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Domain Stolen from GoDaddy Account? (Update: Sold through my GoDaddy Premium Listing)

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Josh R

Josh.coTop Member
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Fellow members,

Today I woke up to an email from GoDaddy saying that one of my domains had been canceled. I thought this was very strange because I just renewed it on January 12th.

I immediately checked my account and it was completely gone.

I proceeded to call GoDaddy, who essentially didn't have a clue what was going on and said there were ZERO notes in the system that would suggest it had changed accounts. They asked me to forward them the cancellation notice, which I did.
I checked the whois, and it's at GoDaddy still, but now under privacy.

I told them it seems clear to me that the domain has been stolen despite having two-factor authentication.

I was told that all communication needed to be conducted via email in order to create a paper trace. So we proceeded through email.

An hour or so later, I received a call from one of the GoDaddy reps telling me that my domain had been sold through Afternic but there were no further details available. This was interesting, because the domain had no Buy It Now price on my Afternic account AND I hadn't received any emails from Afternic about an offer. The domain is actually still listed on afternic with no price, but the ability to make an offer. (I just checked my afternic account).

Anyway, the rep tells me to call afternic, so that's exactly what I do. I get on a long hold for 35 minutes, only to get a rep on the phone that tells me afternic is not open on the weekends and nobody can help me until Monday. He can't even confirm if they have sold it.

Now, what I don't understand is how Afternic have managed to remove my domain from my GoDaddy account without my consent and How GoDaddy are not able to put it back?

Essentially my domain has been stolen, but from GoDaddy/Afternic...
I'm extremely frustrated at this point, and really have no clue what's going on. How can afternic first of all sell a domain that wasn't for sale? and secondly, how can they then remove it from my GoDaddy account overnight without any kind of warning or consent?

This is worrying and I think that I'll have to move all of my domains out of GoDaddy after this experience.


Update: At this GoDaddy can't do anything and I need to wait until someone is available during business hours at Afternic... (despite the fact that GoDaddy owns afternic)
 
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Update:

Called Afternic and spoke with a sales guy.
He proceeded to tell me that he sees no sale in the system and only an active listing...he then transferred me to the "Escrow Team", that went straight to voicemail.

Still have no idea what's going on, and little help from GoDaddy and zero help from Afternic.

Sorry, OP. I laughed reading that.
 
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It's not subverting a law, those are terms that everyone agrees to when they sign up for an account, it's a protection for the registrar and registries if there is a mistake that they can rectify it within the first 30 days.

Sure, but it's not infallible. You said:
TOS that says they can take back a domain in the first 30 days for any reason, they are not losing that case
but it's not that simple. @DudeManBro has an attorney on the case so I'm sure they'll do what's best for him. Anyways, don't want to hijack the thread. We could continue this elsewhere.

TOS, even if agreed to, don't give companies the right to do anything contained therein and can and should be challenged.
 
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Ask the Godaddy what status was on the domain name before it left your account.
If it was "premium reserve status" then I think you were opted-in FastTransfer .

Anyway, I think you need to contact @Joe Styler directly.

Good luck.
 
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Wish you much success with your suit, I had a name taken away also, because it had the keyword Eco in it.


The framework within their contract is pretty complex, as far as damages go, I don't think they will cover your legal costs even if it is your buddy who still have to expense his oppurtunity cost. They do have the right to take the domain back, but damages you incurred they could be liable for.

Agree.

Good luck Dudemanbro.... Maybe a disclaimer should be added to new dom sales. Don't be a moron. Wait 30 days after purchase to clear any technical issues or contractual rights that may arise. Buyers rights are limited.
Not saying that what you described isn't happening because I believe it is. The bottom line, it's going to keep happening until there is a massive complaint base to ICANN or Ted Cruz maybe?

Until then buyer always beware.
Cheers
 
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It is was it is.
I appreciate it.

It's the principle of it. That's all.

I have too much going on to move forward with anything and decided I am just going to leave it at that.

One thing I am glad I came to terms with though... and am willing to admit openly thanks to this thread...

Is that apparently this whole time I thought I was a successful domainer...
When really I've just been a very lucky Domain Gambler winning domains on Gambling Websites.
 
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ng because I believe it is. The bottom line, it's going to keep happening until there is a massive complaint base to ICANN or Ted Cruz maybe?

Until then buyer always beware.
What this also does is further highlight the sham (read scam) that ngTLDs really is. The Big Con.

Sorry, OP for getting off topic. Also I hope your Afternic situation gets sorted out. No surprise the usual suspects are being of little help, when you are in crisis mode.
 
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Yea OP dude,
Apologize for getting off topic,
And I hope your Afternic Issue gets taken care of as well.
Sucks to hear that bro.
 
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No problem.
Just to update everyone.

I have called GoDaddy and got little help. They have now said that [email protected] is not the right contact, and that I should email [email protected]... I still have not heard back from Auctions...

Afternic is essentially useless.

I'm not really getting very far after hours of phone calls.
 
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That sounds about right. The customer service reps may not always be 100% knowledgeable.

I signed up for a pre-reg domain for one of the new TLDs. The day after release the domain was showing registered already. I called and spoke to CSR and was told someone else got it but they could not tell who. Out of curiosity I followed up about a week later and spoke to a different CSR. This one told me the domain was mine and in it was in my dashboard. Always double check! :/
 
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No problem.
Just to update everyone.

I have called GoDaddy and got little help. They have now said that [email protected] is not the right contact, and that I should email [email protected]... I still have not heard back from Auctions...

Afternic is essentially useless.

I'm not really getting very far after hours of phone calls.


If you call godaddy support, verify your account ownership over the phone they will tell you exactly what happened to the name, have you tried this?
 
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The customer service reps may not always be 100% knowledgeable.

You can say that 100x about GoDaddy customer support.

Some time back, I wasn't able to replace a domain on backorder and phoned them if they could do it from their end.

Support swears that a backorder can be used only once and once it fails, you have to buy a new one.:xf.confused:
 
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You can say that 100x about GoDaddy customer support.

Some time back, I wasn't able to replace a domain on backorder and phoned them if they could do it from their end.

Support swears that a backorder can be used only once and once it fails, you have to buy a new one.:xf.confused:
lol I have placed a backorder on a 4L .net in 2010.. Every next year I got an email telling me that it failed to backorder it. Finally in 2016, Godaddy caught it.

Also, I remember seeing somewhere on godaddy saying that you can get a free backorder credit if one fails.
 
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You can say that 100x about GoDaddy customer support.

Some time back, I wasn't able to replace a domain on backorder and phoned them if they could do it from their end.

Support swears that a backorder can be used only once and once it fails, you have to buy a new one.:xf.confused:


If you get support to look at the domain they know exactly where it was prior and how it ended up in another account, believe me. That is why that simple call would end the mystery.
 
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Not heard of the free backorder credit, but you do get to replace the domain name if the earlier one was not caught by them.

Haven't had the time to fully go thru this thread, but @Axorees should try online chat with GD support.
Sometimes you strike gold and get someone who knows what they're doing.

GD Auctions will give standard template replies, at least initially.
 
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If you call godaddy support, verify your account ownership over the phone they will tell you exactly what happened to the name, have you tried this?
Of course I've called GoDaddy support... :S


I've been on the phone with various people for hours.
 
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So let me ask... did they give you answers to.

When was it transferred out?
Why or how, via a simple request from the gaining account with auth code/push from you or was it won?
By won I mean, did they say if the name was allowed to drop because of non renewal?
Do they show a GOOD receipt/transaction showing it was renewed by you and no charge back?

I bet in 5 minutes I know exactly what happened, have you shared the name? What is it?
 
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I said before in another thread Afternic needs 2FA. Badly.

Because when you create an account there, for every account there is a page with a public url containing your username and a list of all the domains in that account. If your username is a dictionary word or name or easily tried, you are f*cked. Mr Hacker can see what you have and keep running passwords till they get in.

Then if the domain is set to Premium they just set the price to $20 and buy it and it leaves your registrar account at once.

Better yet, they delete it from your account, add it to another and then buy it from that account so you have no record of anything.

Afternic is full of bugs and hard to use, can't understand why GD did not just kill it when they bought it.
 
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So let me ask... did they give you answers to.

When was it transferred out?
Why or how, via a simple request from the gaining account with auth code/push from you or was it won?
By won I mean, did they say if the name was allowed to drop because of non renewal?
Do they show a GOOD receipt/transaction showing it was renewed by you and no charge back?

I bet in 5 minutes I know exactly what happened, have you shared the name? What is it?
No offense, but you are so far off what's going on here.
 
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Update:
They are now saying it did not sell through Afternic and the suspicion is that it might have sold through GoDaddy.

The catch? ... the domain shows as not sold, and they can't find any history within my account prior to the name being canceled and moved on Sunday morning...

I really don't understand what's taking them so long to figure out what happened. The domain is still at GoDaddy as of right now but under privacy.
 
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No offense, but you are so far off what's going on here.
Something isn't adding up though. I get the weekend thing and certain departments being closed. Still, this could be handled quickly.

I've been with godaddy for over a decade and they are always right on things. You have support, account executives, your records...all these things at your disposal to help. Did you email them proof of ownership? Do you have an account rep and what did they say? It should only take 1-2 calls and an hour to figure out, especially being normal business hours now.
 
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For anyone that is not concerned about Afternic yet...

Go to afternic.com/yourusername and you find on that public page:

Username, date joined, list of all your Afternic domains and prices

A hacker now has your username and knows whether you have domains worth stealing there. They just need a password now. Using whois a hacker can find info to help them guess passwords or hack the email you use for the account. Or just use brute force attacks. Sedo stopped having a public page with username and domains listing like that years ago.


Just reset my password there now - guess what, it only takes letters and numbers. WTF

This is why I only list a few names there.
 
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Sorry if I am off but we are playing a guessing game with you and trying to help. Considering you have not shared the name....
 
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Sorry if I am off but we are playing a guessing game with you and trying to help. Considering you have not shared the name....

I couldn't agree more. You'll certainly get more help if you share the name. Sounds like you're not getting anywhere with Godaddy/Afternic, so why not share the name.
 
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I couldn't agree more. You'll certainly get more help if you share the name. Sounds like you're not getting anywhere with Godaddy/Afternic, so why not share the name.
Sharing also helps eliminate resale as we'll be aware of the situation.
 
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For anyone that is not concerned about Afternic yet...

Go to afternic.com/yourusername and you find on that public page:

Username, date joined, list of all your Afternic domains and prices

A hacker now has your username and knows whether you have domains worth stealing there. They just need a password now. Using whois a hacker can find info to help them guess passwords or hack the email you use for the account. Or just use brute force attacks. Sedo stopped having a public page with username and domains listing like that years ago.


Just reset my password there now - guess what, it only takes letters and numbers. WTF

This is why I only list a few names there.
Unless you have gone into settings and unchecked what shows on your profile. Which i did many years ago.
 
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