Dynadot

advice I was scammed and its embarrassing

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I cant believe I am writing this.

I am doing this knowing I will be ridiculed.

I am doing this knowing some people will laugh.

I am doing this knowing some people with be outright nasty

I am not looking for sympathy.

I am doing this to help others.


It started a couple of weeks ago. I posted on Linkedin that I was selling my name MineCryrpto.com and BitcoinPrices.io for 1 million dollars. Sometimes I like to try odd ways of advertising to see if it works. I wanted to see if posting an obviously inflated price would prompt some discussion. Apparently it caught the eye of a Nigerian scammer and I would be his next victim.


Barbara wrote to me about the name technology.com:

http://www.richarddynas.com/pics/



I was intrigued so I did some research and couldn’t find the domain name or address with any recent action. The name popped up on linked : https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbara-untergasser-893193144/

She belonged to some domain groups and had a bunch of connections. It wasn’t a brand new account so I proceeded to write Barbara. I asked her how much she wanted - $120,000. I didn’t have that kind of money so I turned to a trusted person I know in the industry to buy the name and pay me a finders fee. We have done that deal before so I knew I could at least a few bucks off the deal.If I could get the price down, I could make more money. Barbara seemed niave and had no idea what she had. I asked if she would take less and we agreed on a price. I explained to Barbara that I had a financial backer and I needed to loop him in, he would handle the deal from here. I loop my backer in and he asks for her escrow information,Barabara writes me back and explains that her husband messed up their escrow account years ago and she cant use escrow. I go back to my backer and let him know the situation and he bails immediately. “Hell no! It’s a scam” I was advised to run. I wrote back to Barbara and advised her that nobody in the industry will touch her name without escrow. I thanked her for her time and went about my way.


I left work for the day and on my way home I received an email from Barabara. She wanted to do a deal and would sell it for less because she couldn’t use escrow. After days of chatting through Linkedin she explained she was from Austria and moved to Texas after she married:

http://www.richarddynas.com/pics/

Her husband ended up turning to drugs and they are divorcing and selling off assets. She needed money to live and their domain portfolio was the only thing worth much money.

We talked for a week, we talked about personal things,domains and everything in between. I was checking stories and looking for clues the entire time. She would have bailed long ago if she was scamming me – right?

I asked for proof about owning the name and she provided it:

http://www.richarddynas.com/pics/

I told her that I wasn’t going to transfer money until she transferred the name. We agreed on a small down payment and then the transfer would start. The money exchange would be Paypal. I sent the money to her friend because she didn’t have paypal (another red flag) – I sent the down payment. The transfer started:


http://www.richarddynas.com/pics/


I wired the rest of the money and sent another small amount via Western Union to a friend she owed money to. (Another Red Flag)


I waited for the push to my enom account and nothing. I called enom and they told me the name was registered under them but managed by another party? I called the number they gave me and emailed the account. I still have never heard back from them. I started getting nervous and pressuring Barbara. All of the sudden I get a phone call from her “son” asked me to relax that I was upsetting his mom. He had a heavy accent. I knew at that point I was screwed!


I didn’t want “Barbara” to know I was on to what was happening. I kept talking to her. I was scrambling trying to cancel everything.


1. Western Union – it was already picked up. Im screwed. I filed a report and I still havnt heard anything back – that money is gone.

2. Wire – Bank Of America and USAA. I called them both before they opened to stop the transfer. My bank USAA – told me its instant, its at Bank Of America, call them. I called and talked to so many people who would do nothing. Literally nothing. The bank wasn’t open yet, they could have stopped it. They wouldn’t do a thing. I have since written to the heads of these banks and their management and have heard nothing. How can you not listen to a person who is explaining an outright scam and do nothing?

3. Paypal – what a joke! I paid by friends and family by accident. I wasn’t paying attention, my fault. They froze 2K on his account, I paid 6K. Again, they could have stopped this. I explained what happened and how it was a scam and I could prove it, they didn’t care only to tell me tough, you used friends and family. They still have 2K frozen and wont give it back to me. I even send all the proof to their executive support and their answer was to dispute it with my credit card company. With all the business I give Paypal I was expecting better support.

I tried stopping all of this before business hours and before money was taken, all of these businesses could have stopped the transactions at least to investigate. Nope, not one of them cared.


Enom wrote me back:



The email about the transfer and owning the name were forged. Damn it. It looked real. I started following IP addresses and one hit Nigeria, now I knew I was in trouble



I wrote to Barbara and confronted “her” and I found out it was a scam. It was a guy, he wont tell me where he is from but I know. To this day he still texts me telling me he is sorry.

I found the guy to where I wired the money. He is a Nigerian student at Baylor University. He made the mistake of friending me on Facebook. I went to Baylor and the Waco police to pressure him. I also start bothering his family. He wired back all my money . I never heard from Baylor so I wrote them again, they went to the Waco police because I was harassing them! They never once acknowledged my emails or told me to stop. How do I know the crime wasn’t committed on their computer system?


Here is all the information I have on all of them:

Barbara Untergasser
[email protected]
[email protected]
Oriade Ayemo
Gbemileke Ikugbanmire


Telephone numbers:

737-210-3686 – “Barbaras son”

346-233-0321 – “Barbara” known as Barbie88 on Namepros

217-577-8729 – [email protected] – piece of shit in Atlanta that has my 6K – claims he doesn’t know anything



Bank Name: Bank Of America Account Name: Oriade Ayemo Account Number: 004644944793 Routine No: 026009593 Address: 1100 N valley Mills Dr, Waco , Texas 76710 Who is this to you? Bank Name: Bank Of America Account Name: Emmanuel Akintola Account Number: 334055137079 Routing number: 061000052 Address: 4567 S cobb Dr SE, Smyrna, GA 30080



Bank Name: Bank Of America Account Name: Emmanuel Akintola Account Number: 334055137079 Routing number: 061000052 Address: 4567 S cobb Dr SE, Smyrna, GA 30080 Note: Do not use business as the payment type to avoid delay. Just use Family or Personal.

Western Union Details Name: Voke Emekeme Location: Atlanta, GA Amount: $2000 Western Union Details Name: Akpevwe Olidge Location: Atlanta, GA Moneygram Details


Name: Voke Emekeme Location: Atlanta, GA

[email protected]

Recipient Name: Akpevwe Olidge Destination: Atlanta GA.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask. This went on for 2 weeks and he still texts me!
 

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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
The scammers will be exposed on ScamPros

Uglydork, you should fly to Atlanta and teach those bastards a Hard Lesson... Karma its a B*tch!
 
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I'm waiting for an escrow company to talk to HBO or George R.R. Martin about licensing the following slogan:


"For The Night Is Dark And Full Of Terrors"

:xf.smile:
 
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I am sorry to hear the story. How much did you end up sending to this scammer?
 
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Damn. Sorry to hear this Richard. We have done business before and there was trust between us but when things like this happen it is hard to trust anybody again.

You end your story with "He wired back all of your money". So you got away with it in the end?
 
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Sorry for all that you when through, I hope you have recovered most of your money, be careful next time.
 
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I got an email last week offering to buy one of my names, something about the domain Technologies(.)com in the email, which made no sense to mention such.

Wonder if at all connected? Not any info you posted matches though.
 
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Good on you for posting this here. We are all susceptible to scams if & when complacency finds its way into our lives and that goes for any area in life.

We are really good at showcasing our successes and not so great at sharing our failures, so much so that it breeds divisiveness between those we have most in common with.

'Insert some cliche line about failures being important'

Also applicable:
Greed blinds us and compromises our decision making, despite you acknowledging multiple red flags (we're all guilty of this) you went through with the deal.

My Most Recent Failure:
I sold some Ripple on eBay like a moron. Guy outright scammed me after he had received his Ripple then admitted it to me via email. My redemption became clear when I looked at his Ripple wallet that had over $1m USD worth of Ripple (at $2.30). Upon further investigation I found some other clues that led me to his true identity.

Point being:
I'll take that failure any day if I can use it to save others. He is under investigation by multiple agencies one would not like to get any attention from.

We should start a failure forum.. if it exists already I apologize I am new here.
 
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Thank you so much for providing this detail @uglydork as an important message that we all need to be vigilant. Beyond all of the hours of work and worry, the toll emotionally must be a lot, and know that you are in our thoughts. It seems trivial compared to this, but I remember as a late teenager, many many decades ago, someone stole a jacket that I had saved and paid more than any piece of clothing at that time, and I remember how violated I felt from it. Take care and thank you so much for the detailed account for the benefit of all of us.
 
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Interesting what comes up when you google "passport" then click on "images". Not hard to get a copy of a passport. Damn!
 
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Sorry about your experience but I am taken aback that nobody has highlighted why this whole thing worked on him.

You were greedy... despite being warned by your backer, you still went ahead with it. You were emotionally excited and attached to the domain name, hence why you couldn't let go, despite all the red flags

All i can read from this tales is a man too greedy to know it before it was too late... most victims of scams like this are greedy and that is why they fall.

Why didn't you want to have the domain name in your account before completing payments?

I don't know how you allowed this
 
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I have been asked in the past, and complied with removing privacy from a domain to validate ownership. It takes one second to remove privacy and a few minutes for the change to propagate.

Just a tip, ask that the privacy be lifted.
 
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Good on you for posting this here Richard. There is no shame in admitting when emotions and complacency get the better of us. That is part of being human.
 
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Sorry for your loss.

Thanks for sharing.

Hope you get it back.
 
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Geez! Sorry to hear about this.

Thanks for sharing though
 
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Thanks Richard for sharing.

These days most scammers seem to prefer bitcoin, which is harder to recover. Hopefully you will recover most of your money. Keep pushing.
 
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Great lesson to learn. Thank you for sharing this with us.

AAEAAQAAAAAAAAj5AAAAJGQxNzI3ZWE2LWRkYTctNGNjNC1iYjM1LTg0NmIwZDNlMTU2YQ.jpg
 
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Thanks for sharing.. i really appreciate that you took the risk of being ridiculized.
Anyway if someone tell me that they can't use escrow.com i will say let's use payoneer escrow, DN.com or sedo or epik escrow.... if they can't i'm ok to lose a deal btw i totally understand your feeling as i took few scam too in my past but not for such big amounts like this.
Anyway we all need to be really careful all the time because the scam is always behind the corner
 
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  • It was 100% greedy
  • I dont blame anyone but myself
  • Not looking for sympathy - I hope others will learn from my mistake
  • I am out 2K - I can live with that. I paid 2K to learn a valuable lesson.
  • I received an email from enom (I though) that said transfer was in progress so I released the funds
  • I know it was stupid!
 
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  • It was 100% greedy
  • I dont blame anyone but myself
  • Not looking for sympathy - I hope others will learn from my mistake
  • I am out 2K - I can live with that. I paid 2K to learn a valuable lesson.
  • I received an email from enom (I though) that said transfer was in progress so I released the funds
  • I know it was stupid!

I think that it would have happened to many of us......although many don't like to admit it, at least you have the courage to come forward and warn others. In in the grand scheme of things 2k isn't a lot for such a lesson that could have turned out a lot more expensive I guess?
 
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It was odd - it wasnt a 1 or 2 day thing. We spent 2 weeks talking - he had this elaborate back story - it was a thing of beauty. His mistake was using a college kid I could manipulate to get the bulk back
 
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I think that it would have happened to many of us......although many don't like to admit it,

First, of course don't like to see anybody scammed.

Second, will disagree that this would have happened to many of us. I think some are saying that just to be encouraging.

Some nurse in Texas owning a name like Technology.com. In a bunch of Domain LinkedIn groups but says is new to domain flipping and doesn't know about domain pricing. The emails, taking too much advice from your friends, be yourself. Just the emails alone, all kinds of flags. Not to mention all the stuff mentioned in the thread. Can't use Escrow, right there it should have ended. Others saying it was a scam. Just flag after flag. I don't think most would have fallen for this, just the opposite.

Live and learn, like you said it was just a 2k lesson.
 
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Peeps like this makes things difficult for genuine domainers in Nigeria. So sorry and hope they catch those good for nothing fellows
 
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Is it responsible to post the image of the person's full ID like that? It could very well have been stolen and used by the scammer, and having it public like this could set the victim up for even more identity theft, if that's the case.
 
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Is it responsible to post the image of the person's full ID like that? It could very well have been stolen and used by the scammer, and having it public like this could set the victim up for even more identity theft, if that's the case.
Less people are seeing it here than on Google where he got it!
 
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