markitzer0
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I got a strange email out of the blue from Namesilo (pasted below) saying that 3 domains I own (and have listed for sale on NS's marketplace for ~$500 each) had been listed by someone on Afternic, where I've never even had an account.
It seems that Afternic, strangely, will pretty much let anyone list any domain name for sale, regardless of whether they actually own it (There's a thread on this form about it, but I can't link to it b/c my acct too new.) Indeed, my 3 domains were shown as "For Sale" on Afternic for around $2,000 each. It's not clear what would have happened had someone actually "bought" them there, since whoever had listed them didn't own/control them. I do. I called Afternic, and rep said they see that from time to time, and he removed the listings.
But here's the mystery that both Afternic and NS reps seemed baffled by, as am I: there were three domains at issue in the attached email, but I have standard WHOIS privacy enabled on all of them. So how could the imposter have known that all 3 were owned by the same person?? It's insanely coincidental that an individual would list 3 of my domains on Afternic when there should be absolutely no evidence linking them as being owned by me (right??) Note that 2 of the 3 domains are alternate spellings of the same name so there's at least a possibility that he could have mentally linked the two...but the 3rd one is completely unrelated in every way: different verbiage, topic, registration date, everything.
So two Q's:
It seems that Afternic, strangely, will pretty much let anyone list any domain name for sale, regardless of whether they actually own it (There's a thread on this form about it, but I can't link to it b/c my acct too new.) Indeed, my 3 domains were shown as "For Sale" on Afternic for around $2,000 each. It's not clear what would have happened had someone actually "bought" them there, since whoever had listed them didn't own/control them. I do. I called Afternic, and rep said they see that from time to time, and he removed the listings.
But here's the mystery that both Afternic and NS reps seemed baffled by, as am I: there were three domains at issue in the attached email, but I have standard WHOIS privacy enabled on all of them. So how could the imposter have known that all 3 were owned by the same person?? It's insanely coincidental that an individual would list 3 of my domains on Afternic when there should be absolutely no evidence linking them as being owned by me (right??) Note that 2 of the 3 domains are alternate spellings of the same name so there's at least a possibility that he could have mentally linked the two...but the 3rd one is completely unrelated in every way: different verbiage, topic, registration date, everything.
So two Q's:
- Why does Afternic allow anyone to list domains for sale they don't actually own?
- But I'm more concerned with the mystery of how the imposter could possibly have fraudulently listed 3 of my domains when there shouldn't have been any way for him to know they were owned by the same person?? Any theories?
Hello,
To skip this message and simply accept, please click the link below:
[Namesilo URL]
You are receiving this email as a result of the Afternic listing process being invoked through an Afternic account, on the following domain(s):
[Namesilo URL]
If you did not initiate the Afternic listing process of these domain(s) on the Afternic site, please disregard this email. Please contact us if you have any questions or require further information.
To skip this message and simply accept, please click the link below:
[Namesilo URL]
You are receiving this email as a result of the Afternic listing process being invoked through an Afternic account, on the following domain(s):
- Domain_1
- Domain_2
- Domain_3
[Namesilo URL]
If you did not initiate the Afternic listing process of these domain(s) on the Afternic site, please disregard this email. Please contact us if you have any questions or require further information.