Noob tries to Scam my domain. (His process, read it)

[rome2ng]

I receive a email on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 1:14 AM, from this company, TGN Technologies from some guy know as cohen@toughguy.net
Apparently, such mail was residing in my junk mail that happen to read it

Hello,

Please email a price you can accept for your domain name, u69.biz

Our company develops software for multiple video systems. Domain names is not
our business but a new way to earn on reselling. We are going to buy domains to
resell them at higher prices. Our company has a large database of clients
interested in good domains.

If you offer more domains for sale with good reselling potential please email
us your list.

Looking forward to do business with you.

Regards,
Jacob Cohen, Ph. D.
CEO
TGN Technologies

Feeling abit weird, i replied to him,

Erm i am selling it for Euro 300 and more.

Or if not you can send your bid over at sedo.

Sincerement,
Jerome

he starts to let out his colours....

300 euro. Ok.

Do you sell the name only without web site? I'm interested in the name so web site is not so important.

Do you have an appraisal certificates for your domain names? As fas I know it's a common practice to show appraisal of domain name (even without traffic and web site) before doing business.

Domain reselling is an important business for me. In other words I'm going to sell your name later and make a profit. If I overpay I won't be able to make a profit. It's very important for you and me to know the current market value of your domains.

Of course, we must be sure that you are engaging an appraisal company with REAL manual service. I heard many appraisal companies often made inaccurate auto-generated appraisals. I will only accept appraisals from independent sources I trust. To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable appraisal companies in a forum
http://domaintalk.ourplace.com/Archive/297514.htm

Just check this posting.

If the appraisal comes higher you can adjust your asking price accordingly. I also hope you can give me 10% - 15% discount of the appraised value.

After I get an appraisal from you we'll continue our negotiations.

How do you prefer to get paid: www.escrow.com, www.PayPal.com check or wire?

Hope we can come to an agreement fast.

Looking forward to your reply.

Appraisal thingy are stupid... scam that everyone heard of... this is now he continues... crap load of bull-sh*t

So i ask him about some other appraisal.. that are more famous and SAFER ??? haha
So i ask him...
Obviously, this is a scam... but let's play with him

my reply

Actually Godaddy Appraisal or even sedo Apprisal Service is also reputable...

I will do a appraisal for you from the either one or even your requested one if you payme up the money upfront for appraisal... this is to separate the difference between the processing and selling of my domains as i have quite some to manage

you can send the upfront payment to my paypal

Sincerement,
Jerome

his reply

Nobody from GoDaay will do a serious research for only $14. This appraisal is automated.

Sedo is a good broker. Unfortunately , Sedo is not acceptable as an
appraiser because your names are listed with them and they are not
independent. They are interested in earning 10% commission on every sale. I
need appraisals from a company which is not interested in
selling your domains.

I heard many appraisal companies often made inaccurate appraisals. So I
cannot accept appraisal from each and every site. I will only accept
appraisals from independent appraisal companies I know and trust.


I thought about several companies including Afternic.com, but found very interesting information:

http://www.igoldrush.com/links3.htm
"Capsule Review: After lots of complaints, Afternic is no longer a
recommended service. We will re-review the service in the near future."

I also found the following information about them
http://www.out-law.com/page-1630


So Afternic.com is NOT acceptable.

Reading responses from experienced sellers I was impressed by one reply:
"Many Internet users are not smart enough and popular domain brokers are
using this fact to make money. They offer them cheap appraisal services. But
if their customers would have something in their heads they'd understand
experts could not make a professional research for $15-$20. These appraisals
are made by machines. Easy money for such appraisers as
http://www.Afternic.com and several other major brokers that offer cheap
auto-generated appraisals. In my eyes, all services under $50-$55 are not
manual and the results are generated by special scripts. I don't trust
auto-generated appraisals."

The same is true for GoDaddy and SEDO. Their services are not manual. They are just collecting money using their well-known names.

I heard many appraisal companies often overpriced domains. So I cannot accept appraisal from each and every site.

To avoid mistakes I asked about reputable appraisers in a forum. Several experts recommended me Securenamesale's appraisal service -
http://www.securenamesale.com/appraise.asp as a fast, accurate and non-expensive manual service.

... scam and scam...
and he follows up with a msg to reply my upfront payment

I have a rule: No payments upfront.

Usually, people who are selling names or web sites, provide buyers with
appraisals. This is a common practice and I'm not going to change this rule
because it's the best way to protect an investment.

he's shitty trying not to agree with that...

*I TOO HAVE A RULE,not to let people like you go away easily...

ha...
So i followed up a msg

well, no problem then...

pls send me the link to where i can get my appraisal done. and also provide me the info for me to type in the whois.

i don't have time to go to other forum

Sincerement,
Jerome

so he's suggesting i do a appraisal at

To avoid mistakes I asked about reputable appraisers in a forum. Several experts recommended me Securenamesale's appraisal service -
http://www.securenamesale.com/appraise.asp as a fast, accurate and non-expensive manual service.

so guys.. any idea how we can screw him or what ?

 

[Jeffrey]

This appraisal scam has been going on for years. How can this be stopped? Can the registrar be able to delete their domain name?

 

[401moomoo]

i got myself an 0871 number and got one guy to ring me to explain process for appraisal(pretended to be clueless)
premium number screwed £2.60 out of the guy before he realised!!!

 

[Ixix]

what is a '0871' number?

 

[italiandragon]

why don`t you just find any of his real info in any way and then we send some nice italian friends of mine in the US they will take care of him exactly like I say.

 

[briman1970]

Tell him he can have the domain for $1 just to see if there's any reply. I told one of these scammers that I would give them the name for free... guess what? No reply.

 

[DBADT2007]

hmm, just a thought here. Couldn't we all get to together on a banning/black listing on certain appraisal services that seem to use this tactic? Maybe if enough domainers would state this in forums, to buyers, etc etc it would have a negative impact on the appraisal services that participate in these tactics.

Maybe state something as follows....
I am sorry (buyer's name) but the appraisal service you have requested has been blacklisted/banned from the domainer market. We do not recognize the validity of (name of appraisal service) as a valid appraisal service of domains because this business entity has proven to be involved in ethically questionable marketing tactics.

It just might clue them that we are on to their game.

 

[Deaol]

This is the appraisal scam response I always send out:

I'm far more blunt, I just tell them to f*** right off. :notme:

 

[ChrisChris]

Not sure if I should be offended or complimented that I've never had one of these sent to me :hehe:

Have had plenty of Nigerian scammer emails though :p

 

[rome2ng]

lol... haha

yea, you can just trace his ip or get the info from the whois ... mafia will get him then.

 

[jack80]

Scam him back.. :D

Tell him you will go for the appraisal but with a condition that you pay for the half of the price, and he will pay half of the price.. after getting his money then don't reply his email anymore..

lol.. just kidding.. scamming is very bad by the way...