discuss GoDaddy Scam Loophole: Someone Asked About Your Domain

[ivey]

So i've been receiving emails lately from the official Godaddy account..."[email protected]"

1. I know Godaddy has a brokerage too so i was curious that i may have a legit interest. I was shocked to see that the first email...allowed the so called buyer to communicate and the buyer was offering me a junk .info domain they had for sale ,,like wtf. Now Godaddy is being used for spam????

• Next..a friend of mine just bought her first domain..a long one lol. And she too got an email from Godaddy saying someone is interested in your domain. It was someone from Tokyo..atleast that's what the person wrote...and they offered 5 figures. Luckily she asked me and appraisal scam was the first thing that came to mind. I told her it may be scam..and to list the name on dan or afternic with the make offer. They can make offer or buy now. But likely they will first ask for a small fee appraisal and bounce.

Normally, you can know scammers because their email address is usually not credible...but now how in the world are they using Godaddy's email. Is Godaddy now allowing a loophole?????

Is a third part site in partnership with Godaddy making this possible?????
because no one is going to pay a broker fee to contact us and then try to offer us a crap .info.

I will leave screenshots below...

 

[ivey]

So my friend said when she clicks reply...to the emaill .. the email switches to: [email protected] and had bad grammar..

• So now the Tokyo buyer has a change of name to elizabeth
• This seems like an email spoof...where they cloak their spam email as a legitimate company email.

 

[Christopher perrett]

Hi,

I received the same message from the same "Tokyo buyer" today

They must be sending it from Godaddy as my customer number is included at the top of the page, I don't understand how they are sending this spam.

The company appears to be a legit Japanese business by the look of it but whether "elizabeth1987 @kagoyajp.info" is a valid email or employee of this company remains to be seen as no reply has been sent to me yet.

 

[lotk]

I just tested it and Godaddy sends an email whenever you click on the Contact Domain Holder link.

And then I got a legit email from Godaddy that is setup to reply only to the email that was provided in the Contact Domain Holder form.

Contact Domain Holder form:

Email Received:

 

[Mister Funsky]

Just an attempt by lazy spammers, scammers and/or spoofers. May I suggest anyone that has clicked on any of the links in any of the 'requests' change your passwords...better to be safe than sorry.

Here is another one of the 'offers' they are making:

Hello! I'm reaching you out regarding your domain mentioned in the subject line. We want to acquire it and offer $60000 usd to secure the sale. Sincerely yours, Nasrula Badawi Customer Support NOBALAA HOSTING LTD. SA

btw, it has nothing to do with daddy...they are just forwarding emails

 

[Christopher perrett]

The email address on Google only brings up this thread and kagoyajp.info website.. Other spam offers on Google tend to show up as "domain broker" during reply

I won't hold my breath but I will lookout for a reply.

Out of interest can you share the domain they wanted from your friend or even the category of it?

 

[Christopher perrett]

Got the reply... This is definitely a scam.

 

[lotk]

The only problem I have with the email is the inclusion of your customer number.

 

[Recons.Com]

We should all stop complaining about features like this.

Before whois became closed and almost useless, I was getting lots of offers directly in email. Which meant better deals for sellers and buyers.

Now people can't find you unless you have your own landers.

I received an offer on days via this feature. A potential buyer contacted nameagents.com and they used this feature to write to me and start negotiation. They name was not listed yet as I just bought it. We did not agree on price yet, but just shows the importance of whois.

On the other hand, though, there are epik registrations. I regged about 50 .us names there and for few days my phone was red hot from calls from Indian companies claiming to be from Epik corporation and offering their design/seo/etc services.

Phone should definitely be not so easily accessible on whois.

 

[Masay]

We should all stop complaining about features like this.

I am not full time domainer, so I believe this abuse need to seriously considered by GoDaddy.
That emails is not spoof email or usual spam emails, they piggyback GoDaddy email ([email protected]) to spam. it's fine for you or namepros member, but for end user/not domainer, they will drop their guard seing @godaddy.com as a sender

 

[Recons.Com]

I am not full time domainer, so I believe this abuse need to seriously considered by GoDaddy.
That emails is not spoof email or usual spam emails, they piggyback GoDaddy email ([email protected]) to spam. it's fine for you or namepros member, but for end user/not domainer, they will drop their guard seing @godaddy.com as a sender

Why would they?

The email clearly says they are required to forward the 3rd party communication and that the reply button will send to their email, not godaddy's.

Gd is not required to hold anyone's hands.

 

[Masay]

Because it's GoDaddy who introduced them with spammer.

The email clearly says they are required to forward the 3rd party communication and that the reply button will send to their email, not godaddy's.

Not all people know this is just a feature from whois info, they only know this is email from GoDaddy.

Imagine 100% delivery with higher percentage of opened emails. On top of that,your initial email is genuine emails from GoDaddy. this heaven for spammer.
Who knows when spammer get more creative, posing as GoDaddy namepros or fb representative, posing partnership with GoDaddy about seo web development crypto stock etc.

 

[Recons.Com]

Because it's GoDaddy who introduced them with spammer.

Not all people know this is just a feature from whois info, they only know this is email from GoDaddy.

Imagine 100% delivery with higher percentage of opened emails. On top of that,your initial email is genuine emails from GoDaddy. this heaven for spammer.
Who knows when spammer get more creative, posing as GoDaddy namepros or fb representative, posing partnership with GoDaddy about seo web development crypto stock etc.

If you don't like the feature, get yourself privacy. There are those like me who are open to being contacted and can deal with spam.

The main point is the message is clear that it is a third party and reply button will answer to the inquirer, not GD. At least, I had no problem understanding the message and there was no obscurity or confusion.

Here is the screenshot:

 

[Mobiller]

I've got the same scam email today

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hello!

Thank you for responding. I'm a domain broker from Vangus Ltd. We are in the top 10 hosting providers in Israel.

I 'm a broker of your buyer. He will buy your name. The broker commission is 6 %. It is divided between my clients.

You may find reviews of other sellers who worked with me in my Telegram group: https://no_url_shorteners/godaddysales

You are free to send other sellers a message and ask to share their experience.

See a screenshot from my Telegram group here: https://prntscr.com/u2twfb

Simply make search for "godaddysales" in Telegram messenger. You can download it on your phone. It's very easy-to-use messenger. Very popular in our country. Add me (@ElisaAttorney) to your contacts and we will be able to chat.

If you have other domains I may help you to fund buyers for them.

The buyer keeps a big sum in crypto currency who wants to invest in web projects. The buyer offers $60000 USD in Litecoin/Bitcoin or via International wire transfer/Western Union.

The payment to you will be made via escrow service to protect both parties during the transaction. They may change crypto to USD if you prefer to get paid in USD. You will get 50% before the domain transfer and 50% after.

Is your domain older than 60 days?

Sincerely yours,

Elisa Finkelman

Customer Support

Vangus Ltd.

Aba Hillel Silver St 99

Haifa 3269514

Israel
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[tonyk2000]

GoDaddy recently started to add the following comment into message bodies. Since they are indeed required to forward such e-mails, it is the best thing they can do imo... Thinking about lets say .US registrants, where privacy or limited whois are not allowed, we may only guess how many scams do hit their mailboxes directly...
:
We received a request from someone who'd like to contact you regarding <MY DOMAIN NAME>, which you registered through GoDaddy. This contact method is designed to provide a way for people who are interested in your domain to reach you, while still keeping your contact information private.

We're required by ICANN regulations to forward these types of requests to you, and you're not under any obligation to respond.

Remember, we have no information on the legitimacy of these contacts, and scammers have been known to try to pose as GoDaddy or other companies. Use caution when viewing or replying to unsolicited messages from third parties. If you determine you would like to respond to this message, please be aware that you are electing to respond directly to a third party that has no affiliation with GoDaddy.

Here is the message from <EMAIL OF ANOTHER PARTY>. Once again, this is NOT from a GoDaddy representative.