Buyer Scam

[mntirado]

Only about a year into buying/selling domains, I consider myself new to this market. So, I'm not at all up on the cons and scams in circulation. Had my first experience about a month ago with what I am 99% sure was a scam and wanted to share--an FYI.

Received an email from a woman who claimed to be a reseller. She said she had a buyer interested in one of my domains. He wanted to rush the transaction too. She said, though, before the purchase could move forward an appraisal would have to be done.

Eager to sell, I agreed. She gave me three choices of domain appraisal companies. I emailed back saying I'd like to use a company that I've used before and trust (and wasn't on her list). She said that was fine, but the buyer still would need an appraisal from one of three she provided--at my expense--because because the buyer knew they were "fair."

It didn't smell right. One of the domain companies she provided didn't even offer domain appraisals. Yes, a thump on the head, I ordered one from another on the list. Of course, after she received the appraisal, the buyer suddenly didn't seem so interested. I immediately did some online research and found out this is a common con. I emailed her back and asked how much she got for sending me to the appraisal company.

Never again. If someone wants an appraisal on one of my names, they pay for it.

Hope this saves at least one person.

Michelle

 

[armstrong]

Sorry to hear you got scammed. If its any consolation, it is a common mistake newbies make. If I were you, I'll contact my credit card company and chargeback the transaction.

 

[Kodeking]

These scams have been around for a while, and am sorry to hear that they "got" you on it. Basic rule, always agree with the buyer, but never let them run the show.

 

[RJ]

This is too common of a tale. The culprits work for a company called Eleview International out of Virginia. Sites they own are

allfordomains.com
fastdomainsales.com
everydayincome.com
hollywooddomains.com

These are the biggest scam artists in the industry. I suggest filing a chargeback with your credit card company and filing reports with BBB.org and FTC.gov. More information can be found by searching for 'scam' at namepros.com

 

[armstrong]

Perhaps we can consider proactively thwarting these guys by placing an anti-fraud warning in our welcome emails and in our FAQ. Combatting fraud will be good for the domain industry in general, so we may also wish to involve other domain forums and domain sales sites in this effort.

 

[mntirado]

I did contact the appraisal co., and, of course, it denied any connection to such a scam. But I will look into getting a refund. In fact, a week after I got had, another "newbie" got a similar email from another source. Same format. Luckily, she was saved with my warning.

I totally agree with Armstrong--great idea on being more proactive. And I am going to keep posting this in as many domain-related forums as I can. Am I allowed to post the text of the email in this forum? I'd love for everyone to see exactly what it says. I can blot out the sender's name.

Thanks for the sympathy and feedback!

 

[inflames]

i agree with armstrong maybe something can be done to warn people about this so they dont go spening money on this scam

Good one Armstrong :tu:

 

[RJ]

Originally posted by mntirado
I did contact the appraisal co., and, of course, it denied any connection to such a scam. But I will look into getting a refund. In fact, a week after I got had, another "newbie" got a similar email from another source. Same format. Luckily, she was saved with my warning.

I totally agree with Armstrong--great idea on being more proactive. And I am going to keep posting this in as many domain-related forums as I can. Am I allowed to post the text of the email in this forum? I'd love for everyone to see exactly what it says. I can blot out the sender's name.

Thanks for the sympathy and feedback!

Sure, you can post the text of the scam mails here. They're basically used as a form letter sent to everyone and it may help if others recognized them.

 

[mntirado]

Great--here are the two most relevant emails the so-called reseller sent me, in chrono. order:

Hi There

I am a reseller of domain names, I have been asked by my client to purchase a domain name for their new venture. We have 4 names that we like and yours is the one most suited XXX.org I am hoping the details I have on the domain name are correct and up to date and that I have the correct contact for this name.

Please could you first advise me if the name is still owned by yourself and if it is still for sale. If the answer to both these questions is yes please could you provide me with an asking price.

Regards

WOMAN'S NAME

Hi Michelle

Your asking price is around the valuation I was hoping for, I do feel it is worth slightly more which is good because as a reseller I do need to ensure that I have a healthy profit margin myself when I present this to my buyer. I would like to push this through so the next thing is for the domain to have a professional appraisal, we shall need it to be in the form of a professional service who provide online proof like

www.valuations4u.com

www.greatdomains.com or

www.backoftheenvelope.com/


All of which we have found very good in the past and fair, my buyer also requires this for his protection and it helps us if the name has been professionally valued, please forward me the link when the appraisal has been performed so that we can push on with this, do you also have a fax so that an agreement can be signed, not a necessity but it would speed the process up.

Regards

WOMAN'S NAME

 

[johnn]

NEVER, I repeat NEVER order a domain name appraisal.

It does mean nothing.

In general, the domain price is based on the needs of an individual or organization. There is no fixed rules to apply to domain appraisal.

There was time that I bought a domain for a couple of bucks and just let it sit there for a while. Then I have a buyer offered me thousand for it.

I got a lot of scam emails like that.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[mntirado]

Thanks, John. Some more good advice that I'll be taking.

 

[RJ]

Thanks for sharing. Looks like they updated their email a little and changed the name of their appraisal site since more folks are catching onto their scam. The modus operandi is the same.

 

[identity_00]

I wonder if they use an affiliate code for their commission

 

[jj2ii3344]

Thanks for sharing and sorry to hear about it, I have trained myself up so much that I can tell what is spam from the subject of the email, hahaha!

 

[mntirado]

Thank you. As I mentioned above, I hope this post will save at least one--hopefully more-- from this scam...And the cost goes beyond the cost of the appraisal. I put time into it, removed the domain from a couple of paid-for auctions.

 

[CookieMaster]

Thanks for sharing youring your story...
I received mail from this dude whose email address is much like [email protected] (i'm pretty sure this is the right address). He tried to pull same scam on me. Watch out from this moron.
Regards

 

[mntirado]

And [email protected] is still around. He is the one who sent a "form" email--about a month ago--to another reseller I know.

Happy New Year!