Fallen half way into a popular appraisal scam, be careful

[petrosc]

I have fallen for a popular email scam where a potential buyer asks for your domain name but wants an appraisal, and he accepts no appraisal company except from one he "trusts". He is potentially the owner of that service and you end up losing your $$ for appraisal without making a sale.

Here goes the email, I am posting this for the members who did not hear about this scam yet(although as i understand most of you have)

-----Original Message-----
From: BN Engineering [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 8. února 2006 17:49
To: [email protected]
Subject: AdultPictorials.com (sent 02/08/06)


Hello,

I think you have not sold your domain name yet. I'm very interested in it. Can you send your price for the domain?

Did you get offers from other people already?

I run a software company. We develop client-server systems and databases in MS SQL and Delphi. Buying and selling domain names is not my main business. Just another way to invest money and make additional income.

Looking forward to do business with you.

Best regards,
Edward Kramer Ph.D.
President
BN Engineering

============================================================================
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.

===========================================================================

I replied that I want $150 for it and he then replied this

XXX range. Ok.

Do you offer a web site or domain name only? I'm mostly interested in names.

Do you have an appraisal certificate?

Domain name is an investment for me. In other words I'm going to sell your name later and make a profit. If I overpay I won't be able to make a profit in the future. It's very important for you and me to know the current market value of your domain.

Of course, we must be sure that you are engaging a reputable appraisal company. I heard many appraisal companies often made inaccurate appraisals.
I will only accept appraisals from independent sources I trust.

To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable appraisal companies in a forum http://domaintalk.ourplace.com/Archive/58046.htm

Juck check this posting.

If the appraisal comes higher you can adjust your asking price accordingly.

After I get an appraisal from you we'll continue our negotiations.

How do you prefer to get paid: www.PayPal.com, www.escrow.com, check or wire?

Hope we can come to an agreement fast.

Looking forward to your reply.

If you notice the link he provides http://domaintalk.ourplace.com/Archive/58046.htm
there is a suggested appraisal site inside, its www.ALLDOMAINS.com (to which he is potentially related)

Unaware that this was a scam, I have made an appraisal for the name, but not with the suggested service but with one of my choice, moniker.com as i trusted their services. I have spent $20, but at least the $20 didnt end up in his hands!!

Be careful for these types of scams

this is my last reply to him

Hello

I have decided to sell you my domain for $0,99. I suggest that we use escrow for such a transaction. Tell me when you would like to start the transfer process.

Best Regards,
Petros

Petros

ps. Should I contact alldomains.com and ask for explanations for this scam?

 

[Halobitt]

Out of curiosity, what did Moniker appraise it at?

 

[petrosc]

I am curious too, I didnt get the appraisal yet, I just filed it today

 

[Bannen]

identical

Yup (if you remember my reply to you in the other forum), your 'follow up' letters from him are exactly the same as to my partner. Obviously all are form letters, sent in precise sequence to anyone who replies to them.
We actually went further in order to scare the guy, and said we were looking to make contact with the 'engineering' company he was using for a footer, and looking to contact him personally through the real world, and finally that we were going to notify the fbi about this scam and possible criminal fraud.
That's what drove him nuts, and his emails from that point forward went completely insane, words mixed up, yelling, threatening, not making sense, it was an actual pleasure to behold someone lose it that much - at least from a distance, ha.
Another related item: if you go to Allfordomains.com, where you are always ultimately led... notice the conspicuous LACK of affiliate banners/logos on their site. There aren't any! Yes, they do have a merchant account with emetrix so they can receive payments via cc, but even emetrix doesn't have their logo posted on this site.
Someone more knowledgable than me might know the viability of Emetrix; I have merchant accnt only with Verisign as they are proven and safe.
I may be wrong, but all my instinct tells me Allfordomains is all - or largely - bogus, and is a site set up to look pro but is really shallow and a scam. Anyone else on this?
If so, might be in order to approach Emetrix also, and let them know what's happening and that it might be in their interests to investigate this site a little...

 

[Epic]

I got this and told him I would sell my domain for $50 and he never replied back.

Guess it was too low for him to bother lol

 

[petrosc]

Yup (if you remember my reply to you in the other forum), your 'follow up' letters from him are exactly the same as to my partner. Obviously all are form letters, sent in precise sequence to anyone who replies to them.
We actually went further in order to scare the guy, and said we were looking to make contact with the 'engineering' company he was using for a footer, and looking to contact him personally through the real world, and finally that we were going to notify the fbi about this scam and possible criminal fraud.
That's what drove him nuts, and his emails from that point forward went completely insane, words mixed up, yelling, threatening, not making sense, it was an actual pleasure to behold someone lose it that much - at least from a distance, ha.
Another related item: if you go to Allfordomains.com, where you are always ultimately led... notice the conspicuous LACK of affiliate banners/logos on their site. There aren't any! Yes, they do have a merchant account with emetrix so they can receive payments via cc, but even emetrix doesn't have their logo posted on this site.
Someone more knowledgable than me might know the viability of Emetrix; I have merchant accnt only with Verisign as they are proven and safe.
I may be wrong, but all my instinct tells me Allfordomains is all - or largely - bogus, and is a site set up to look pro but is really shallow and a scam. Anyone else on this?
If so, might be in order to approach Emetrix also, and let them know what's happening and that it might be in their interests to investigate this site a little...

Thanks for the reply and the additional info, I will see what I can do. I was thinking to tell him that I am going to contact the FBI.

 

[petrosc]

Out of curiosity, what did Moniker appraise it at?

You will not believe this. I just got the appraisal from moniker.com

They appraised it for $3,250 and to think that i only asked for $150

 

[Bannen]

minor update

I typed in alldomains.com... it is no longer forwarded to allfordomains.com, which it used to do. Maybe a couple months back when my partner emailed allfordomains to tell them about this and ask if they were affiliated with alldomains, that spurred them to straighten things out.
I whois'd both dn's, and they are reg'd in different states; not that that means they aren't still sister sites.
But the entire look of both sites is the same... looks like they were both constructed by the same person... and still no affiliate logos on either.
We thought allfordomains.com appraisals were ridiculous and misleading; like most appraisers, they had 2 tiers: a cheapie appraisal that is computer-generated entirely on basis of keywords, and a more expensive appraisal based on, they said, a 'group of real people who would look at each name'.
My pard opted for the 6-name deal, by 'live humans' - and we could tell it was totally computer-generated, nothing to do with a live human. Based on keywords alone.
Her ifoolsgold.com was appraised at something over 3,000 - which is ridiculous because the name doesn't mean anything. But you can see the keywords in there. My moneyenclosed.com was appraised at over 6,300. I'd go into how I compared all their appraisals on other names posted on that site that had been appraised, but too much typing already.
Please, no one fall for the line - at least at allfordomains - that your name is being appraised by live humans. Totally keyword-generated.

 

[yandig]

I got the exact same e-mail today, except the name and company were different. I ignored it...

 

[businessmoola]

I got an email today, I fell for it. I did a godaddy appraisal! At least I only lost $13

I feel like an idiot

Here's the so called scammers name:

> >> > Best regards,
> >> > Robert Johansen Ph.D.
> >> > CEO
> >> > Opera Engineering

 

[drakewla]

What really scares me about AllForDomains is their Alexa rank: 100,656...

 

[petrosc]

somebody has to stop these guys. I filed a complain to FBI internet fraud dep but they dont seem to care

 

[Webworld]

Same guy

Yeah, I got mail from the same scammer. Same as others.

I almost fell for it ! Luckily I checked the domain he sent mail from - operaen.com , its a parked domain.

"Hello,

What is your price for the domain mentioned in the subject line?

I'm very interested in this name.

Did you get offers from other people already?

I run a software company. We develop client-server systems and databases in MS SQL and Delphi. Buying and selling domain names is not my main business. Just another way to invest money and make additional income.

Looking forward to do business with you.

Best regards,
Robert Johansen Ph.D.
CEO
Opera Engineering"

I'm thinking of adding his mail adress to s*p*a*m lists ... lol

 

[HeyGeek]

ARRRRGHHHH! I SO completely feel for this scam about a year ago...and with a TM domain name (Verizon+++++.com) to! I paid alldomains their $50 or so bucks and they appraised it at $30,000 (for a TM name...WTF)......
When you send them the appraisal info they just respond and say that they will contact you if they find a buyer...
This is really lame...
George

 

[RJ]

I typed in alldomains.com... it is no longer forwarded to allfordomains.com, which it used to do. Maybe a couple months back when my partner emailed allfordomains to tell them about this and ask if they were affiliated with alldomains, that spurred them to straighten things out.
I whois'd both dn's, and they are reg'd in different states; not that that means they aren't still sister sites.

I don't believe alldomains.com and allfordomains.com are related.

Alldomains.com is an ICANN accredited registrar. You can see from their history that they have never had their site redirect to the scammers site.

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.alldomains.com

Looks like the scammers screwed up when they put the alldomains.com link on the phoney "ourplace.com" forum as linked to in the original post in this thread. The scamming site is allfordomains.com not alldomains.com

 

[petrosc]

good point there... thanks for the remark

 

[Falian]

What he does is a very good trick, he pops a scam in the middle, but then immediantly turns your mind back to finalizing the deal, which makes the appraisal seem worth it.

 

[andrewcubbie]

Well thanks for having this thread up! I got the same e-mail and was actually searching around to find "better" appraisal services when I went back and something just didn't seem right. So I decided to research allfordomains and found this thread about how it's a scam.

Whew. 10 minutes away from losing $70 :td:

 

[petrosc]

this is nice to hear andrew...

 

[Bshane411]

The scammer is using "James Ueland" now..

I have been playing around with this guy for a few days. The name has changed but the emails are the same. This time the guy is James Ueland or [email protected]. He has been trying to get me to get an appraisal from AllForDomains.com. He keeps saying that my appraisals aren't good enough. He also points me to some forum (which doesn't exist) as justification. In my research I found two "forums" with the same information but the names have been changed.

http://domaintalk.ourplace.com/Archive/58046.htm
http://domaintalk.ourplace.com/archive/81035.htm

My domains have been appraised at $5,900 $5,900 and $1,000 and I KNOW their value....I even paid for the appraisal BEFORE I purchased them. Any reasonable person that is going to invest substantial money would get their own appraisal.

I've been wasting his time for days.....

I wish I could track down who he really is.

The email was the following:

Hello,

I came across Internet auctions and found your domain for sale. We consider
investing in names as an additional income. Of course, we are not going to
develop each and every domain name. We prefer to resell them later at higher
price.

Please email me price for your domain name. If it's reasonable we'll do
business.

If you have other domain names for sale please send us the complete list
with prices for consideration.

Looking forward to do business with you.

Regards,

James Ueland, Ph. D.
President
TGR Engineering