Possible Escrow Scam?

[zoogo]

A thought just came to my mind.. Escrow.com uses contact details to ensure that the buyer has received the domain name.

What happens if the buyer provides false WHOIS information for the duration of the transaction, after the domain names have legitimately been transferred, for the purpose of tricking Escrow and getting defrauding the seller?

Has this happened to anyone? Is it possible?

 

[werty]

Remember that the buyer has to confirm receipt in order to approve the transaction.

 

[ddesigns]

I think zoogo is right, or i can say even after transferring the name to buyer, the buyer says that he has not received it then ???

 

[adda4u]

Never thought abt this

Need to see for the best answer

 

[Spade]

It is a possible scam - one which highlights the problem of not actually taking control of the domain name in the escrow process. It is the main fault of escrow.com. Although it is of reasonable concern, I have yet to hear of this occurring and through my many transactions with them, have yet to have an issue.

 

[SlimPickins]

this is the primary reason I prefer to use Moniker's escrow service.

 

[ddesigns]

The buyer needs to be honest to say that he is in receipt of the domain, then only escrow will release the payment...

 

[John Baron]

it is a problem and i recently called escrow.com to ask them about it , the call Representative told me that escrow will give the money back to the buyer when he claims he did not received the domain only after a deep investigation and during that investigation the seller can prove to escrow that he did transfer the domain to the buyer even though the whois did not changed

 

[ddesigns]

it is a problem and i recently called escrow.com to ask them about it , the call Representative told me that escrow will give the money back to the buyer when he claims he did not received the domain only after a deep investigation and during that investigation the seller can prove to escrow that he did transfer the domain to the buyer even though the whois did not changed

Oh thats great that you have called escrow to inquire this, thanks for the inputs... I think this will help us / others to know escrow better...:wave:

 

[copper]

This is one of THE biggest problem when you are using escrow.com as seller.
As seller, it's best to use sedo escrow, escrowdns or moniker escrow.
With all three escrow service mentioned above - You push the domain to escrow service, not to ther buyer.
Thus, eliminating OP's concern

As seller, I used Moniker escrow once for $xx,xxx transaction.
It was kind of slow process until I got a hold of Monte and everything happened real fast.
So, I would say it was positive experience.

EscrowDNS - I used it more than few times and everything was smooth and quick.
100% positive experience. Only negative thing is that it cost little more than escrow.com.
However, I am willing to pay extra for guaranteed safety.

Sedo - Never used it, so, I have nothing to say, good or bad.

 

[akcampbell]

I have read about this possible Escrow.com scam on other sites. To get the domain the buyer must transfer the money so if Escrow.com investigated and the registrar confirmed it had been transferred to the account details the seller emailed, the seller is going to lose the money and get the domain.
Also, if it was proved they were trying to scam the seller, the registrar might put a lock on the domain, and they could end not getting their money back and losing the domain. These are pretty big risks for somebody who wants the domain without paying so I can't see it happening.

This scam could be played in reverse by the seller changing the WHOIS details to match the seller, transfer it in to another account they control, then claim they transferred it. Again, it wouldn't work because the registrar could confirm they didn't transfer it to the account details or email address they were given and just changed the WHOIS record and transferred it to some other account. Of all the things that could go wrong on Escrow.com, this is the most obvious so I'm sure Escrow.com are all over it in terms of control and checks. They are not going to pay the money back to the buyer or out to the seller without being 100% sure the domain changed hands.

I wouldn't recommend Sedo. I tried them once, they were so slow I ended up cancelling the transaction and going through Escrow.com.

 

[Domagon]

this is the primary reason I prefer to use Moniker's escrow service.

Better hope the buyer isn't paying from a hacked PayPal account or a bogus check, etc.

Because Moniker can potentially, sometime well after the sale, take the domain back! NO other major escrow service, I'm aware of, will do that, but Moniker potentially can. Beware! To be fair, the odds of that happening are small, but not zero.

Escrow.com and Sedo escrow assume the risk of accepting PayPal, etc and guarantees the funds released to the seller is free and clear.

In short, Moniker is not a true escrow, since they don't guarantee the funds released to seller; may attempt to take the domain back after the sale.

Sedo escrow is very good, though the speed can be slow depending on the TLD (some require more work, such as .co.uk to do right) and responsiveness / knowledge of the buyer and seller. Ie. if one of the parties makes a little mistake / overlooks a step, it sometimes add much delay, as in weeks+, to the escrow.

EscrowDNS I don't know enough about, but appears to have good reviews; they hold both domain and funds like Sedo escrow does.

In my view, escrow.com is best suited to transactions in which both buyer and seller already have some trust of each other, and seek to use escrow.com for a little extra security / add structure to the sale; moving the sale process forward in a timely manner.

Ron

 

[Bob Campbell]

A thought just came to my mind.. Escrow.com uses contact details to ensure that the buyer has received the domain name.

What happens if the buyer provides false WHOIS information for the duration of the transaction, after the domain names have legitimately been transferred, for the purpose of tricking Escrow and getting defrauding the seller?

Has this happened to anyone? Is it possible?

This happened to me a couple months ago... a company bought Baloop.com from me for $2850. Through escrow.com. I transferred the domain to them and then things got weird...the rep from the buyers company went on vacation and they assigned a new rep that would not return my emails. They said they did not receive the domain and Who Is showed their info blocked for privacy. The only thing not blocked was an email from their company. I contacted Godaddy (my registrar) and was told the domain transferred to another registrar but they could not tell where and they could not help me prove my case to escrow.com. After a few weeks and arguing with escrow I sent a pressure email to the buyers company saying Who Is shows their email and I will take further action..they released the funds. I will never use escrow again. I realize this was not a big deal like most of you guys that are pro sellers with premium domains. But for my wife and I it was a big deal...and selling 1 or 2 of our 30 domains each year really helps us keep our sinking ship a float. I’m selling HoneyHomes.com now for $3,500. Through Escrow.domains. I was contacted by Afforda. They seem professional. I’ll let you know if it goes through fine. All the Best!

 

[DanSanchez]

Document every step, I take screenshots at every point. Registrars will display the email you used to push and the time-stamps on the screenshots help as well. 48hr Escrow uses a bot to detect transfers for example, and the buyer only touches the final step of the process to release funds. It's good to remember that support staff don't always get the final decision to release your funds, so being patient helps.

 

[ultradog]

Escrow.com's system does have some problematic gaps, which even with honest buyers can cause delays. Now, if I'm using Escrow.com for a transaction, I'll insist on using the concierge service. Then Escrow knows perfectly well whether or not the buyer got the domain.

 

[Bob Campbell]

Escrow.com's system does have some problematic gaps, which even with honest buyers can cause delays. Now, if I'm using Escrow.com for a transaction, I'll insist on using the concierge service. Then Escrow knows perfectly well whether or not the buyer got the domain.

I didn’t know they had that option- Thank you!