alert Got scammed by Mehmet emrah Gunes

[jameandrew]

Learnt a hard lesson today.Never deal without Escrow even if you have done trading with the same person before.

The issue is Regarding the domain KINA.com

Yesterday I got A PM from @Megist regarding the domain Kina.com whcih he wanted to sale it for $1250 and payment via BTC only.I replied back saying I am willing to buy so pass on the BTC address.I didn't got any reply from him,all of a sudden in the morning I was checking my mail and I saw the mail regarding Kina.com,he said he wanted to sell it off so lets proceed with the process.
Since his account got restricted in NP so I asked him these questions

Got the reply

Then a series of mail got exchanged below are the screenshots

So obviously He is not gonna pay back the BTC and wont transfer the domain.I knew I was taking a risk but since we have dealt in past so I showed faith in him and it was only .17 BTC..


Lesson Learnt: Never ever do deal without escrow.

His name and complete address


Seller:
Mehmet emrah Gunes
Halicioglu mahallesi Pestemalci sokak Yasam apt No 15 17 Daire 1 Beyoglu
34445 ISTANBUL
Turkey

Username on BlackHatWorld (BHW) is: mailingtr

 

[wwwweb]

Every few months a copycat like this pops us. You can't think people always think rational, some people get themselves into a bind, and will do whatever it takes to get out of it, no matter the consequences.

All he had to do was has short term auction on godaddy, and he would have got many multiples more. Given that it was at Uniregistry, should have done it thru Uniregistry market where the domain transfers directly upon payment.

 

[Blueforever]

Yes,I just took the risk because I have dealt with him in past and bought 3 4l.com from him without any issues,never thought he would scam for such a small amount..

How did you pay for the previous domains?

 

[Kuffy]

Red flags everywhere on that one. The domain was on privacy, the guy only accepted BTC (irreversible), super low price for that type of name, the list goes on.

His account should be terminated and not just restricted imo.

Actually the fact that Bitcoin payments cannot be reversed is a bonus. The fact that PayPal payments can be reversed for up to six months, and their lack support for clients, is one of the reasons for its popularity with scammers.

The advice that you should use a trusted escrow service, or a trusted 3rd party signatory for Bitcoin, is very wise however.

 

[jameandrew]

How did you pay for the previous domains?

It was via sedo escrow 2 years back

 

[ErwanKina]

Being that he tried selling other domains not owned by him, not sure what good looking into the domain will do. I was going to post the history of Kina.com, but if it wasn't confirmed he was ever in possession of the domain (or domain owners email) then I'm not sure what good posting the history will do.

Not sure if it was mentioned, but IMO OP should have emailed the privacy email to confirm ownership first.

IE for Kina.com it is [email protected]

I tried to buy Kina.com a few years ago from Uniregistry (at that time DomainNameSales). Price was $60K, I couldn't buy it.

"]Being that he tried selling other domains not owned by him" = brokerage.
All my past verified sales are to be found on my LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erwankina/

 

[Grilled]

"]Being that he tried selling other domains not owned by him" = brokerage.

With all due respect, I don't believe this was the case of a brokerage.

Maybe you didn't read the thread. Somebody reached out to OP to sell Kina.com for $1,250. OP sent half in bitcoin. Then came to the conclusion that he was being scammed, and that the person he/she was in contact with did not actually represent the domain or the domain owner.

In any case, thanks for sharing the previous $60k ask. If you still want the domain, you be able to reach the domain owner by contacting the privacy email and/or Abstract Holdings. (prior to going to WHOIS privacy, this domain was last publicly held by Abstract Holdings -- not sure if they sold it or...)

 

[ErwanKina]

With all due respect, I don't believe this was the case of a brokerage.

Maybe you didn't read the thread. Somebody reached out to OP to sell Kina.com for $1,250. OP sent half in bitcoin. Then came to the conclusion that he was being scammed, and that the person he/she was in contact with did not actually represent the domain or the domain owner.

In any case, thanks for sharing the previous $60k ask. If you still want the domain, you be able to reach the domain owner by contacting the privacy email and/or Abstract Holdings. (prior to going to WHOIS privacy, this domain was last publicly held by Abstract Holdings -- not sure if they sold it or...)

I agree 100%. This guy is obviously a scammer. Just defending myself as I thought you were talking about me.

 

[Grilled]

I agree 100%. This guy is obviously a scammer. Just defending myself as I thought you were talking about me.

Nah man. Not grilling you at all. Simply pointing out that you might have (or had) interest for this domain. And judging by your response, at one time you did, and thus was able to provide an additional detail to this thread. The additional detail being the previous $60k asking price.

 

[ErwanKina]

Yes I would definitely want to have this domain one day!

 

[Page Howe]

Thank you JamesAndrew for the post, it seems to me the buyer realized he was buying a too good to be true, but it was worth it because it could have been a hard-up seller, or some other reason , and from his accountability after he knew he was taking some risks, but for him they were worth it.

He was ok taking those risks himself, yet when the facts proved out to be a scam, he was helping us all so the next guy doesn't get pulled in.

I think every namepros member has one chance to bust-out, and ripoff someone on their way out the door. Kudos to Eric for the followup work to see if any other aliases are being used.

But thank you JamesAndrew for speaking up, it would have been easy to just shhhhh and lose the money and walk away without anyone knowing - so for saving the next person thank you.

Page Howe

 

[Acroplex]

It was via sedo escrow 2 years back

Establishing trust via a previous exchange is a method used by scammers, and once the victim lowers their defenses, that's all it takes.

Never fail to use escrow services, such as Escrow.com, when dealing with an amount you cannot afford to lose.

 

[wwwweb]

Escrow cannot always protect you if the buyer is in possession of a stolen domain.

For obvious reasons Escrow was never going to be used, and the seller tugged on the shirt strings of the buyers greed in getting a to good to be true deal, strictly human nature.

 

[Acroplex]

Escrow cannot always protect you if the buyer is in possession of a stolen domain.

For obvious reasons Escrow was never going to be used, and the seller tugged on the shirt strings of the buyers greed in getting a to good to be true deal, strictly human nature.

Escrow.com has mechanisms in place that deter scammers and thieves. First, user verification wipes out an entire group of scammers from the get-go. An active list of stolen domains ensures such names will never be sold via Escrow.com. In recent months, scammers try to use proxy sellers, e.g. verified sellers to sell stolen assets on their behalf. Once uncovered, those accounts get terminated as well.

Social engineering is still a factor in establishing trust to facilitate a scam - as you said, it's human nature to eventually trust someone you've done business with before.

 

[wwwweb]

Escrow.com has mechanisms in place that deter scammers and thieves. First, user verification wipes out an entire group of scammers from the get-go. An active list of stolen domains ensures such names will never be sold via Escrow.com. In recent months, scammers try to use proxy sellers, e.g. verified sellers to sell stolen assets on their behalf. Once uncovered, those accounts get terminated as well.

Social engineering is still a factor in establishing trust to facilitate a scam - as you said, it's human nature to eventually trust someone you've done business with before.

User verification to the point of obtaining ID may not have occurred as the transaction was under the $3K threshold, but domains are valuable, and people are naive, that is what namepros is for, domainer education.

I remember reading a story here where someone got ripped off during a 3L.com purchase of a stolen domain while using escrow. At the end of the day escrow is a layer, but common sense is the first line of defense for such situations.

To the buyer, your lucky it's not a big hit, just make it up on the next sale.

 

[Acroplex]

@wwwweb - All Escrow.com accounts require verification, there is Tier 1 (name, DOB, Address, phone number) and Tier 2 (the one above $3k) that requires a lot more documentation.

I support more verification, vs. less for the safety of all parties involved.

 

[Kate]

Let's hope escrow.com won't become another Equifax story. I don't think even Equifax are keeping copies of ID, since all they don't deal with the public direct.
But that's another story.

 

[hookbox]

I got a msg from Megist too couple days ago, but it looked like an obvious scam. If someone offers you a vlauable and very liquid domain way below market price 99% it's a scam. I fwded it to @Eric Lyon and he later handled it and banned him. I think quite a few people reported it.

Note to all: if you get a pm or see a thread that you believe is a scam attempt be sure to fill out a report or notify mods, they are rather efficient at handling it

Also, an easy way to verify domain owner is send an email to the whois admin address and ask the seller to reply to it.

That's fucked up that you reported to Lyons but no one here gets a heads up from him or the forum. There should be a very large warnings section on the home page here that is updated daily that points out any thing that has been reported to Namepros so others can be aware. It would be very simple to put a very large warnings section to remind people to check it daily. They also should send out a mass PM to all members when something like this occurs.

 

[Eric Lyon]

That's f*cked up that you reported to Lyons but no one here gets a heads up from him or the forum. There should be a very large warnings section on the home page here that is updated daily that points out any thing that has been reported to Namepros so others can be aware. It would be very simple to put a very large warnings section to remind people to check it daily. They also should send out a mass PM to all members when something like this occurs.

We did send out a mass DM to everyone (about 20 members) that @Megist interacted with recently and alerted them. We also restricted Megist's account.

Prior to what happened (OUTSIDE of NamePros) that was reported in this thread, the only thing that happened was Megist tried to sell a domain he did not own. It could have been a mistake at that point.

It would be very simple to put a very large warnings section to remind people to check it daily.

That is the purpose of the Warnings & Alerts section that this thread is posted in. However, it is for members to report their experiences/alerts. We may report in it on a rare occasion, but ultimately, it's left up to those involved or who have been interacted with to do so. In this case, about 20 members could have created the thread, but they likely felt it was too premature, as well, since nothing that proved malice intent had happened yet.

Thanks for your feedback,


Edit: Discussion continued here.

Update on Jan 11, 2018: New thread "Scammer On Forum - Member - Boris Vian"

 

[Jv1999]

kina for only $1350 ? Too good to be true

Wut? I've seen cvcv.Com go for cheaper on auction. . .

 

[Jv1999]

Btc is fine if you trust the guy and in future, I'm sure there will be blockchain escrows, but this is not the case to be sending money like that.

Yes the deal was too good to be true, but also I'm sorry to say it but a bit of world experience or even country racism helps here. This is normal Turk trading behavior, just go try to deal with the carpet salesmen in Istanbul. Most of the world believes if you're stupid enough to be taken for a ride, you deserve it and it's in their power to exploit every inch of that vulnerability in you and their gods allow that. So remember that when you're dealing with Arabs, Turks, Chinese, Israelis etc.

The only reason he is talking with you is that he still thinks he can keep you in hope that if you send the rest you will get the domain. You will never get the domain forget it, or the money. It's gone.

I know that there are many honest folks here from these countries who want to fight the stereotypes, but all I'm saying is be careful and though on these guys.

Dude you just lumped all of Asia and the middle east into the scammed group under that weird as spiritual belief