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.

 

[Cruncher]

Anyone know what chances he has of getting his money back? It seems here that the legitimate owner is in fact the scammer.

 

[dntaps]

Sorry @BoothDomains

Its good that you are taking legal action, hopefully you will get your money back + put a stop to this going forward, there is a chance she has done this before or was going to do the same to next buyer.

 

[wwwweb]

Sorry @BoothDomains

Its good that you are taking legal action, hopefully you will get your money back + put a stop to this going forward, there is a chance she has done this before or was going to do the same to next buyer.

In order to take legal action you have to find this person, serve them, then go thru the process, and hope they have something tangible to collateralize as this money is most likely long gone.

 

[lambo.com]

Speaking to the right person at Netsol and surely that domain goes back in your account. Good luck

 

[Lox]

It seems here that the legitimate owner is in fact the scammer.

No is not, she is selling it since 2015 for 150k. The outside seller/scammer most likely already spotted her FB message and the rest is ... what is. The FB post address was updated on January 5th 2018 (img 3.jpg) , maybe hacker?

 

[Joe Styler]

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.

I am sorry to hear this happened to you. We don't have any way to know for certain what happened as the domain is registered outside our registrar and the sale did not take place on our marketplace. The only thing we have is a listing on Afternic which has been there with the same account for several years with no changes on it. We did look at historical WHOIS and didn't see it change names but of course there are gaps in the WHOIS and we don't have the full info on it because the domain was not with us for the period in question. We also do not know who sold the domain or how. In this situation it appears we have the current owner listing the domain with our marketplace. James can contact me with any further information and we can do our best within our policies and legal boundaries to work to protect buyers and sellers using our marketplace. I did reach out to the owner of the domain as well for clarification and have not had a response yet.

 

[lambo.com]

I am sorry to hear this happened to you. We don't have any way to know for certain what happened as the domain is registered outside our registrar and the sale did not take place on our marketplace. The only thing we have is a listing on Afternic which has been there with the same account for several years with no changes on it. We did look at historical WHOIS and didn't see it change names but of course there are gaps in the WHOIS and we don't have the full info on it because the domain was not with us for the period in question. We also do not know who sold the domain or how. In this situation it appears we have the current owner listing the domain with our marketplace. James can contact me with any further information and we can do our best within our policies and legal boundaries to work to protect buyers and sellers using our marketplace. I did reach out to the owner of the domain as well for clarification and have not had a response yet.

you rock, great to have you around

 

[Arca]

Not surprising that NetSol would do that. They unfortunately take very lightly on moving domains out of accounts. Some users seemingly just have to ask for a domain to be moved to them, and NetSol take their word for it.

 

[Omar.]

Darn! Another scam and this time it is another experienced domainer James Booth. He transferred 26k before realizing he had been scammed.

Experienced??? LOL He should have a big sign on his forehead that says: NEWBIE ALERT hahahahahaha!

Now he will remember the 2018 for the rest of his life! in a BAD way of course...

 

[mdent]

Moral of the story is, never keep a valuable domain at Network Solutions, not even for a minute. If you're buying a domain that's registered with Network Solutions, first ask the seller to transfer the domain out. Offer them an extra $100 for their trouble. If the seller refuses, they're probably trying to scam you.

 

[lambo.com]

Experienced??? LOL He should have a big sign on his forehead that says: NEWBIE ALERT hahahahahaha!

Now he will remember the 2018 for the rest of his life! in a BAD way of course...

Like poking fun at people when they are down do we?

 

[DaveX]

It seems these scammers are working overtime to perfect their scam. I think we tend to get relaxed a bit because the vast majority of transactions go smoothly.

Guess you just can't let your guard down for a moment. Particularly when companies like netsol do so little other than spam you daily.

I happen to have one name left there and it's a 3L. I better move that sucker!

 

[alwaysforGod]

My opinion?
Legally speaking, I do believe that if he has proof of his correspondence with what is supposed to be the owner's correct contact information, especially considering it most likely has been the same information for a long time (many years) and he has proof of his payment + where it went then he should have a strong leg to stand on.
It may or may not have been the owner he was speaking with, however it (at that point) was beyond reasonable for him to operate as though the person was in fact capable of selling and in proper ownership of the domain; especially when you consider that he did a few other things, such an initializing with escrow to test the seller's legitimacy, communicating via multiple methods and on well-established platforms for the seller, etc. And with that in mind, who does the blame (who owes them dollahs) come down to?
Of course it would have to be the actual and responsible middle-ground here, the registrar who both registered and also transferred that domain. Because let me put it to you like this, if they are satisfied that the request to transfer out and to request be transferred back in are from the owner, and they do not return it to booth after he proves he bought it, then they are at fault. And if EITHER the transfer out or back in are NOT satisfactorily recognized as the name owner, that ALSO is the registrar's responsibility and means they need to recompense either the seller, buyer or both. And if they just think that he has no legal right to it even when presented with proof of purchase, then i genuinely just lol at the court they try to take that stance in.
Take what I said to heart, booth, you are fine. Gather the proof of corresponce, all of it, the proof of escrow initialization as well as the seller's purported account and related info, gather the times and dates of contact, and also the proofs of it coming in and out of your account. Then call networksolutions, explain to them what happened, and let them know you would like it solved pretty fast :]

-John Y.

 

[Furquan]

How fool he was?

First he tried to bought a 3L.com at 26K, another thing is why he don't used escrow service? I have seen people using escrow for $500 domain transfer. So no one should be blamed but only the buyer!

 

[Makpro]

After reading so many complains about netsol
I choose only godaddy ..
I recently bought a 4 letter domain that was registered with netsol but I requested authorization code from seller ,it took 8 days to get me name in godaddy account..

Always request authorization code not pustj specially for netsol deals

 

[jideofor]

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

Another greed story. You see how greed destroy people? This why I rarely feel pity for victims because you being greedy says a lot about you! It means you wanted to cheat by getting things cheaper without minding if the other man makes profit (of course you don't care if he makes profit or not) but all you care about is your own profit/gain and in the process, you get burned... and then try to play the victim card.

In some cases, if these men had gotten away with their plans such as getting the domain names cheaper than REAL price and value, they will brag to the world how they bought a 3Letter domain for cheap... I mean, shouldn't the mere fact that something is selling below market value raise red flag?

You clearly wanted to cheat the other person by underpaying them... It was this same reason I kicked a tenant out of our family property because he wanted to take advantage of us considering things were not being handled properly before my arrival... I kicked the idiot out to teach him a lesson.

Do away with greed and you will be safe and he didn't use escrow! oh lawd!

 

[xynames]

In banking I’ve seen situations where a check is deposited into the wrong account and then even after funds being transferred out and away across two different bank accounts within the same bank - two accounts in the names of two different corporations - and then from there out to an individual’s credit union account still our bank was able to snag the funds three movements away and back to us the rightful recipient of the check. So in the banking system there is cooperation even between an FDIC bank and a credit union.

Point being that moving the domain around to a different registrar or registrar(s) - does this definitely mean that it may not be moved back involuntarily to its rightful owner?

 

[BoothDomains]

Experienced??? LOL He should have a big sign on his forehead that says: NEWBIE ALERT hahahahahaha!

Now he will remember the 2018 for the rest of his life! in a BAD way of course...

Brokerage wise it has been my best year yet. Already sold over $2.5M in domains in 2018.

 

[BoothDomains]

Another greed story. You see how greed destroy people? This why I rarely feel pity for victims because you being greedy says a lot about you! It means you wanted to cheat by getting things cheaper without minding if the other man makes profit (of course you don't care if he makes profit or not) but all you care about is your own profit/gain and in the process, you get burned... and then try to play the victim card.

In some cases, if these men had gotten away with their plans such as getting the domain names cheaper than REAL price and value, they will brag to the world how they bought a 3Letter domain for cheap... I mean, shouldn't the mere fact that something is selling below market value raise red flag?

You clearly wanted to cheat the other person by underpaying them... It was this same reason I kicked a tenant out of our family property because he wanted to take advantage of us considering things were not being handled properly before my arrival... I kicked the idiot out to teach him a lesson.

Do away with greed and you will be safe and he didn't use escrow! oh lawd!

Did you read the comments? This has nothing to do with Greed.

 

[teper]

I think the entire domaining community should boycott the use of NetSol.
Every other day there is a scam happening there.