GoDaddy domain stolen

[keepsmile]

Hi ,

Today I received emails from the Godaddy that my domain name was transfer out to another registrar.
But I didn't authorize this transfer. I didn't receive any requests regarding this transfer.
Somebody stole my domain name from my the Godaddy account.

My email address has OTP enabled. No chance somebody else had access to my email.

Need help. Any ideas ?

Regards.

 

[Ted.T]

There is no my fault here.
I removed all my domains from my account with Afternic in 2015. And it is empty since Feb. 2015.
So even if the domain was in my account it was removed in Feb.2015 with all others my domains. I decided not to work with the Afternic.

From my experience, a domain that triggers an error never gets to your account as you can't continue the submission process. Doesn't matter that you removed your other domains, that problematic domain was still listed in other account.

 

[keepsmile]

From my experience, a domain that triggers an error never gets to your account as you can't continue the submission process. Doesn't matter that you removed your other domains, that problematic domain was still listed in other account.

I have thousands of domains. And before the sale happened I decided to quit from the Afternic. I removed all my domains. So as I said before EVEN IF the domain was in my account it was removed.
According to the Afternic information the domain was listed in other account in 2012 and then a price was set. And this price is not actual in 2016. And I never had a chance to change it. So I'm the domain name owner and I cannot sell the domain for a price I'd like to get. Someone else decided how much my domain name costs. And sold it. It is also a huge vulnerability.

For instance, this way an attacker can sell the XE.COM for $100. A little social engineering and that's it.

 

[Ted.T]

All I say is that your domain has never been listed in your account. I even made a screenshot for you, showing the error, plus to this you can't click on "Continue" button. So, the best solution would be to ask for a transaction reversal as the seller wasn't authorized to sell a domain he doesn't own. Nobody stole your domain, it's just a chain of faults...

 

[keepsmile]

All I say is that your domain has never been listed in your account. I even made a screenshot for you, showing the error, plus to this you can't click on "Continue" button. So, the best solution would be to ask for a transaction reversal as the seller wasn't authorized to sell a domain he doesn't own. Nobody stole your domain, it's just a chain of faults...

I have asked them about it but they declined.

 

[WalletControl]

Take screenshots. This is how you do:

Open Paint.
Pull up Domaintools.com/airdoc.com
Press Shift/PrintScreen
In Paint, press Control/V [paste]
Create a folder to place jpg.
Include date in the name of what you are saving, i.e., domaintools11292016.jpg

You see, the whois was updated on November 28th, yesterday, in California.

Contact Domaintools, and ask when the domain was listed for sale. Here is the redirect address:

research.domaintools.com/redirect/market/?source=6&domain=airdoc.com&location=whois-big-buy-now&placement=green-badge

but, it leads to an empty cart, now.

Why not report it to the fbi?

 

[WalletControl]

May I venture another suggestion?

Take screenshots, and save the source code from archive.org. As recently as October 22nd, 2016, airdoc.com pointed to your parked page, parkingcrew.net:

https://web.archive.org/web/20161022135303/http://airdoc.com/

Savvy thieves will block archive.org with robots text. Give your attorney some tangibles, before these disappear!

Sincerely,
Louise

 

[CraftNames]

Just for clarity, not sure if someone mentioned, 2 factor authentication would not have stopped a fast transfer from Afternic

 

[alcy]

domains exist in previous owners accounts often.
its common problem.
you need to email support to remove them.

I have no idea though how someone else was able to put a domain you owned in their account in 2012. beofre you tried putting it into your account in 2013.

usualyl they go through verifiications. sedo checks if your owner.
godaddy even sends you emails to confirm ownership.

I hope afternic does a similarly good job at it.

gl

 

[HKIBC]

Worrisome

How to check whether said "fast transfer process" has been activated for your GoDaddy account? And where to disable it?

 

[Innoverge]

The domain's are opted in for fast-transfer on a individual basis and even if your domain was listed at Afternic by someone else in 2012,it couldn't or shouldn't have been possible for them to authorise fast-transfer,without opting-in using the link received on your mail-id.
So i guess your mail id must've been compromised and as for the recovery of the domain,i believe there's still hope:-

Afternic instant sale terms-
"

1. 
   C. Afternic Payment Terms; Fraud Notices
   
   1. Afternic will remit payment of the purchase price for a Sold Domain to the seller after the expiration of seven (7) days of the purchase of the Sold Domain, net of the twenty applicable commission according to the fee schedule available at http://www.AFTERNIC.COM/fees.php, except where Afternic has received a Fraud Notice from its reseller partner.
   2. In the case where a Fraud Notice has been issued, within seven (7) days, Afternic or its Reseller Partners shall cancel the sale transaction and make reasonable commercial efforts to return the Listed Domain back to the Transferring Registrar and under seller's control.

"
Good luck

 

[NameAcquisitions]

I purchased a BIN on NetSol earlier this year for about $3K. I found later, it was an Afternic listing.

1. The domain fast-transferred to my account at NetSol about 2 days after purchase.
2. I had full control of domain for about 1 month.
3. Domain was the PRIMARY OPERATING DOMAIN FOR A MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR INVESTMENT BANK.

They reversed the purchase a month later along with a slow refund and little apology. Best guess, it was an old listing that all their security checks missed. They never bothered to fully explain.

Fast-transfer scares me now.

 

[DnEbook]

Joe helped me get a stolen domain back, they will try hard for you, rest assured

 

[Ategy]

Reading through the posts above .. in your case here it seems the new owner/buyer certainly is not at fault .. they likely just saw the domain they wanted listed and bought it assuming all along that logically Afternic would have fail-safes in place to be sure the listing was done by the current and actual owner. The Afternic/GoDaddy system never should have let the transaction go through if there was an obvious conflict with account numbers.

At the very least GB/Afternic need to explain how the heck was the domain was removed from the account while no money was transferred into it .. this part makes no sense at all and seems like another flaw in their giant back-end of coding soup.


GoDaddy is very inexcusably sloppy with this sort of thing .. access to information and data is far from being a strong point there .. when I sometimes add a new domain to cash parking I sometimes get an error saying the account already exists .. the problem is that it's really hard to track down because of the lack of information they give.

They really need to have better access to information on our domains. Like in our general account listing HAVE a "cash parking account number" data-field! Or for something like this, have a "Listed on Afternic"/"Afternic Price" and "Fast-Transfer Enabled Field" (Or something/anything to show Afternic has direct access to your domains). They don't need to show it in our main domain listing .. but have the option available when you download you list of domains!


Last week I was on vacation and had login errors .. both on my phone's browser and on their app .. yet somehow they seem to think the problem was on my end ... I even reset my password but my old password is still the one that holds. I've lost several domains/auctions because of connection issues and time outs .. this infrastructure sloppiness unfortunately comes as no surprise .. they have pricing errors all over the place (I've been overcharged and double charged) .. what makes it worse is that most of their staff are super nice and genuinely *try* to be helpful .. but even if you have the best staff in the world .. if your coding and infrastructure and data/information are poor .. then stuff like this will happen more often than not!


Good luck solving your issue ... hopefully it will all work out in the end!

 

[LucidDomains]

Afternic should build a function that disables fast transfer on registrant info change.

 

[keepsmile]

Here is what I received from my account manager-

"I have researched this and due to your agreement to list the domain for sale at Afternic and the successive sale of the domain we cannot reverse it. I can make sure you are paid for the sale, however, so please make sure you have set up a payee account in your Afternic account, and provide me your username and authorization and I'll proceed."

And they still don't want to see next :
1. I didn't sell my domain name.
2. I didn't set a price for MY domain name. Somebody else decided for me how the domain costs in 2012.
3. I had no chance to change a price at all.
4. Looks like the Afternic has blocked access for my country. I need to use vpn to get into my account. Which is empty since 2015.
5. I didn't authorize the person who sold my domain name. I even don't know him and the Afternic declined my request to provide an information about the seller.

Once again, EVEN IF I agreed with fast transfer program I did it for my account and domains in my account. Because in 2014 when they said I was opted-in fast transfer program I had my own account with the Afternic and listed domains in it.


I don't know what to do. Any advise ? Take money, UDRP or anything else ? I tried to speak with the Godady and the Afternic in peaceful way but they are telling me - I'm wrong.

But I'm not.

They are trying to make me believe that someone else , unauthorized , can set a price for your house (property) and sell it. And I have to accept it as is .


PS.

Thank you guys for your participation. Appreciate it.

 

[HKIBC]

...I don't know what to do. Any advise ? Take money, UDRP or anything else ? I tried to speak with the Godady and the Afternic in peaceful way but they are telling me - I'm wrong.
But I'm not.

Your account manager is either:
(a) seriously mentally challenged, or more likely
(b) acting out his "idiot" role, making believe that he does not understand what had happened, as per standing company policy in such cases.

Suggest you write him a polite email, explaining that, given his limited understanding of basic legal concepts, you ask him to escalate this issue to his supervisor for review. Explain that failing a satisfactory follow up within 72 hours, you will have no other option but to reach out to (insert name of GoDaddy's CEO), asking him to investigate his staff's actions, including the account manager's.

I suggest closing the letter by expressing your hope this issue can be resolved inhouse by GoDaddy, saving you the inconvenince and expences of having to ask for an indepth investigation of GoDaddy's questionable practices by ICANN as well as other competent authorities. Tell him you are inclined to accept this as an error on GoDaddy's part, failure to undertake steps to rectify this situation, however, may justify suspicion of criminal intent. The legal expences of any further actions you would understandably insist be later reimbursed by GoDaddy.

I suspect this is not the first such SNAFU by GoDaddy and there are likely to be many other damaged parties, who would be very happy to join you in this battle, assuming you are inclined to follow through on this. This is something to bring up in ensuing correspondence with GoDaddy's CEO, should the need arise.

Question is, whether you are motivated enough to follow up on this in the event the aforementioned email fails to elicit a satisfactory response from your account manager et al?

 

[HKIBC]

One more thing - make sure to close the email with a call to action: reiterate once again-

- that you have never offered this domain for sale on Afternic at any price,

- you have never authorized fast transfer for this domain,

- the domain has been transferred from your account at GoDaddy without the registrant's (i.e. your) authorization,

- you ask GoDaddy to recover and return said domain to your account without delay.

 

[alcy]

Here is what I received from my account manager-

"I have researched this and due to your agreement to list the domain for sale at Afternic and the successive sale of the domain we cannot reverse it. I can make sure you are paid for the sale, however, so please make sure you have set up a payee account in your Afternic account, and provide me your username and authorization and I'll proceed."

And they still don't want to see next :
1. I didn't sell my domain name.
2. I didn't set a price for MY domain name. Somebody else decided for me how the domain costs in 2012.
3. I had no chance to change a price at all.
4. Looks like the Afternic has blocked access for my country. I need to use vpn to get into my account. Which is empty since 2015.
5. I didn't authorize the person who sold my domain name. I even don't know him and the Afternic declined my request to provide an information about the seller.

Once again, EVEN IF I agreed with fast transfer program I did it for my account and domains in my account. Because in 2014 when they said I was opted-in fast transfer program I had my own account with the Afternic and listed domains in it.


I don't know what to do. Any advise ? Take money, UDRP or anything else ? I tried to speak with the Godady and the Afternic in peaceful way but they are telling me - I'm wrong.

But I'm not.

They are trying to make me believe that someone else , unauthorized , can set a price for your house (property) and sell it. And I have to accept it as is .


PS.

Thank you guys for your participation. Appreciate it.

your problem obviously began when someone else was able to add a domain they didn't own and you say you owned, in 2012.

godaddy auctions sends out auth emails before they allow a domain to go to their auctions on one's account. far as I know sedo is pretty good at checking too. so is flippa.

I don't really see why afternic wouldn't do some checking. therefore, I am having a hard time understanding how someone could have added your domain to their account in 2012.

 

[HKIBC]

...I don't really see why afternic wouldn't do some checking. therefore, I am having a hard time understanding how someone could have added your domain to their account in 2012.

I'd added in Afternic hundreds of domains with radically different registrant details. No problem whatsoever

 

[alcy]

I'd added in Afternic hundreds of domains with raducally different registrant details. No problem whatsoever

well in that case.. that makes afternic officially the only one of the 4 main auction sites.. sedo, gd auction, flippa that allows one to add domains they do not own.

can @Joe Styler explain why such a major failure is allowed to go on? especially now that gd owns afternic. and gd has wonderful auctions verification tools in place. ty

 

[keepsmile]

They insist I was opted-in fast transfer program in 2014 so no problem at all if somebody else sold my domain name for a price I didn't set.

 

[keepsmile]

1. I bought the domain in 2011.

2. According to information I received from the Afternic support, the domain was listed for sale with the Afternic in 2012 by someone else but not me.

3. In 2013 I created my own account with the Afternic and listed my domains with them.

4. In 2014 the Godaddy bought the Afternic. And as I see they found my domain name listed with the Afternic and they automatically subscribed me to fast transfer program or they sent verification email to email from whois data. But I cannot find this letter. And even Afternic Listing column was disabled in my domains control panel. Yes I do understand I could confirm my email address, because then I had my own account with the Afternic and listed domains with them.

5. In 2015 I decided to remove all my domains from the Afternic listing. I did it and my account is empty since 2015.

6. According to the Godaddy support information on the 28th of November 2016, at 4:55AM my domain name was unlocked and transferred out from my account.


I received higher offers for the domain name than it was sold for and declined them. And now I faced with the situation when someone else set a price for my domain name and sold it.


I made tons of calls. To the Godaddy, to the Afternic.
I spoke with a lot of people.
The Godaddy support during several hours tried to ensure me my godaddy account and email was hacked and it is my fault. And only Matt , don't know his last name said that before the domain left my account its status was changes to "premium reserve status" .
But I believed the Godaddy support and started to change all my passwords, started system re-instalation on my second computer. Two sleepless nights. This is totally crazy situation.

 

[NameAcquisitions]

To OP. They CAN reverse this. NetSol/Afternic did it to me, roughly a month after I legitimately purchased the domain name, and a month after it was in my account.

Granted, in that case the previous owner was a multi-billion dollar bank... but it most certainly can be reversed. You should insist, of course.

 

[NameAcquisitions]

And just to add my .02. ICANN has strict rules pertaining to domain transfer. I do not understand how Afternic/GD can create these rapid transfer services, bypassing owner control of the transfer process. This should not be allowed. Any buyer can properly wait for a push or auth code. Sellers don't need to have domains automatically removed from their accounts to complete a sale. At least, that's how I see it.

 

[alcy]

just to be clear... no one is forced to join any fast transfer anything

just stay on their non premium standard network, do not opt into premium/fast transfer and you will be doing the pushing and transfering yourself after sale.

my concern is how in god's nama was someone able to list OPs domain on another account in 2012. and how others keep saying to this day they can list domains they do not own on aftrernic.

if anyone today can list anyone's else's domain on afternic then clearly Afternic is having problems that need fixing. faster than their fast transfer network.

cheers