NameCheap just locked my account and threatned to cancel all my domains

[thecleaner]

tried to log into namecheap and my account was locked today. They claimed there was fraudulent activity.

Im real paranoid because the names I just purchased the other day are valuable and target very competitive industries.

They said I need to "verify my account"

I clicked the link they gave me and tried to verify my account. I entered my social and everything then got the message "this account cannot be verified".

I tried twice.

I was also told, I have 24 hours to comment on this issue.

Thing is when I made the comment it was just a few hours AFTER their comment but they have on their support page that THEY commented on the 22 (today ) but I made the comment on the 23 TOMORROW.

Which makes me even more paranoid. See the image for yourself with the time stamp. If anyone wants to see a snapshot of the timestamps and ticket PM me.

I wont be sleeping tonight.

 

[jdab]

They asked for a cam shot of the cc I used today front and back to verify its an actual card.

That's a bit odd...

 

[brandnow]

it's getting too crazy now..

photos of the credit card and social security numbers lol

 

[Electric-Shadow]

As scary as it may have seemed to start with, I think there's a good bit of fearmongering going on here. NameCheap have no reason to keep your account locked, you have all the proof you need.

Try not to worry so much pal, I've used NC since I started domaining and they've always been reliable and honest. They're aware you're trying to resolve the issue now so just let things run their course and deal with things as they come.

 

[WhiteCloud]

I'm glad to see your are making progress on getting this resolved. NameCheap has a very aggressive fraud department and once flagged your only option, if you want to keep the domains in your account, is to comply with their invasive requests. I would suggest considering transferring the domains out when you can and doing business with a different registrar.

 

[thecleaner]

"
Hello,

Thank you for the details provided, your Namecheap account has been unlocked and marked as legitimate so it will never happen to you again.

Unfortunately we cannot disclose the methods and principles of fraud screen system work to you despite our respect to you as a customer. This procedure is not negotiable and due to data protection reasons we are unable to give you the specific reason as to why the payment has been investigated.

Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience it caused you."

GoDaddy Here I Come!

 

[cdboard]

GoDaddy Here I Come!

G has fraud protections, too. best to avoid whatever you think set off N's fraud protections.

 

[sofiapartner]

That should be the most secure register there is. This is like advertising thread.

I hope that you'll got your account unlocked soon. Actually I am sure you will. There is no reason not to.

Oops I saw that they did it already. Congrats - and think twice if you should move your domains out of there.

 

[forge]

so it will never happen to you again.

That's a really odd thing for them to say. Anyway, glad to know you got the matter resolved.

Actually that entire message is rather strange/cryptic/unsettling and I can't blame you for wanting to move your domains.

 

[Nem0]

That's a really odd thing for them to say. Anyway, glad to know you got the matter resolved.

Actually that entire message is rather strange/cryptic/unsettling and I can't blame you for wanting to move your domains.

It is strange, several things about the situation are.

Did you first find out about your account being locked through an Email or did you find out by visiting namecheap.com directly?

 

[ulterios]

"
Hello,

Thank you for the details provided, your Namecheap account has been unlocked and marked as legitimate so it will never happen to you again.

Unfortunately we cannot disclose the methods and principles of fraud screen system work to you despite our respect to you as a customer. This procedure is not negotiable and due to data protection reasons we are unable to give you the specific reason as to why the payment has been investigated.

Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience it caused you."

GoDaddy Here I Come!

If you set off NC's fraud alerts then moving to GD isn't going to help. You might go through the same situation. They have strict (perhaps stricter) fraud alerts than NC.

 

[Hypersot]

If you set off NC's fraud alerts then moving to GD isn't going to help. You might go through the same situation. They have strict (perhaps stricter) fraud alerts than NC.

Just wait until he is confronted by GoDaddy's Support
At least on Namecheap they do their best to help you

 

[iowadawg]

Then there will be another new thread on "Godaddy Locked my account, whatever shall I do?".
With all the attendant drama and of course the usual "once my godaddy account is unlocked, I am moving all my domains out of there to namecheap:.

I have used namecheap for years and years and years.
Lot less problems than godaddy, but I still like godaddy.

 

[ulterios]

Just wait until he is confronted by GoDaddy's Support
At least on Namecheap they do their best to help you

Stated perfectly.

GoDaddy phone support is nice and seem like they want to help you on the phone. Nice just doesn't always translate into proficient.

I have had a couple of good experiences with GD, but also a real bad one.

 

[alien51]

Happened to me as well, but not with Namecheap, but with effing YAHOO DOMAINS.

I transferred one of my domains to Yahoo, paid by credit card, and everything went fine.

After 3 days, i discovered that the domain i transferred to Yahoo was sent to REDEMPTION status. I could not even login to that account anymore. I magicjacked their Yahoo Tech Support, and they told me their human fraud department detected that the Address i entered into their Billing form field did not match letter-by-letter with what was on my Mastercard. So if you typed Alient St., and Yahoo saw from Mastercard records that it's actually Alien Street, they flag it as fraud and immediately (as in Pronto!) they cancel the domain. WTF ?? They did not even send any effing email or anything. They just cancel the domain with no questions asked! Stupid Yahoo.

They said if i want to fix the issue, they want me to call up MelbourneIT all the way in Australia!

No way was i gonna spend long distance call charges for an effing 1.99 domain transfer! I let the name drop.

It's good thing it was a brandable domain and nobody thought it was worth anything. So i regged it back again at Godaddy after it dropped.

 

[cdboard]

did you get your money back?

 

[ulterios]

Happened to me as well, but not with Namecheap, but with effing YAHOO DOMAINS.

I transferred one of my domains to Yahoo, paid by credit card, and everything went fine.

After 3 days, i discovered that the domain i transferred to Yahoo was sent to REDEMPTION status. I could not even login to that account anymore. I magicjacked their Yahoo Tech Support, and they told me their human fraud department detected that the Address i entered into their Billing form field did not match letter-by-letter with what was on my Mastercard. So if you typed Alient St., and Yahoo saw from Mastercard records that it's actually Alien Street, they flag it as fraud and immediately (as in Pronto!) they cancel the domain. WTF ?? They did not even send any effing email or anything. They just cancel the domain with no questions asked! Stupid Yahoo.

They said if i want to fix the issue, they want me to call up MelbourneIT all the way in Australia!

No way was i gonna spend long distance call charges for an effing 1.99 domain transfer! I let the name drop.

It's good thing it was a brandable domain and nobody thought it was worth anything. So i regged it back again at Godaddy after it dropped.

That's just crazy! They should have their system set up to identify different variations of common street abbreviations and other common ways things might be spelled.


Yahoooooooooooo!!!!

 

[alien51]

did you get your money back?

Yes, they credited back my 1.99. But not my domain. The sons of beaches didn't care about the domain. They cancelled it outright and practically told me off that t'was not their problem anymore.

That's just crazy! They should have their system set up to identify different variations of common street abbreviations and other common ways things might be spelled.

Actually, they cancelled my account TWICE for FRAUD!! That was the first case.

In the second case, their highly intelligent human fraud department cancelled yet another of my Yahoo domains account because they said the answer i entered in one of their secret questions was suspicious.

One of the secret question was: WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE SUPER HERO

And since i feared that if i entered an actual name of a super hero, a hacker would just run through all the superhero names. So my answer was: GANDOFSKIVARBELAN

The highly evolved Yahoo employee told me they flagged it as FRAUD, because they believed such garbage answer was entered by a BOT.

So okay fine, but why did they have to cancel the domain and my account instantly with no questions asked??? Yahoo told me t'was not their problem anymore and referred me to MelbourneIT in Australia.

This is not about Namecheap anymore, but i'm just sharing a personal experience about a similar "FRAUD" issue claims from these registrars.

 

[ulterios]

The highly evolved Yahoo employee told me they flagged it as FRAUD, because they believed such garbage answer was entered by a BOT.

LMAO, I guess it's a good thing they don't have 'highly evolved' employees moderating the reg'd domains across the internet, they would be very busy with the 'garbage' they find!

 

[PatMan]

Namecheap.com just did this to me. Makes me think they do the same thing to everyone since I used all legit info. I replied back to 'Christina P' in the 'Risk Management' department saying

"What part of my purchase triggered the fraud screening system? This is the 2nd time. I visited the 'verification' page. Please explain the requirement for SSN and DOB for a domain name. I set up dual level security and successfully received an sms message earlier. You have valid contact info for me including my mailing address, phone number and credit card. Seems like a scam to me.

Now that you've heard back from me I'd appreciate it if you would NOT cancel my order. How about calling me? You've got my verified number already.
Thanks."

Still haven't heard from anyone yet. I noted earlier in the thread they said once the verification was done it would never happen again. Please note I pointed out this is my 2nd time. If they ditch me I'm fine with it. Such low prices means the entire 'company' is probably 2 people in Los Angeles. I would recommend avoiding them as I will do in the future.

 

[ulterios]

Well this has never happen to me and I have been a customer of theirs for quite a while. I have only heard of this a couple of times so it must be something that you guys are doing but don't realize you are triggering this.

Might be that you used all legitimate information but the address on the credit card (if you used that) is different from the address on your account. Maybe the email address you used is on some kind of blacklist, your credit card or paypal account has a different name than on your NC account.

It could be many things but this happens rarely so there must be something you did to trigger it. GoDaddy's fraud trigger happens much, much more and is way more sensitive to this happening so if this happened at NC then it must be an issue.

 

[PatMan]

I'll find out as soon as I'm sure they canceled it. Since I haven't heard anything from anyone after my reply to them, I don't know if they are going to cancel it or adjust it. If it goes as before they'll cancel it because I'm not giving my SSN or a photo of card or anything extra just for a domain name. Too much fraud going on out there in the world already.

 

[ulterios]

I'll find out as soon as I'm sure they canceled it. Since I haven't heard anything from anyone after my reply to them, I don't know if they are going to cancel it or adjust it. If it goes as before they'll cancel it because I'm not giving my SSN or a photo of card or anything extra just for a domain name. Too much fraud going on out there in the world already.

When you find out post back here so that others will know what happened for future reference.

I have never had to give them an ID or SSN# but from what I have seen they only ask for it if they suspect fraud. Sometimes their fraud triggers might be a bit to sensitive I guess.