discuss [Resolved] Domainer Loses $26k On A Stolen Domain!

DaveX · Mar 5, 2018

Darn! Another scam and this time it is an experienced domainer James Booth.

James must have thought he was making a sound acquisition as he transferred approximately 26k to escrow for CQD.com. Instead, after completing the escrow, the domain was taken from his account by the registrar without notification and returned to the "true" owner.

Turns out the person that sold him the domain CQD.com, may not have been the true owner.

Apparently this incident involves several parties including the registrar and the escrow.

Thanks to Theo over at DomainGang for the tip on this.

xynames · Mar 7, 2018

BoothDomains said:
Hi All, Just wanted to inform you I got the domain back! I am extremely happy right now. I have no more words. Peace out

Whenever someone makes an accusatory type post, and then closes it out with a "I have no more words" ending, versus a post adding more details to what happened, there is always more to the story.

For example here too, where OP claimed that exabytes had taken his money, kept his money, and taken his domains:
https://www.namepros.com/threads/be...-domains-with-no-notice.1064600/#post-6570161
then posted:

imadoer said:
I don't care to discuss it at this point

OP there too eventually made a "don't wish to discuss it" further type post,
then later admitted that he had gotten a full refund, a full year prior, for each domain.

Just the way it goes. You can't come in here and make a lot of noise and then suddenly shut up unless there is more to the story, that you found out and do not wish to discuss, usually something that contradicts what you originally posted.

I am not taking sides, just saying that I knew there were two sides to this once OP clammed up. Now, in OP's defense, if I were his lawyer I'd be telling him to shut up too, at least in public.

wwwweb · Mar 7, 2018

xynames said:
Whenever someone makes an accusatory type post, and then closes it out with a "I have no more words" ending, versus a post adding more details to what happened, there is always more to the story.

3L.com's have become a lot of work if someone isn't attempting to steal it from you, they are trying to udrp it from you. Netsol is hard to avoid since many aged names still reside there.

alcy · Mar 7, 2018

xynames said:
Whenever someone makes an accusatory type post, and then closes it out with a "I have no more words" ending, versus a post adding more details to what happened, there is always more to the story.

yes could be.. but then again we were all once so happy that it left us speechless

tonyk2000 · Mar 7, 2018

The situation is very specific. Here we have the registrar with a questionable reputation who acted unusually in aspects of chaning accounts, an escrow company that had an ownership change and downgraded their service level to such an extend that a lot of professional domainers stopped using them, and a transaction where at least one party is not telling the truth. Imho, such a combo may only be resolved in appropriate court. If the memory serves me correctly, current registrant is also a namejet seller and very likely has an active sellers account. Hope that the domain in question will not become listed for sale/auction on namejet or otherwise sold in the meantime, as another ownership change will only complicate the things.

Lox · Mar 7, 2018

Maybe a storm is coming that is unlike any you have seen before. No comment!

wwwweb · Mar 7, 2018

tonyk2000 said:
The situation is very specific. Here we have the registrar with a questionable reputation who acted unusually in aspects of chaning accounts, an escrow company that had an ownership change and downgraded their service level to such an extend that a lot of professional domainers stopped using them, and a transaction where at least one party is not telling the truth. Imho, such a combo may only be resolved in appropriate court. If the memory serves me correctly, current registrant is also a namejet seller and very likely has an active sellers account. Hope that the domain in question will not become listed for sale/auction on namejet or otherwise sold in the meantime, as another ownership change will only complicate the things.

Why would the seller go thru this identity crisis, if they were going to sell the domain for $19K, and go thru escrow, and verify the proper id's? They could have gotten about $50K for this domain 2 years back during the Chinese hype run, why take $19K today, then cry foul?

The trend we have seen is to steal the domain, maybe photoshop the verification, and push, and run.

Then you have the runner disappear, and the buyer, and the person who it was stolen from fight it out in he said/she said.

Probably what has happend here, hot potato, given the value of the domain it is not simply a walk away situation.

tonyk2000 · Mar 7, 2018

It would also be interesting to find out _whom_ did escrowcom "verify" with their famous KYC as a seller? A company listed in whois? Or somebody else with a fake ID (and, if so, did they bother to check domain whois)?

xynames · Mar 7, 2018

Escrow doesn’t “verify” anyone per se as far as verifying what they have to sell or not sell. It merely sets up a transaction, verifies funds and then releases the funds once buyer acknowledges receipt and acceptance of goods.

Escrows steps in to mediate a dispute only in the event of one and pretty much only prior to escrow’s closing. Once closed there are things in real world escrows such as title insurance that may come into play but with an internet transaction escrow is off the hook once buyer gives the okay to release funds to seller.

tonyk2000 · Mar 7, 2018

xynames said:
Escrow doesn’t “verify” anyone per se

I meant this :

BoothDomains said:
I set up the Escrow transaction and Escrow confirmed the seller was KYC verified.

xynames · Mar 7, 2018

Well yes, but as you know, that just means that the guy's identity has been verified, which I suppose does (or can assuming he didn't somehow slide by with a faked identity (just like you alluded)) mean something, but doesn't mean he has legitimate title to the domain.

In this case the dispute is over title...obviously the seller had possession of the domain because he transferred it. But title? We don't know.

dntaps · Mar 7, 2018

spoiltrider said:
YES! MY (yes my) domain cqd.com was ALMOST stolen. The thief used escrow.com as the sale platform. they reported 19k for the sale. JAMES BOOTH must have known "if it sounded to good to be true, it probably is!" he's a reseller. i suspect he wanted to triple his money on MY domain. I would appreciate everyone recognizing the I am the VICTIM here! C'mon....my domain is worth a lot more than 19k or even 26k. i am extremely ANGRY about this and i am looking for retribution from my former hosting company, the thief in CA, and even james booth if he doesn't STOP harassing me! Slander is what i am thinking of.

You say almost stolen, yet contact details changed y'day matching what James said (he owned the name for sometime, name was given back to previous owner, now back with him since March 6, 2018)

Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.

Created: Wednesday, October 25, 2017 | Expires: Wednesday, August 12, 2020 | Updated: Tuesday, March 6, 2018

@spoiltrider
I have sent an email to the yahoo email address from whois, please reply?
It's easy for anyone to open an np account & make accusations

If you don't want to reply to my email thus fine, maybe mods can help verify your identity @Eric Lyon

London555 · Mar 7, 2018

BoothDomains said:
I didn't pick Netsol. The name was already there. I just did a push to my account and was about to transfer to my GoDaddy account, and yes I lost all the money.

Hopefully you'll get it back but in the future would you suggest using an attorney - escrow the money and than and only then when it's in your GD account release the funds? Good luck

creataweb · Mar 7, 2018

London555 said:
Hopefully you'll get it back but in the future would you suggest using an attorney - escrow the money and than and only then when it's in your GD account release the funds? Good luck

He got the name back.

bulkdomainz · Mar 7, 2018

Maybe we'll have to be selling names face to face now! ..... bring the cash and I'll bring the domain ... to Starbucks!

Giode · Mar 7, 2018

bulkdomainz said:
Maybe we'll have to be selling names face to face now! ..... bring the cash and I'll bring the domain ... to Starbucks!

I've been buying high value url's since 2007, and this has never happened to me. You know why? Because I don't buy stolen domains.

spoiltrider · Mar 8, 2018

tldboss said:
You say almost stolen, yet contact details changed y'day matching what James said (he owned the name for sometime, name was given back to previous owner, now back with him since March 6, 2018)

Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.

Created: Wednesday, October 25, 2017 | Expires: Wednesday, August 12, 2020 | Updated: Tuesday, March 6, 2018

@spoiltrider
I have sent an email to the yahoo email address from whois, please reply?
It's easy for anyone to open an np account & make accusations

If you don't want to reply to my email thus fine, maybe mods can help verify your identity @Eric Lyon

JAMES BOOTH - YOU PURCHASED A STOLEN DOMAIN cqd.com has always been my domain.
I AM TAKING LEGAL ACTION
AND I WILL FILE REPORTS ON THE INTERNET AND SMEAR YOUR NAME if you don not back off and return my domain to me. YOU ARE DEALING WITH STOLEN PERSONAL PROPERTY. i never authorized this sale! you have shut my business down with all this. i am going to sue everyone involved in this.

spoiltrider · Mar 8, 2018

tldboss said:
You say almost stolen, yet contact details changed y'day matching what James said (he owned the name for sometime, name was given back to previous owner, now back with him since March 6, 2018)

Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.

Created: Wednesday, October 25, 2017 | Expires: Wednesday, August 12, 2020 | Updated: Tuesday, March 6, 2018

@spoiltrider
I have sent an email to the yahoo email address from whois, please reply?
It's easy for anyone to open an np account & make accusations

If you don't want to reply to my email thus fine, maybe mods can help verify your identity @Eric Lyon

CQD.COM IS STOLEN PERSONAL PROPERTY!

spoiltrider · Mar 8, 2018

tldboss said:
You say almost stolen, yet contact details changed y'day matching what James said (he owned the name for sometime, name was given back to previous owner, now back with him since March 6, 2018)

Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.

Created: Wednesday, October 25, 2017 | Expires: Wednesday, August 12, 2020 | Updated: Tuesday, March 6, 2018

@spoiltrider
I have sent an email to the yahoo email address from whois, please reply?
It's easy for anyone to open an np account & make accusations

If you don't want to reply to my email thus fine, maybe mods can help verify your identity @Eric Lyon

WHO DOES THIS? i am filing reports that google will place in the number one position of what you have done and the damages created from your procurement of my stolen personal property. CQD.COM WAS STOLEN FROM IT'S RIGHTFUL OWNER! LEGAL ACTION IS COMMENCING.

spoiltrider · Mar 8, 2018

equity78 said:
He did it outside of Afternic it looks like, @Joe Styler quoted:

We looked at it pretty closely and we don’t see any reason to believe cqd.com is stolen. […] We don’t have any record of 26k coming in on this domain so maybe it was somewhere else and maybe someone else is pretending to sell the domain they don’t own but this listing looks to be from the real owner and the floor offer is 150k so I don’t think anyone would be able to try and send in 26k on the name. There is also a lot of other evidence that seems to a few people here who looked at it including myself that the domain is listed by the rightful owner correctly.”

YES SOMEONE ELSE PRETENDED TO ME AND STOLE MY DOMAIN! i was never "KYC verified" there is not blue ink signature of mine on this transaction. James Booth never contacted me! I WAS NEVER CONTACTED. BUT I HAVE PROOF OF MY DOMAIN EMAIL BEING HACKED. LEGAL ACTION IS BEING TAKEN ON MY DOMAIN CQD.COM i am the victim!

tonyk2000 · Mar 8, 2018

spoiltrider said:
CQD.COM IS STOLEN PERSONAL PROPERTY!

Even though the domain in question indeed might be stolen, the technical question remains: Is a domain name property? Just for the sake of clarity. I heard that different courts were of different opinions. Some courts said it is just a contractual right, or, at least, domains are not "goods". So applicable laws may be different. Maybe @jberryhill can clarify this ?

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