Popular Email Scam is Baaaack! *Red Flags*

[ivey]

So I got the following email just yesterday. New domainers seem to still fall for this one, so I will share:

This is called the appraisal scam:

Offer to purchase (YourDomain).com(2)
[email protected]
To: MyEmail
Sep 6 at 6:20 PM

Hello!

I represent a businessman who is going to buy (YourDomain).com.

The buyer is a professional investor. Your domain will be used as a part of his online project.

I located your contact information in a domain name whois lookup and understand that you own the domain name.

Are you still interested in selling?

I work for a hosting company from UK.

If you have more domains, please email me the list.

Are you a beginner or an experienced seller?

Best Regards,

Anna Greenberg

Vice President

Hostgator UK

***Red Flags***

1. Before you open the email, the subject starts with the name hostgator? I was puzzled because I didn't have any names with hostgator nor did i know they broker domains..
2. After opening the email i saw this sending email address: [email protected]. So thought, what professional or legitimate service runs a business using such a crappy email and website name (hostgator-smtp.info)???
3. Now,if this man is a broker, he is doing his client a great favor telling me his client got big money to spend and he "is" going to buy the name.. wow my lucky day!!!!!
4. "I work for a hosting company from UK."- Wow I guess using the name host gator in his email and website address will make it legit since everyone domain have heard the name hostgator... hard to miss that gator.
   
5. "If you have more domains, please email me the list."-- Wow again! I might even get luckier!!! So now he is not going to just buy this name but I might end up selling more names from my portfolio. I better not mess this up. I guess this is to use psychology to lure the simple minded or people who have no knowledge yet of this tactic..smh
   
6. "Best Regards, Anna Greenberg" ugggnn surprise! Apologies, I didn't know this was a lady. 99% of scam emails I've gotten; male names were used. I guess this is to soften any worries or concerns I may be having.
   
7. "Vice President Hostgator UK" and to rap it up; to seal the deal.. She let me know she is the voice president. Like dave chappelle< I'm rich beeeech.. Or maybe not. And with the official seal- Host gator UK. I'm convinced!
8. After a whois search of their website:
   Created 02 Aug, 2016 / about 1 month ago
   Expires 02 Aug, 2017
   Registrant WHO IS AGENT
   Organization Whois Privacy Protection Service, Inc

So this vice president or investor is doing business on a dollar domain thats a month old? Ofcourse it's private too because an official business has to hide..
My response:

My asking price is $5,000 US.
If you agree to the price; i will go ahead and setup payment through escrow.

So i choose a straightforward route...Now If they come back with the appraisal scam part two.. I may just pretend to be a little lamb and bring their hopes real high... I''ll add any response to this.

 

[VaibhavA]

New mail I received today.

"
Hello

I hope you're doing good.

I am a Domain Names Broker and this is in regards to your domain name, excelfunction.com .

We have the domain ExcelFunction.com and are currently managing a process to sell or lease it. If you would like to find out more about this domain, please contact us. We can then provide you with pricing details and options.

Regards,
Rob Johnson
"

Looks like they are trying to sell my domain to me.

I am not replying. My domain is for sale on Godaddy.

 

[ddfenton]

And months later .... me. Japanese name - same handle "domain broker." site: http://www.authorize-name.net
authorize-name.net
Updated 2 minutes ago

DOMAIN INFORMATION
Domain:
authorize-name.net

Registrar:
GODADDY.COM, LLC

Registration Date:
2017-01-11

Expiration Date:
2018-01-11

Updated Date:
2017-03-09

Status:
clientDeleteProhibited
clientRenewProhibited
clientTransferProhibited
clientUpdateProhibited

Name Servers:
ns27.domaincontrol.com
ns28.domaincontrol.com

REGISTRANT CONTACT
Name:
Anthon Seidel

Organization:
DN Tools Holdings

Street:
Werderstrasse 17

City:
Schorndorf

State:
NA

Postal Code:
73614

Country:
DE

Phone:
+49.718142687

Email:

@domainverifications.com

ADMINISTRATIVE CONTACT
Name:
Anthon Seidel

Organization:
DN Tools Holdings

Street:
Werderstrasse 17

City:
Schorndorf

State:
NA

Postal Code:
73614

Country:
DE

Phone:
+49.718142687

Email:

@domainverifications.com

TECHNICAL CONTACT
Name:
Anthon Seidel

Organization:
DN Tools Holdings

Street:
Werderstrasse 17

City:
Schorndorf

State:
NA

Postal Code:
73614

Country:
DE

Phone:
+49.718142687

Email:

@domainverifications.com

RAW WHOIS DATA
Domain Name: authorize-name.net
Registry Domain ID: 2089202339_DOMAIN_NET-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.godaddy.com
Registrar URL: http://www.godaddy.com
Update Date: 2017-01-11T12:09:48Z
Creation Date: 2017-01-11T12:09:48Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2018-01-11T12:09:48Z
Registrar: GoDaddy.com, LLC
Registrar IANA ID: 146
Registrar Abuse Contact Email:

@godaddy.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.4806242505
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited
Domain Status: clientRenewProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientRenewProhibited
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited
Registry Registrant ID: Not Available From Registry
Registrant Name: Anthon Seidel
Registrant Organization: DN Tools Holdings
Registrant Street: Werderstrasse 17
Registrant City: Schorndorf
Registrant State/Province: NA
Registrant Postal Code: 73614
Registrant Country: DE
Registrant Phone: +49.718142687
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email:

@domainverifications.com
Registry Admin ID: Not Available From Registry
Admin Name: Anthon Seidel
Admin Organization: DN Tools Holdings
Admin Street: Werderstrasse 17
Admin City: Schorndorf
Admin State/Province: NA
Admin Postal Code: 73614
Admin Country: DE
Admin Phone: +49.718142687
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax:
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email:

@domainverifications.com
Registry Tech ID: Not Available From Registry
Tech Name: Anthon Seidel
Tech Organization: DN Tools Holdings
Tech Street: Werderstrasse 17
Tech City: Schorndorf
Tech State/Province: NA
Tech Postal Code: 73614
Tech Country: DE
Tech Phone: +49.718142687
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax:
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email:

@domainverifications.com
Name Server: NS27.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Name Server: NS28.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
DNSSEC: unsigned
URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System: http://wdprs.internic.net/
>>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2017-05-18T23:00:00Z <<<

For more information on Whois status codes, please visit https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/epp-status-codes-2014-06-16-en

The data contained in GoDaddy.com, LLC's WhoIs database,
while believed by the company to be reliable, is provided "as is"
with no guarantee or warranties regarding its accuracy. This
information is provided for the sole purpose of assisting you
in obtaining information about domain name registration records.
Any use of this data for any other purpose is expressly forbidden without the prior written
permission of GoDaddy.com, LLC. By submitting an inquiry,
you agree to these terms of usage and limitations of warranty. In particular,
you agree not to use this data to allow, enable, or otherwise make possible,
dissemination or collection of this data, in part or in its entirety, for any
purpose, such as the transmission of unsolicited advertising and
and solicitations of any kind, including spam. You further agree
not to use this data to enable high volume, automated or robotic electronic
processes designed to collect or compile this data for any purpose,
including mining this data for your own personal or commercial purposes.

Please note: the registrant of the domain name is specified
in the "registrant" section. In most cases, GoDaddy.com, LLC
is not the registrant of domain names listed in this database.

 

[DnEbook]

I haven't got one of those yet, even India has stopped ringing me!

 

[ddfenton]

well authorize-name.com (and names) is for sale. guess they've gone to .net

 

[distlej]

He's Back!
This time impersonating a mysterious Japanese broker named Satchiko Nakamoto!!!!!.
I'll string him along for fun if anybody makes a request.



-----Original Message-----
From: "Domain Broker" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 6, 2017 7:20pm
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: We offer up to $50000 USD for mydomain.us


Commission of our company is only 5%. It's paid by the buyer.

If you also own .net and .org domains he will buy them. If not he will buy one domain.

He will send you money via Authorize Escrow. They support Japanese buyers and may release the funds to you via Paypal, wire, check, Payeer, Advanced Cash and Western Union.

The buyer offers a price in $15,000 - $30,000 range.

Do you have an appraisal certificate with trademark infringement verification included? It's required by the buyer and his bank.

The final sale price will depend on the appraised value of your domain made by an independent agency.

If you don't have the certificate it's not a problem. You can order it online.

Please note he cannot accept it from any agency. He needs a manual service. It also must be a third party independent agency (not your broker our auction site) and must be accepted by his bank. The appraisal agency must support a copy of this appraisal in Japanese upon request. The appraisal certificate must include the trademark infringement verification. My client must be sure your domain has no TM problems.

You can read about certification agencies at Google Answers: http://no_url_shorteners/yd6o7ltb (I've made a short form of the long Google Answers link in TinyURL. “Domain Broker” is my nickname).

The process is very easy:

1. Go to the certificate agency site and order the certificate. The service recommended at Google Answers is accepted by the buyer's bank (they support Japanese and English languages). It guarantees us a smooth and fast transaction. They also provide full money back guarantee so it's absolutely safe for you.

Please specify in the comment field you have a buyer with $XX,XXX offer. It will increase the final appraised value.

2. Send the certificate to me and we will start the sale process the same day. He will pay you the appraised value stated in your certificate.

If you are new to the certification process, I can help you with the step by step instructions how to order a proper certificate online.
On 06.09.2017 16:10, m[email protected] wrote:
Satchiko Nakamoto,

Please provide details of buyer for been.us

Thank You,

My Name

My Company LLC

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2017 7:42am
To: m[email protected]
Subject: We offer up to $50000 USD for mydomain.us


Hello!

I represent a buyer from Sendai (Japan) who wants to buy been.us for a new web startup.

I help our regular customers to buy names on the market.

The buyer is a professional investor with a good budget.

I located your contact information via whois search.

If you have more names please email me the list.

Best Regards,

Satchiko Nakamoto

Vice President

GMO Cloud Hosting Japan

Tokyo

Japan

Phone: +816715483721