[RESOLVED] - Domain Name Stolen...A Horrible Story and a Warning...

[Dustie]

Hi All. I've not been in here for a number of years, but a week ago I had my domain of 20 years (dustie.com) stolen and I have to tell the story. it looks like I'm out of luck here, and out a lot of money, but maybe my story can help prevent this happening to someone else. This happened at Godaddy, though I don't blame them, and i still have all of my domains with them, as well as my websites. I blame the no good slimy thief who stole my domain name!

Here's the story... First off, my name is Dustie, and I've owned Dustie.com since 1998.
Sometime in 2017 (I think) I decided to go ahead and list dustie.com as a premium domain for a high price. It being my name, I wasn't real keen on selling it, but, as they say, everything is for sale for the right price. I'd had someone offer me 5,000.00 for it, but after taxes (it would have put me in a higher tax bracket for the year) and commisison, it wasn't worth it wasn't worth it to sell it for that amount. However, I figured that if someone were willing to pay that for it, maybe someone would pay even more. So I listed it as a premium domain for 20,000.00. I seriously didn't think it would sell but it woudn't hurt to list it (or so I thought).

All was well, until a bit over a week ago. I had been out that evening and didn't get home till nearly 10:00 PM. It was 11:00 before I was able to get onto the computer. That's when I saw the 5 emails from Godaddy.... I'm sure you can imaging my reaction when I saw that, within 20 minutes, my domain name, dustie.com, which I have owned since 1998, sold and transferred for a mere 450.00? I was sick...simply sick. How could this happen! First off, I've never had a domain name sell and transfer inside of 21 minutes and then be paid for it a little over a day and a half later. That's unheard of!

Immediately after reading those 5 emails and realizing my domain name had sold for less then 5% of what I'd had it listed for on Premium Domains, I was online with Godaddy help. Though they were sympathetic, no one there could help. They said I'd have to wait till morning and call auctions help. Needless to say, I didn't sleep well and was on the phone as soon as they opened their office. Though I was on the phone for a good 30 or so minutes with them (a good part of that time on hold), I was ultimately told there was nothing they could do for me. My domain was bought, paid for, and transferred and that was that! (Oh, and this even though they found the price had been tampered with twice that same night, long before I got online). They said this had to be me because no one else had access to that account! That was proof to me that someone was in there messing with my account and screwed me over big time, but not to them.

So I've been sick all week...trying to forget that someone illegally reached into my pocket and stole a lot of money , as well as my NAME! Needless to say, even a week later, I'm just sick about the whole thing.

Today, on a lark I looked up dustie.com on godaddy and was sick all over again when I saw that it is now listed as a premium domain for 12,000.00 (by the person who stole it from me?). That's just wrong, in so many ways! How do I get over this? I want to know how this could have happened!!??

I am posting in here as a warning to you all, as well as wanting to go on record that this did happen, regardless that the guy at [email protected] said that dustie.com had always been listed at 450.00 and it was a legitimate sale! I know how to use GoDaddy. I'm a long time user and have over 50 domain names with GoDaddy, more the half listed as premium domains! Ever since Dustie.com was originally listed as a premium domain at 20,000.00 that was the price that showed up whenever I went to maintain my premium listings. It always stuck out like a sore thumb, because most my other domain names are listed below 1000.00. There is simply no way Dustie.com was ever listed for as little as 450.00. Even go daddy suggested a price of nearly $5,000 as a premium listing starting point for dustie.com.

Without a doubt, my godaddy account was hacked and my domain name of 20 years stolen from me and relisted for 27 times what they paid for it! That burns me to the core!!!

I'm sure that, since this happened to me it will surely happen again. If any of you hear about such a thing, could you please have them get in touch with me? If I can find others that this has happened to, maybe we can do something as a group?

In the meantime, if you have a valuable domain name on Godaddy Premium domains, then you might want to take screen shots of the listed prices. Also, I was told that if I had the original email when it was listed that would be proof that it was listed at 20,000.00. Alas, I did not have it...I had, not long ago, deleted emails that were more then a year and a half old. If you don't have emails for your most valuable domain names, then remove them from listing, then relist them to get a new email and save those emails just in case!!

And Thanks for listening to my very long rant!

Dustie
(was [email protected] for over 20 years...now I am [email protected] and my site is dustie.art ... cool name, but it's certainly not worth what I lost in dustie.com!)

 

[Keith]

On the contingency that @MapleDots gives the name to OP or I will work with OP myself

Why do anything until godaddy investigates? It’s will only complicate the matter.

 

[Furquan]

I must say @Dustie should tell the godaddy to investigate this if it's real then it is one of the biggest and smartish scammers who may be doing this with many domains every months.

How could be a "Premium Name" go unnoticed and none bought it in the last 8 years. its something which needs high investigation.

I see now the @maxtra has accepted a $5k offer of @MapleDots, Its something which needs to investigated and I request @MapleDots cancel the deal till this thing get clear or else today is OP name, tomorrow will be mine and may be any day will be yours.

 

[Keith]

When I ask them to cancel my bid, they said: "no way man, read the rules"

Probably depends on your bid vs the last bid. Mine was a 5 figure bid against a low 4 figure bid. Obvious mistake.

Point is, mistakes happen.

 

[NYJimbo]

Looks like Mapledots just got it for $5k.

I doubt the investigation will be in favor of the OP, so congrats to MapleDots.

So if you get angry at anyone for not giving the name back to the OP, yell at MapleDots, not Maxtra.

This is a really weird thread.

 

[MapleDots]

The deal done and the funds have transferred, the domain is mine.

If there are any shady dealings here and the domain was truly stolen I will personally donate it back to the previous owner.

Nothing more to see here until the investigation concludes.

 

[Keith]

The deal done and the funds have transferred, the domain is mine.

If there are any shady dealings here and the domain was truly stolen I will personally donate it back to the previous owner.

Nothing more to see here until the investigation concludes.

From your perspective that’s great. From godaddy and OP side it could be a big complication. While the intent is good, it’s a bad thing and @maxtra couldn’t see past the payday unfortunately.

 

[namelancer]

''9. DISPUTE POLICY

Occasionally, a dispute might arise regarding a transaction begun or completed through the Services. In such instance, you agree to be bound by GoDaddy’s Dispute Policy. GoDaddy reserves the right to modify the Dispute Policy at any time, without notice.

Filing a Dispute

To file a dispute, you must submit an email to [email protected]. The email must include:

Your account number;

Your name and contact information;

The order number associated with the transaction;

The domain name over which the dispute arises; and

A detailed account of the dispute.

Such email must be received within four (4) days from the sale date.

Once a dispute has been received, GoDaddy will place the transaction into a “Hold” status while it investigates the dispute. GoDaddy reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to close any dispute it deems invalid or resolved. After investigation, GoDaddy will notify Buyer and Seller of the outcome of the investigation and complete or terminate the transaction as GoDaddy, in its sole discretion, deems appropriate.

GoDaddy reserves the right to charge an administration fee to cover the costs associated with investigation of a dispute. As such, you agree GoDaddy may charge an Administration fee to the Payment Method it has on file for you if a dispute is filed involving a domain name which you have listed or purchased through the Services. Should GoDaddy receive multiple complaints regarding transactions in which you are involved, GoDaddy, in its sole discretion, may cancel your account and terminate all listings you have.''

 

[carob]

If there are any shady dealings here and the domain was truly stolen I will personally donate it back to the previous owner.

Nothing more to see here until the investigation concludes.

What level of proof will you ask for?

What if the domain was sold due to a system glitch - in that case it should not have been sold, but was not stolen.

 

[MapleDots]

I will address the OP personally...

You have nothing to fear here, if the domain was truly stolen I will transfer it back to you no questions asked.

Consider it my gift.

 

[Keith]

What level of proof will you ask for?

What if the domain was sold due to a system glitch - in that case it should not have been sold, but was not stolen.

@MapleDots doesn’t get it and @maxtra wanted money instead of doing the right thing.

 

[namelancer]

The deal done and the funds have transferred, the domain is mine.

If there are any shady dealings here and the domain was truly stolen I will personally donate it back to the previous owner.

Nothing more to see here until the investigation concludes.

That may not be true. From a legal perspective, the outcome of an original transaction SUPERCEDES ANY and OTHER agreements that an intermediary owner (other than an original owner of Dustie) may have enter subseqently (this time with MapleDots), meaning that should Godaddy, in its sole discretion, deem a transaction through whcih a domain was sold initially as a legally validated mistake, they may reverse the trade restoring an iriginal wonership to the Dustie's original owner, provided the latter reimburses the funds received which in this case amounts to 450 usd plus or minus possible other charges.

 

[Keith]

I will address the OP personally...

You have nothing to fear here, if the domain was truly stolen I will transfer it back to you no questions asked.

Consider it my gift.

You now own the domain and can’t possibly work with godaddy since you weren’t the initial buyer. I’m shocked that you don’t understand that.

 

[MadAboutDomains]

On the contingency that @MapleDots gives the name to OP or I will work with OP myself

It's a bit of a strange offer. @MapleDots will pay $5,000 BIN and keep it only if an "investigation" shows that there wasn't any "wrong doing" otherwise he will just give the name back to @Dustie and @maxtra gets to keep the money regardless.

Sounds like a sure fire way to complicate things enough to prevent the name getting back to @Dustie because @maxtra bought the name legitimately, then @MapleDots has come in and siezed the opportunity to buy it legitimately in all the chaos with a premise that will never be true (there was no wrong doing).

 

[namelancer]

You now own the domain and can’t possibly work with godaddy since you weren’t the initial buyer

Once the OP files a dispute, at that very Maple Dots' already tenuous and conditional (upon a Godaddy's investigation) ownership of the domain now enjoyed would be suspended as the owner of the said domain while the whole matter of the original transfer of ownership would undergo being put on hold pending investigation. MapleDots would be able to retain and preserve their ownership of the domain, should the Godaddy's ruling go against the whishes of the Dustie's original owner.

 

[DomainRecap]

Enable 2 factor authentication at godaddy. You will recieve a 6 digit auth code on your phone number whenever you or someone else logs into your account.

Until they call your telco, pretend to be you, and get the SIM changed - but those are the experts and there are a lot of amateurs working the scams too.

The reason there is so much scamming going on isn't due to "hacking", it's bad actors from Nigeria and Morocco calling up minimum wage support staff (often out of 3rd-world countries) and fooling these morons into changing passwords and account info.

 

[MapleDots]

@MapleDots doesn’t get it and @maxtra wanted money instead of doing the right thing.

That's quite a statement on your behalf.

Trust me, I get it and I understand it, I just put 5k on it.

I will do the right thing if there was any wrong doing. The domain is in a safe spot until everything settles. I wanted to assure the domain could not be resold again and stayed with a namepros member. The only person that has anything to lose here is me and I made that decision already so please don't say I don't get it.

 

[MadAboutDomains]

I will do the right thing if there was any wrong doing.

Good one...

 

[namelancer]

The domain is in a safe spot until everything settles.

The only safe spot for a domain to be is under custody of a Godaddy's Legal Dispiutes Department.

 

[maxtra]

I bought the domain in a legitimate transaction with GoDaddy, I have sold it to @MapleDots who said he will do the right thing, end of story

The only thing here to say is @MapleDots is a great human being

 

[Keith]

That's quite a statement on your behalf.

Trust me, I get it and I understand it, I just put 5k on it.

I will do the right thing if there was any wrong doing. The domain is in a safe spot until everything settles. I wanted to assure the domain could not be resold again and stayed with a namepros member. The only person that has anything to lose here is me and I made that decision already so please don't say I don't get it.

You can’t do the right thing since you’ve already done the wrong thing.

Also if you look back a few posts, you’ll see @maxtra stating he would work with the seller to make it right. That hasn’t happened yet. An obvious cash grab here that will further complicate the process.

 

[NYJimbo]

The ONLY issue here is if there was any price manipulation AND Godaddy can prove it.

If no evidence or proof of shenanigans can be found, this domain is
MapleDots.

MapleDots did not say he would give it back regardless of findings OR sell it back below what he paid for it.

 

[MapleDots]

Good one...

I will donate the domain back to the op if there is even a hint of wrongdoing.

I will personally promise that!!

 

[namelancer]

I will do the right thing if there was any wrong doing.

This is to inform you that the potential extent of wrongdoing can be determined and assed by only one of the two parties here, either Godaddy's Legal Department or the court of law. The only thing Maple Dots can do at this point is to wait future legal orders and act accordingly.

 

[Keith]

I bought the domain after seeing it listed at a BIN price of $450...

Seller received the funds, I have nothing to do with a price change...

Like I said to OP I would be willing to sell way below my asking price for this name just because this happened...

Send me a DM @Dustie and lets resolve it privately

This could happen to anybody...

Thanks

Here it is. Did @maxtra work with OP already? Uh...

 

[wwwulff]

The only thing here to say is @MapleDots is a great human being

Maybe with the addition that you became greedy