Help and Advice - Was my domain Stolen?

Hi Namepros,

I would really appreciate your help and advice on an unsuccessful domain transaction at Afternic.

I listed one of my domains for sale with Afternic sometime early this year. Received an email in June alerting me that the domain has been sold and that i need to verify ownership by providing the Auth code from my registrar. Did all that and received an email a few days after which said that the domain transfer was cancelled as they could not verify ownership. They also mentioned that the domain would be removed from my Afternic account.

I am now going through my domains for renewal and realised that the domain which was unsuccessfully sold is still not back in my account at my registrar. I noticed that there is also a site now operating under that particular domain name. How could this have happened? Has anyone faced this before?

I have written to afternic for explanation and compensation. Appreciate any useful advice you could give about what I could do about this.

 

What is the domain name?
I'll have a look at whois change and will help if anything required.
You can pm the domain name.

 

Fast Transfer is a bitch!

I put domains up for sale at Afternic for the sole purpose of blocking them from being added to someone elses account there. I take extra care to disable fast transfer!

I used to ignore Afternic listings altogether, but decided to take such preventive measures following the receipt of emails asking me (the Admin-C) to authorize/set up fast transfer for domains I have never listed in Afternic. As it turned out, other people had!

If the domain was removed from your Afternic account, it was likely because someone wanted to add it to theirs. If you had opted in to fast transfer prior to that, it was then whisked away from under you by Afternic on behalf of the new "owner" without so much as notification to the domain's Admin contact. I mean, why bother the Admin-C and possibly complicate a simple fast transfer out..? It had happened before, it will happen again. Apparently, there are insiders who are in a position to have "friendly" Afternic staff move domains of interest to their account(s). Now you are likely to get the run around by Afternic support who will do everything in their power to muddle the issue to avoid any responsibility on the part of their employer.

I sincerely hope I am wrong about this. Do keep as appraised here about further developments...

 

It’s one thing to call a spade a spade for documented misdeeds
AVOID GoDaddy hosting company they will shut down all your sites if even one Trademark claim is made
https://www.namepros.com/threads/av...-if-even-one-trademark-claim-is-made.1110373/

but what you’ve just posted about Afternic employees’ stealing domains and Afternic staff covering up the theft after the fact is highly libelous and unsubstantiated. Proof?

 

Run the email headers of the emails you received through a source check such as
https://www.ip2location.com/free/email-tracer
to determine if they even came from Afternic or if you were the subject of a phishing scam.

Afternic doesn’t ask for authorization codes to be sent via email.

It’s also not clear from your email where the domains resided - at what Registrar. When a domain is sold at Afternic depending on the residing registrar you push it to Afternic’s domain transfer agent you don’t always use Auth codes.

Afternic Fast Transfer was mentioned - if enabled and applicable to this sale there would have been no request for an Auth code - the domain would have simply transferred.

 

Should not provide auth code before contact Afternic by email or phone to see is a legit sale
and only when you have confirmation the money are in Afternic escrow account
About ownership was enough to provide a print screen not auth code
But if youn was as you say then make a complain to Afternic & to ICANN if it was a .com, .net .org a TLD , and say your domain was stolen

 

Actually, since we're splitting hairs, I have not posted what you allege. I left people to draw their own conclusions, suspicions, as you have done apparently. Apparently. Good hedge term. Meaning: looks like, seems like. I hedged, since I was referring to a case described here at NP last year by one of the members. Neither he/she, nor I have alleged Afternic employers stealing domains. As for covering up domains sold by third parties, not their current registrants... well, what would you call weeks of fruitless interaction with Afternic's support attempting to recover such stolen property? I'll try to find the link to that old NP thread and post it here later... scary stuff!

My personal experience along these lines has not been comforting either. It would seem that domains dropped and then registered with a new (different) registrar may be safe from such fast transfer hijacking. But I can't be sure. Once added to a person's Afternic account, with fast transfer authorized, they stay there after being dropped and registered anew by a different registrant. Afternic couldn't be bothered with such details. Not apparently, I'm 100% sure of this. It's up to the new registrant to check and ask for the domain to be deleted from the old registrant's account. And here's the kicker: this is done with no verification of the requesting party's authority as the new registrant. Well, apparently... I'm hedging, since it's appaling and almost hard to believe!

Now, use your imagination and think of the scenario where the domain has not been dropped, but acquired at auction by a new registrant. One that has never heard of Afternic or pre-authorized fast transfers...

Careful as I thought I was, knowing about Afternic and fast transfers, I was only prompted to think about all this upon receiving a fast transfer setup authorization email from Dynadot, concerning a recently handregged domain, one I have never even thought to list with Afternic... well, what do you know... there it was, listed for sale, $4850 BIN and all! Interestingly, this particular listing has been deleted a few days later without my prompting.

 

nic.com is good but what is after nic ? some ice cream or sheet?

I still asked from afternic my about $800 from sold netto $8000 some my domain
he grab 10% why is this netto?

 

Follow up to my earlier reply... seems I'm not the only one concerned about domain fraud opportunities where Afternic's Fast Transfers, amongst others, are concerned...
Epik.com Unlimited .COM transfers for $6.49 and .NET transfers for $8.54!

One other thing: I'm grateful to @Joe Styler for his help, taking the time to investigate this incident at my request (I thought there was a buyer bidding for this domain, which prompted its former registrant, who still had it listed at Afternic, to attempt a bit of domain hijacking). Well, there was no buyer and Joe was unable to tell me what might have prompted the fast transfer authorization request. He seemed unconcerned and did not find anything amiss.

Well, I am suspicious as heck here... the domain was not listed by me at Afternic at the time and I did not ask it to be enabled for fast transfer. So who or what (automated process, as Joe speculated) did this? And it would be interesting to know who had it deleted from Afternic once the hijack attempt was unsuccessful.

Am I being a little paranoid here? Sure, I am! In my book, better a touch of paranoia beforehand, rather than crying over spilt milk (stolen domains) later. As described in numerous threads here before, getting such cases resolved successfully borders on mission impossible!

 

The domain resided at Uniregistry and it did not qualify for Fast Transfer as Uniregistry isnt in their list. Current check via Whois shows the current registrar to be one BigRock Solutions. The expiry date has also been updated and it shows that it was updated in July i.e. roughly within a month of that email.

The email I received was from [email protected] - had no reason to believe its a phishing mail as the address seems legit. Unless i am missing something. I unlocked the domain at my registrar upon receiving the mail and obtained the Auth codes. Entered those codes in my Afternic account. Received the 'Unsucceful Transaction' a few days after.

I really dont understand how it could have ended up at another registrar and worst of all it is currently operated as a site.

Yes have checked Whois and there is a change in registrar as mentioned above. It currently registered at BigRock


Thanks very much for all your replies. I am currently awaiting Afternic's response. Have also emailed their support team. Will keep everyone posted. In the meantime do share if youve experienced this before and what was the solution

 

A quick update... I have received a reply from the Afternic

(this was the address of the replying party : Afternic Transaction Assurance <[email protected]> via m8tvqop4zvuynd.g-i0ksmaq.na76.bnc.salesforce.com)

It simply concluded that the transaction was cancelled as it was determined that I did not own the domain. They further mentioned that they did not receive the domain from me because I did not own it and they did not ask me to deliver it -whatever that means.

I have replied telling them to investigate the matter without simply coming to a conclusion and that I have all the necessary information to proof i am the rightful owner.

Any further advice on what are my options? How do i complain to ICANN as mentioned by @Backorder-ing.com ? Am I mailing the right people at Afternic - Have mailed [email protected] and cced [email protected]

Thanks a bunch

 

https://forms.icann.org/en/resources/compliance/complaints/transfer/form
or
http://forms.icann.org/en/resources/compliance/complaints/registrars/standards-complaint-form
See what fit for you

 

Do you still have the domain, or not? Your first post seems to indicate no, and your second post is unclear on this note.

Trying to chase after an old sale may be fruitless, so why are you trying to prove to Afternic that you own the domain? Concentrate on recovering the domain if indeed it was transferred away from you without payment, and you no longer have it.

 

No I do not have the domain with me anymore. What I was explaining in the my last post was what I replied to Afternic when they said I was never the owner of the domain. I have the necessary info to proof that it was mine before it was transferred away without payment

 

Quick update.. Received an email from Afternic after they have investigated the issue. Forwarded them the necessary information to proof that the domain was actually mine. They are rectifying what happened. I believe the transfer went through and somehow they missed out in transferring the funds. They have asked me to re-update my payment details. Im now waiting for them to transfer the funds. Hopefully it will all turn out okay.

Will keep you posted.

 

Just got payment from Afternic today. They had to re initiate the transaction to rectify the transaction. Problem solved. Thanks very much for all your help and advice. Much appreciated