbelievable
 
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so seams like after all these years and all these threads and blog posts and search results in google for 'appraisal scam' and similar search strings .....these appraisal scammers are still making a lot of money with noobs .... unbelievable

:talk:

not really

noobs search for and find articles about domain success stories and after that, all they wanna do is "sell to an end-user".


so when the scammer see's their newly registered names pop up, the schemers plot the list of potential victims.

when they ask, "if you are a member of any domain forums"-

it's so they can know, if you may know, that they are going to try and scam you.


but the noob is still thinking about selling to this "rich investor" from Dubai.

they are hoping and praying for this sale to happen and are willing to pay for a "TM certificate" or Appraisal Certification", just so they can come back and tell a tale about how "they" sold a domain name to an end-user.

greed and gullibility sometimes work hand in hand


imo...
 
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Alright i get the message, :)
moving forward. lets do the basics. I got 3 domains , I wanna sell, at this point what tools/knowledge would I need to achieve this?
 
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there is so many example of this scam described in details in namepros warning section since 2005 at least...sadly not everyone reads...
rule number one: read as much as you can before making any spending decisions. it is so simple to google something like: domain buying scams
rule number two: if buyer wants the domain he should go appraise it himself, if he is not sure about the value.
sorry about what happened to you. good thing it was not too much.
good luck next time.
 
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Sorry you got scammed. As far as how to sell domain names, there has to be a few hundred threads on that here already.
 
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Alright i get the message, :)
moving forward. lets do the basics. I got 3 domains , I wanna sell, at this point what tools/knowledge would I need to achieve this?

Your already on Sedo. So do Aftermic and if they arer with Godaddy you can list them there as well. Seeing that you are new you are already in the Library of Domaining. Pull up a chair and you can complete a crash course of domaining right here for free.
 
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I know The Scammer Group That Tricked The Thread Starter, What Should I do Now?

I am very new to NamePros but not new to domaining.
I do register my domains with five different emails unknown to the scammer he messaged me on two of my email address the same email but with different approach & Names saying that they is interested in buying my domains: NameChase.net , BulkyTrade.com, InstantChase.com, Alertnews.us, SaleBiz.biz , DesignBiz.biz, BayBuy.us, And StartOnline.us

The two emails requested that i send them icaan.info & DomainMart.com appraisals certificate before they negotiate.
I sent them a message reply to consult their chosen brokers first before sending me another message or else use the marketplace where the domain is listed.

After that I quickly tracked their identities, i was able to get some vital informations, i just found out that they have just recently launch a webhosting resellers store and some other personal infos.

The problem now is that this companies might not know what their contract referrals are up to.
What do i do next?.
 
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Just post the evidence if it's solid enough.
 
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I am very new to NamePros but not new to domaining.
I do register my domains with five different emails unknown to the scammer he messaged me on two of my email address the same email but with different approach & Names saying that they is interested in buying my domains: NameChase.net , BulkyTrade.com, InstantChase.com, Alertnews.us, SaleBiz.biz , DesignBiz.biz, BayBuy.us, And StartOnline.us

The two emails requested that i send them icaan.info & DomainMart.com appraisals certificate before they negotiate.
I sent them a message reply to consult their chosen brokers first before sending me another message or else use the marketplace where the domain is listed.

After that I quickly tracked their identities, i was able to get some vital informations, i just found out that they have just recently launch a webhosting resellers store and some other personal infos.

The problem now is that this companies might not know what their contract referrals are up to.
What do i do next?.

:talk:

these are the type of stories that 'blogs" and "article' writers in the agg rotation should be "pumpin-up" as well.
if only to show as a contrast to those "success stories" that noobs love to read about.

let's see who steps up to the plate.


imo....
 
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