IT.COM

advice I was scammed and its embarrassing

Spaceship Spaceship
Watch
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!
 

Attachments

  • upload_2018-2-11_10-26-32.png
    upload_2018-2-11_10-26-32.png
    172.7 KB · Views: 208
55
•••
The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Lets hope you get your money back or the domain you bought. :)
 
0
•••
You guys need to do more business in Canada. I have done more business on a handshake than I count. I often give the domain name before p
I am Nigerian. And I find this very embarrassing as it impedes any success other genuine people could make just because of the fault of a few bad eggs. Anyway, I am glad you got your money back.

This is why I am an advocate of escrow all the way. Even for amounts as low as $500

I feel for you, with the reputation Nigeria has I probably would decline business even with Escrow. If someone from Nigeria wanted one of my domains the only way they would get it is to pay in advance. The only way I would buy it is with escrow and a whois change made that is verifiable.

The unfortunate part is that is penalizes all the innocent hard working people who are trying to earn an honest living.

Good to see you here @FolioTeam
 
1
•••
I am new in this world and stories like this makes me more aware of this world. Hope you recovered and back with your original best. You are scammed for being a nice person.
 
0
•••
I can't believe a senior person like you can be scammed

Im new here but have been around a LONG time on this earth. If there is one thing ive learned, never and I mean NEVER act like it couldn't ever happen to you. I have seen the smartest and most careful inidividuals get burned by simple things. All it takes is a moment of clouded judgement and before you even realize its happening your toast.
 
1
•••
Im new here but have been around a LONG time on this earth. If there is one thing ive learned, never and I mean NEVER act like it couldn't ever happen to you. I have seen the smartest and most careful inidividuals get burned by simple things. All it takes is a moment of clouded judgement and before you even realize its happening your toast.

It does not necessarily have to be clouded judgement, it just has to be someone more clever than you. There is always someone smarter, brighter, more clever, or on the other side more cunning.

People with really high iQ's make the best criminals :xf.wink:
 
0
•••
That wouldn't help with a stolen domain. They could push it to your account before payment (which would surely be a scam), you pay and, pffuff the money would be gone, and sooner or later the domain would go the same way as the money.

I think the most secure platforms are the marketplaces of registrars. They are more secure than escrow as they actually transfer the domain. I don't need to know who's buying or selling. I have never been scammed.
 
2
•••
  • I received an email from enom (I though) that said transfer was in progress so I released the funds

If that email wasn't sent from enom, it should have been marked as "spam" or should arrive to your spam folder in your email box. Because it can't verify SPF record. I just looked and saw the domain of enom has a SPF record in DNS.

If you receive email from a reputable company and if it's marked as spam you should read what's written in its email headers. If you read "fail" in the email header it was sent from a different domain. Sometimes I receive emails that say my Paypal account was blocked. Those emails are marked as spam if they look like sent from the domain of paypal.
 
Last edited:
2
•••
Every scam report I read there is one thing common "greed" and it's the sole reason people fall in trap of scam. They thought they can buy the ultra premium domain for dirt cheap price.
That greed made them blind and they took all the risky decisions even after red flags.

Similarly, the greed play role in domain owner side as well. You'll occasionally get an email that we have an investor and wanna buy your domain for $xxxxxx amount for this you need to appraise domain from here.Appraisal cost is $1000 or more.

So, conclusion don't be greedy.
 
0
•••
thanks for sharing this
it may help many peoples
 
1
•••
Sorry this happened to you Richard . . . these scammers ONLY job is to think about how to scam people. Happened to me once as seller but I got the domain back (low sale $650). Aside from using escrow service, one end around as seller is to sell domains from a reseller account (like resellerclub.com) where you can "suspend" customers for non-payment (thus freezing the domain name). If many domains are reg'd with another registrar (like me . . .Godaddy), if a buyer seems legit and "needs" to use paypal or credit card, first transfer your domain to your reseller's account and push domain into buyer's newly created account . . . if there is a chargeback without return of domain OR paypal scam, as reseller you can suspend the domain name (you could also lock it from transferring it out or pushing it to another account). At least you'd retain your domain and only be out transfer costs (if you were not planning on keeping the domain name).
 
Last edited:
2
•••
being scammed is wrong and unfair,but OP showed xenophobia,which is also wrong
 
0
•••
You guys need to do more business in Canada. I have done more business on a handshake than I count. I often give the domain name before p@FolioTeam

Not necessarily true, the only domain I was ever screwed or lost money on or was by a Canadian a number of years ago. A real Canadian, not a Nigerian or other immigrant. He wanted to make payments for a generic business name. I was reluctant but fellow Canadian Adam Dicker recommended him I think because he was also from Canada. He paid for a while but then defaulted on the valid signed contract leaving $1,000 USD unpaid. No excuse on date of default except short on money. He is still active but has ignored all requests for the last 1k for many years. With the last paypal invoice I sent he said "did not know" what the invoice debt was for even though it was clearly explained in the invoice. I believe he still owns the domain today.
 
Last edited:
1
•••
Not necessarily true, the only domain I was ever screwed or lost money on or was by a Canadian a number of years ago. A real Canadian, not a Nigerian or other immigrant. He wanted to make payments for a generic business name. I was reluctant but fellow Canadian Adam Dicker recommended him I think because he was also from Canada. He paid for a while but then defaulted on the valid signed contract leaving $1,000 USD unpaid. No excuse on date of default except short on money. He is still active but has ignored all requests for the last 1k for many years. With the last paypal invoice I sent he said "did not know" what the invoice debt was for even though it was clearly explained in the invoice. I believe he still owns the domain today.


HeHe, probably one of Adam Dickers alter egos or bosom buddies. :xf.eek:
 
0
•••
HeHe, probably one of Adam Dickers alter egos or bosom buddies. :xf.eek:

It was well before that scandal and it was his real name not alter-ego. I am fairly certain they did not know each other beforehand. Adam recommended I trust him to pay because he was a Canadian, like what you are saying today on trusting Canadians.
 
Last edited:
0
•••
It was well before that scandal and it was his real name not alter-ego. I am fairly certain they did not know each other beforehand. Adam recommended I trust him to pay because he was a Canadian, like what you are saying today on trusting Canadians.

Trust only goes so far, I still have my safety protocols I follow but I feel sad that you were taken advantage of. PM me the details if you like and I'll see if I can help you collect the debt.
 
1
•••
Sorry for your loss, but you managed to turn it into something good for us all: a lesson. At your expense. I fill like chipping in after your generosity, only need to sell my first domain now :)

Thank you so much for sharing, @uglydork
 
1
•••
At Sedo transaction fee is 10-20 percent. But I think when you agree on a price outside Sedo , you can transfer with 3 percent fee. I have never done this. Some registrars seem to allow instant sales also. Epik, Namesilo? I didn't use them for this purpose either. There seem to be many Escrow services, and not all require ID or high fees.
 
0
•••
why those website still online? can we suspend them with report it or something.it sucks
 
0
•••
Sedo's wire fees are very high. It is in 50-60 USD range, although maybe officially it is around 20. For a 1K sale this means another 5 percent is lost. If you sell a domain at Sedo for 20, you would get like -60 USD, you would lose 60 USD just because you sold a domain. (replying my post above).
 
Last edited:
0
•••
  • The sidebar remains visible by scrolling at a speed relative to the page’s height.
Back