TheDomainInvestors.com and DomainSecondhand.com is a scam

DomainSecondHand.com Email Threat!

I recently was scammed into using DomainSecondHand.com's services. After emailing them for a refund I asked them a bit about the company and who does the appraisals. They gave me almost no information except to say the company was located in Ireland and Romania. After pushing for more information I received this email:

Your site http://lintoninvestments.com/ looks fake. It has no links, no contact info, etc. We will check it through BBB.

You stole the name from
Linton, Larry C. - Linton Investment Enterprises. We will contact Larry for more information about you and your company.

Google serach for "linton investments llc + morgan linton" shows no information.

Now it's clear that we became victim of friendly charge back scheme. It was a learning experince for us.

We asked you to send correspondence between you and the person who tricked you to use our services. You did not do that. It proves that you are a scammer who order commercial service for free. Your email will be black listed and you'll be reported. It's hard to believe that president of investment company can be tricked via email. We may spread information about "naive" president all over the Internet. Who will do business with such unprofessional person with small IQ? Or probably, you are not so naive and you've sent us a fake story to get a refund. We will start our own investigation on you and your practices. Your name will be listed in Google and other serach engines soon. Other merchants should be aware of your "online" practices.

All yor future spam will be reported immediately.

Sincerely,

Shirley M. Leurquin

Customer Support


Pretty scary if you ask me. I responded letting them know that this was my company with a registered business address and phone number, registered in the state of Delaware. I don't have to hid my business...why do they? Now looks like they want to deface my business name online? Because I was scammed by them?

It's probably the same people behind this: http://www.namepros.com/warnings-and-alerts/112669-fraud-alert-allfordomains-com.html (Allfordomains.com)
Common trait: the (free) toughguy E-mail addresses.

Dispute all charges to your credit card, hopefully their merchant account will get terminated if there are enough complaints :]

Why can't we prepare a sample complaint template and post it here...Then most of us can make a few changes and forward it to the necessary companies...

I can't imagine them not suspended if we flood complains emails around 200-300...

This &*## is using my name for his nefarious schemes. He is likely the guy who sent me an email about buying a name I control which. I didn't answer that email. I don't know if he was irritated about that, or if he just liked my name. It IS My name. I haven't found another like it in years of posting my last name searching for genealogy links. The name is stolenS
Shirley M Leurquin is NOT a scammer. .

Months ago I received the same (or very similar) e-mails as eryscx.
I did not fall for it or get burned in any way, but it just galls me to
think how many unsuspecting people actually do.

This website/associates/affiliates should be exposed for what they are.

.

Subject: DoorsBand.com (sent 7/23/08)
From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>

Hello,

Your domain for sale has been found online.
ÿ
Please let us know the your price.
ÿ
We make money on selling and buying names and sites. Now the domain
business is very attractive.

Looking forward to do business with you.
ÿ
Regards,
Michael Henzell
CEO
BON Domains LLC

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

(my reply)
This domain has been listed on Afternic for $10,000 USD. Sales are best
conducted through a third part or escrow account.

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

10,000 USD. Ok.

Do you sell domain with a web site or just the name?

Domain without content is ok with me. Web site is not necessary.

Have you had your domain names evaluated in the past? I mean domain
appraisals. Without valuation we cannot be sure in the sale price. It's very
important for me in terms of reselling too. But we must engage a valuation
company with REAL manual service. So I will only accept valuations from
independent sources I and my partners trust.

To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable appraisal
companies.

If, for example, the valuation comes higher you can adjust your asking price
accordingly. It will be fair. I also hope you can give me 12% - 15%
discount.

After you send me the valuation via email (usually it takes 1-2 days to
obtain it) we'll continue our negotiations.

What is your preferred payment method: Escrow.com, International wire
transfer, PayPal.com or something else?

Hope we can come to an agreement fast.

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

A big thanks to this post and thread. Found it right away when I did a search for the 007sites blog. I smelled a rat on a the first email (President of a company named after his own email pop3 provider).

Let's keep this thread alive so more of this content gets out there and anyone else who searches is likely to run into ths on Google.

tazzzz7777 said:

It ends up being about you getting an appraisal from easynamesale.com

Click to expand...

Good thread and now it's obvious to me that this scam goes on. I received the following email:


So let me also restate for SE's: this is a scam. As tazzzz7777 said, it's about you getting an appraisal from easynamesale.com. I must admit still though that it's a pretty clever scam if you ask me. The letters do not promote easynamesale directly. I was suspicious, but still answered to the 1st letter and this is what followed (exactly the same wording again as above).


So I did a Google search and here I am now, newbie member

Thanks again for posters above, thanks guys! This thread converted me to a member.

Cheers,
Lembit

bonbon

----- Original Message ----

From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>

Hello,

Your domain for sale has been found online.
ÿ
Please let us know the your price.
ÿ
We make money on selling and buying names and sites. Now the domain business is very attractive.

Looking forward to do business with you.
ÿ
Regards,
Michael Henzell
CEO
BON Domains LLC

=====================================
----- Original Message -----

To: [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2008 4:54 AM

Thank you for your interest.

All activity regarding the sale of this domain is to be handled by Sedo.

http://www.sedo.com

I appreciate your time.
-------------------------------------------------------
From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>

Can you accept 7,000 USD?

Do you sell domain with a web site or just the name?

Domain without content is ok with me. Web site is not necessary.

Have you had your domain names evaluated in the past? I mean domain appraisals. Without valuation we cannot be sure in the sale price. It's very important for me in terms of reselling too. But we must engage a valuation company with REAL manual service. So I will only accept valuations from independent sources I and my partners trust.

To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable appraisal companies.

If, for example, the valuation comes higher you can adjust your asking price accordingly. It will be fair. I also hope you can give me 12% - 15% discount.

After you send me the valuation via email (usually it takes 1-2 days to obtain it) we'll continue our negotiations.

What is your preferred payment method: Escrow.com, International wire transfer, PayPal.com or something else?

Hope we can come to an agreement fast.

Looking forward to your reply.
------------------------------------------------------

A few minutes ago, I responded to: [email protected], offering no more than the following link.
http://www.namepros.com/warnings-and-alerts/401699-domainsecondhand-com-is-a-scam.html

I agree with evilopinions

Can Namepros (or a member) organise a sample complaint template and post it here...?

Then we could make changes and forward it to the necessary companies...

Cheers
Corey

Thank you for this thread. I just receive the same email this morning.
Whew! Thought someone is really interested in my domain *lol*

--- Hello,

Your domain for sale has been found online.
ÿ
Please let us know your price.
ÿ
We make money on selling and buying names and sites. Now the domain business is very attractive.

Looking forward to do business with you.
ÿ
Regards,
George Ogilvie
CEO
Ogilvie Technologies

---

the email address was [email protected]
tsk tsk tsk

siouxee said:

A few minutes ago, I responded to: [email protected], offering no more than the following link.
http://www.namepros.com/warnings-and-alerts/401699-domainsecondhand-com-is-a-scam.html

Click to expand...

The guy sent me two more emails today, hard-selling easynamesale.com appraisals. Won't quote these here, I think we all got the picture already.

Replied the same way as siouxee, sent the link to this thread.

Cheers,
Lembit

tazzzz7777 said:

The email was from [email protected] from a guy named George Sterling:

Hello,

We are interested in XXXXXXXX.com

Please let us know the your price and we will consider it.

Our company is investing in High Tech and IT projects. Now the domain market is
very attractive for us, since every business in the Internet requires a domain.

Looking forward to do business with you.

Regards,
George Sterling
President
PHR LLC

Can you accept 6,000 USD?

Do you sell domain with a web site or just the name?

Domain without content is ok with me. Web site is not necessary.

Have you had your domain names evaluated in the past? I mean domain appraisals. Without valuation we cannot be sure in the sale price. It's very important for me in terms of reselling too. But we must engage a valuation company with REAL manual service. So I will only accept valuations from independent sources I and my partners trust. To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable appraisal companies. If, for example, the valuation comes higher you can adjust your asking price accordingly. It will be fair. I also hope you can give me 12% - 15% discount.
After you send me the valuation via email (usually it takes 1-2 days to obtain it) we'll continue our negotiations.

What is your preferred payment method: Escrow.com, International wire transfer, PayPal.com or something else?
Hope we can come to an agreement fast.

Looking forward to your reply.

[email protected]

It ends up being about you getting an appraisal from easynamesale.com

Click to expand...

I got that same email. I went into asking him why he wanted an appraisal... that appraisals meant nothing and were only worth what a buyer is willing to pay. Went to say that the appraisal cost would be deducted from the final cost (I knew this was a scam the entire time).

Conversation just died after a few emails.

Same Scam Rolls On...

Email Exchange In Order...

Hello,

Your domain for sale has been found online.
ÿ
Please let us know your price.
ÿ
We make money on selling and buying names and sites. Now the domain
business is very attractive.

Looking forward to do business with you.
ÿ
Regards,
George Ogilvie
CEO
Ogilvie Technologies
__________________________________________________________________
George,
> Thanks for your interest in _______.com. I have it listed for sale on
> Sedo for $500 US: url
>
> Mark
>
_________________________________________________________________

500. Ok.

Do you sell domain with a web site or just the name?

Domain without content is ok with me. Web site is not necessary.

Have you had your domain names evaluated in the past? I mean domain
appraisals. Without valuation we cannot be sure in the sale price. It's very
important for me in terms of reselling too. But we must engage a valuation
company with REAL manual service. So I will only accept valuations from
independent sources I and my partners trust.

To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable appraisal
companies.

If, for example, the valuation comes higher you can adjust your asking price
accordingly. It will be fair. I also hope you can give me 12% - 15%
discount.

After you send me the valuation via email (usually it takes 1-2 days to
obtain it) we'll continue our negotiations.

What is your preferred payment method: Escrow.com, International wire
transfer, PayPal.com or something else?

Hope we can come to an agreement fast.

Looking forward to your reply.
________________________________________________________________
Just the domain, no web site.
>
> If you want to purchase a valuation at your expense, go ahead. My
> experience
> has been that these valuations are a waste of time, particularly for lower
> priced domains like this one.
>
> My price is $500, if you like the price you can purchase through SEDO and
> use their escrow service.
>
> Thanks,
> Mark
_________________________________________________________________

It's a standard practice to show independent valuation to buyers/resellers.
Nobody will do business without it. I'm a businessman and have no intention
of changing rules which help both parties to avoid additional risks.

Of course, investors never take into account auto-generated vlauations. So
manual valuation is a "must" too.

Thank you for understanding. I'm looking forward to do business with you.

_________________________________________________________________

LOL
I have got EXACTLY the same emails. The only difference was - I have listed another price - all other parts was EXACTLY the same (word to word).

dam it - I have planned to get nice bike after selling that domain. :p
I hate this world

Did you check 'DomainSecondhand' in google ? This thread comes first :p
Everybody should exercise due diligence.

and a whole lot of threads about this
http://www.namepros.com/search.php?searchid=2510640
about 13 threads.

I have just received a similar email too, searched for the domain it came from and came to this forum. Thanks for the info guys - good to know we are a community which helps each other when these despicable acts occur.

Email I received:-
subject Offer for ???.info (sent 09/26/2008)
memo Hello,

Your domain name has been found online.

Please let us know your price.

We make money on selling and buying names and sites. Now the domain
business is very attractive.

Looking forward to do business with you.

Regards,
Jacob Davidson
Vice President
Elite Investment
Edit/Delete Message

**The Online Brokerage**

Today, I received the following email with the same scam. I suspected that it was a scam right away, then looked to the forum for confirmation. Its awesome to a have a resource to which to turn for help, advice, and to contribute. THANK YOU ALL!!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sorry for delay with answer. Our family was celebrating newborn child of my sister.

Can you accept 5,000 USD?


Do you sell domain with a web site or just the name?

Domain without content is ok with me. Web site is not necessary.

Have you had your domain names evaluated in the past? I mean domain appraisals. Without valuation we cannot be sure in the sale price. It's very important for me in terms of reselling too. But we must engage a valuation company with REAL manual service. So I will only accept valuations from independent sources I and my partners trust.

To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable appraisal companies.

If, for example, the valuation comes higher you can adjust your asking price accordingly. It will be fair. I also hope you can give me 12% - 15% discount.

After you send me the valuation via email (usually it takes 1-2 days to obtain it) we'll continue our negotiations.

What is your preferred payment method: Escrow.com, International wire transfer, PayPal.com or something else?

Hope we can come to an agreement fast.

Looking forward to your reply.

A lot of scams had been on the net for quite a long time now. Been receiving scam emails too. I try to check them all out at Scam Search. It might help you also.

I WAS going to use them, till I looked up their domain on these forums! Thanks so much for the heads up, I think more people should be alerted about these criminals.

Another example from me:
----------------------------------
Hello,

Our company is interested in your domain name. What is your price?

We have a solid investing budget and our company is very interested in Internet names and web sites.

If you have other domains for sale feel free to send your list.

Looking forward to do business with you.

Regards,

Bradford Whitman

CEO

Domain & Web Site Brokerage
========================================================
NOTICE - This communication may contain confidential and privileged
information that is for the sole use of the intended recipient. Any
viewing, copying or distribution of, or reliance on this message by
unintended recipients is strictly prohibited. If you have received this
message in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message
and deleting it from your computer.
========================================================

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

Can you accept 5,000 USD?

Do you sell domain with a web site or just the name?

Domain without content is ok with me. Web site is not necessary.

Have you had your domain names evaluated in the past? I mean domain appraisals. Without valuation we cannot be sure in the sale price. It's very important for me in terms of reselling too. But we must engage a valuation company with REAL manual service. So I will only accept valuations from independent sources I and my partners trust.

To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable appraisal companies.

If, for example, the valuation comes higher you can adjust your asking price accordingly. It will be fair. I also hope you can give me 12% - 15% discount.

After you send me the valuation via email (usually it takes 1-2 days to obtain it) we'll continue our negotiations.

What is your preferred payment method: Escrow.com, International wire transfer, PayPal.com or something else?

Hope we can come to an agreement fast.

Looking forward to your reply.

I received an email from DomainSecondhand.com today..... "Bradford Whitman"

Thank you to everyone here at namepros.com for this thread and the heads up. Below is the email I received today for one of my domains I am selling on ebay right now.



Hello,

Our company is interested in your domain name. What is your price?

We have a solid investing budget and our company is very interested in
Internet names and web sites.

If you have other domains for sale feel free to send your list.

Looking forward to do business with you.

Regards,

Bradford Whitman

CEO

Domain & Web Site Brokerage

Just received the same email. Going to act like I am interested.

He's back.

Have to admit this one nearly got me. The appraisal service he is indirectly pushing now is namesaleshop.com.

I was suspicious that someone would give me $5,000 for a domain I paid $6 for 3 days ago, but it's actually a pretty subtle scam; the only reason I figured it out was because of the blog he linked to which has no message board content at all and is clearly just a made-up discussion. Still, fairly clever to make up a fake forum thread instead of directly telling me which appraisal to use.

I popped his email address ([email protected]) into Google and wound up here. Thanks for confirming my suspicion.

So, just to re-iterate:

NameSaleShop = Scam
NameSaleShop is a scam. NameSaleShop is a scam. NameSaleShop is a scam. NameSaleShop is a scam.

I also find it odd that "secondhanddomain.com" has a frame redirect to sedo.com. Lovely...