discuss [Resolved] Domainer Loses $26k On A Stolen Domain!

[DaveX]

Darn! Another scam and this time it is an experienced domainer James Booth.

James must have thought he was making a sound acquisition as he transferred approximately 26k to escrow for CQD.com. Instead, after completing the escrow, the domain was taken from his account by the registrar without notification and returned to the "true" owner.

Turns out the person that sold him the domain CQD.com, may not have been the true owner.

Apparently this incident involves several parties including the registrar and the escrow.


Thanks to Theo over at DomainGang for the tip on this.

 

[hookbox]

If Afternic listed, sold, accepted the payment and transferred the payment for a stolen domain through their system then they should be responsible.

 

[equity78]

If Afternic listed, sold, accepted the payment and transferred the payment for a stolen domain through their system then they should be responsible.

He did it outside of Afternic it looks like, @Joe Styler quoted:

We looked at it pretty closely and we don’t see any reason to believe cqd.com is stolen. […] We don’t have any record of 26k coming in on this domain so maybe it was somewhere else and maybe someone else is pretending to sell the domain they don’t own but this listing looks to be from the real owner and the floor offer is 150k so I don’t think anyone would be able to try and send in 26k on the name. There is also a lot of other evidence that seems to a few people here who looked at it including myself that the domain is listed by the rightful owner correctly.”

 

[teper]

That's bad!!

 

[DaveX]

That's bad!!

That's a lot of money to just send.

 

[creataweb]

So he never got his money back?

 

[hookbox]

If I remember correctly this isn't the first time this has happened to Booth.

 

[DaveX]

So he never got his money back?

I don't think so.

 

[Dan Beck]

Man this is scary stuff. I'm reading up on as much of this stuff as possible!!

 

[Embrand]

I would love to hear the details. Who did Booth send the funds to? And how could it occur outside of Afternic?

 

[Josh R]

I would love to hear the details. Who did Booth send the funds to? And how could it occur outside of Afternic?

Probably trying to cut out the middle man. Basically gets a 20% discount if he deals directly with the owner.

 

[Embrand]

Probably trying to cut out the middle man. Basically gets a 20% discount if he deals directly with the owner.

Yes, but if he used Whois to contact the owner and Afternic says it does not appear the domain is stolen, then it seems strange...

 

[stewmath]

You would think an experienced domainer would know to use escrow

 

[DaveX]

You would think an experienced domainer would know to use escrow

Yes, I don't know why anyone would ever send money on a phone call and a promise. Makes no sense. Is it greed?

@uglydork Can you believe this?

 

[DaveX]

@BoothDomains

Can you share any details with us?

 

[Lox]

So, it's all about attention?

 

[BoothDomains]

Hi All, Just to let you know what happened. I emailed the Whois email (the same one that is listed now) and agreed a deal. I did my due diligence and also emailed the email on the website ([email protected]) and they both confirmed all my questions. I set up the Escrow transaction and Escrow confirmed the seller was KYC verified. So after speaking to both emails and Escrow confirming the seller was verified I believed the domain to be safe.

I made payment for $26k and had the domain in my Network Solutions account for around 4 weeks. One day I logged in to find the domain had just vanished. I called Netsol / Web.com and they said ''Oh we have returned the domain to the seller'' Obviously I was not happy. They did not email me, call me or mention in any way anything about it. They simply just took the domain with NO questions and handed it back to the seller.

I am currently proceeding with legal action.

 

[uglydork]

Yes, I don't know why anyone would ever send money on a phone call and a promise. Makes no sense. Is it greed?

@uglydork Can you believe this?

Just plain dumb - lol

 

[Lox]

@BoothDomains Why you did not call Rebecca?

 

[BoothDomains]

Probably trying to cut out the middle man. Basically gets a 20% discount if he deals directly with the owner.

That's not how I operate. The domain has recently been added to Afternic. This happened to me several weeks ago. Theo from DomainGang messaged me today to let me know it is for sale on Afternic.