discuss There are some people list millions of other people's domain on Afternic

[70ym]

https://www.afternic.com/gdntc1
gdntc1

https://www.afternic.com/aliyuming
aliyuming

These people list about millions of other people's domain on afternic.
When I try to list my domain, it will show that my domain already list by these people. And I need to spend 10 minutes to send them an email and wait for a week if I want to list my domain.

 

[LoveCatchyDomains]

Wow! If that's true, that's a huge security breach!

This means that I can sell any domain name registered on godaddy for $20 on afternic and immediately seize the ownership.

My question has continued to be: is there potentially an issue with security breaches along with these domain front running activities?

Just now, I found that there is fake listing of my name (kisser.xyz) in DAN.
Currently it's in Auction @ Sav, and 6 days left. Before putting it in auction I had removed it from Dan. So, the below FAKER has listed MY NAME in his account.

That is really not cool. The domain name is, mind you, but not what the spurious seller is doing. Shameful, isn't it!

 

[Namingfy]

That is really not cool. The domain name is, mind you, but not what the spurious seller is doing. Shameful, isn't it!

I called out the faker in Twitter. And he has at least one more fake listing of a name owned by Twitter @TheDomainPrince

https://twitter.com/x/status/1619026713324949509

Don't know how many fake entries does he/she have?!

 

[LoveCatchyDomains]

Just now, I found that there is fake listing of my name (kisser.xyz) in DAN.
Currently it's in Auction @ Sav, and 6 days left. Before putting it in auction I had removed it from Dan. So, the below FAKER has listed MY NAME in his account.

Faker DAN Account:
https://dan.com/domain-seller/domain-seller-5ae9b41d-5324-4cfb-a75f-ca333dbc51be

Archived Proof:
https://archive.is/RdfNT


Faker's listing of MY NAME Kisser.xyz:
https://dan.com/domain-seller/domai...erms=kisser.xyz&results=50&order_by=relevance

Archived Proof:
https://archive.is/YOBW6

 

[sg08]

I have around 20 names already listed from third parties on Afternic. They must add TXT confirmation ASAP.

 

[Namingfy]

My question has continued to be: is there potentially an issue with security breaches along with these domain front running activities?

There are 2 angles:

1. If the platform (afternic/dan) does permit scandal/scam by letting someone list a name, without verification, then it's not called security issue. It's more of operational and ethical flaw.

2. If the platform doesn't permit scandal/scam, still, if someone is able to hack, then it's called 'security loop hole'.

 

[LoveCatchyDomains]

I called out the faker in Twitter. And he has at least one more fake listing of Twitter @TheDomainPrince

https://twitter.com/x/status/1619026713324949509

Don't know how many fake entries does he/she have?!

There are two names I currently have at auction at Sav that are now being listed by someone at Afternic!

Afternic needs to get a grip on reality and deal with this problem!

DoctorSmiley.net and Startlovingme.com are being listed by someone else on Afternic with a $20 minimum bid.

Thanks, everyone, especially @Namingfy, for raising the alarm. I'm floored that this appears to be a very real, ongoing problem that Afternic needs to immediately address.

 

[Namingfy]

I have around 20 names already listed from third parties on Afternic. They must add TXT confirmation ASAP.

You're not the first one to ask for 'TXT Verification'. If Afternic ever had intention to do it, they would have done it.
Afternic has not done it so far, let alone they would ASAP.

The funny thing is that it's not even complicated stuff to check TXT records. Much newer and smaller platforms like Daaz is providing TXT record verification... why not Afternic?!

 

[Namingfy]

Thanks, everyone, especially @Namingfy, for raising the alarm. I'm floored that this appears to be a very real, on going problem that Afternic needs to immediately address.

Again, in my point of view, Afternic is NOT going to address it, how much ever everyone demands, unless their revenue starts declining and approaching zero.

The domain industry needs serious and ethical people who really understand domainers' needs and address their concerns. Not just the domainers (sellers) - but also the buyers. End of the day, if the listing is fake, the name can't be delivered. Why would a buyer had to pay and beg for refund, later? Aren't we wasting everyone's time/money/resource here?!

 

[LoveCatchyDomains]

The domain industry needs serious and ethical people who really understand domainers' needs and address their concerns. Not just the domainers (sellers) - but also the buyers. End of the day, if the listing is fake, the name can't be delivered. Why would a buyer had to pay and beg for refund, later? Aren't we wasting everyone's time/money/resource here?!

This is perhaps a new twist to the domain front running scheme. The creative individuals involved might be monitoring auctions for a quick turn around profit with $0 invested up front.

If someone makes an offer on the fraudulent listing at Afternic, the spurious buyer could try to then acquire the domain at the Sav auction. Since auctions tend not to have much visibility, it's certainly possible they could get the domain for a much lower price. Sav has immediate transfer with their auctions, so even without FT activated, they would be promptly be able to turn around and sell it to the unsuspecting buyer at Afternic.

Clever, if that's what is going on. Not good business practice, though, and something I truly hope Afternic and Dan are not tacitly allowing to happen.

 

[70ym]

Millions? Isn't that the entire marketplace I see 10 each which probably were ones that owned them before.

The actual number should be three hundred thousand to one million. Just exaggerate.

 

[LoveCatchyDomains]

The actual number should be three hundred thousand to one million. Just exaggerate.

Who knows, given their claim of having over 23 million listings.

Out of curiousity, were you doing any marketplace auctions recently?

It's curious that two Namepros members, both doing auctions at Sav this week, would find these spurious listings. For myself, I had had issues in the past only with DAN--at least to my knowledge. Within a week of listing at Sav auctions for the first time, these spurious listings of my domains are now are being found at Afternic.

If there are other NP members here using other non GD-auction sites, and not using AN, they may want to check for these duplicitous listings .

 

[Namingfy]

Clever, if that's what is going on. Not good business practice, though, and something I truly hope Afternic and Dan are not tacitly allowing to happen.

I don't hope so. It's not something NEW that Afternic/Dan doesn't know about it. They're in business for decades. They wouldn't let THEIR ASSET/MONEY drain without their knowledge. But, they're OK if someone else' asset is being transferred via 'Fast transfer' without even checking the ownership.

 

[MasterOfMyDomains]

Well what do you know. I started looking to see if any of my recent expiries were listed on afternic, and sure enough there is my name in redemption, make offer $20 minimum. The first one i searched
Its not on Dan
Why is godaddy and its other marketplace allowing people to list names they dont own @James Iles ?

 

[LoveCatchyDomains]

I have around 20 names already listed from third parties on Afternic. They must add TXT confirmation ASAP.

Was there anything about those names that stands out, where it might explain why these scurrilous sellers may have chosen them? And were they all "make offer" with a $20 minimum? Do you have any auctions going on starting recently? And did you also check Dan as well, or had you recently listed with them?

Well what do you know. I started looking to see if any of my recent expiries were listed on afternic, and sure enough there is my name in redemption, make offer $20 minimum. The first one i searched
Its not on Dan
Why is godaddy and its other marketplace allowing people to list names they dont own @James Iles ?

This, my fellow Namepros members, is the Master Sleuth! He has really heightened my awareness of this recurrent marketplace problem with false listings. His persistence in rechecking has helped me understand how pervasive AND recurrent the issue appears to be.

So, folks, you may want to check your accounts. Do you want to start losing sales and even potential leads for other sales, due to these scoundrels?

 

[DomainNature]

The tactic is simple.
Add all possible domains to Afternic, if the domains get sold the real owner receives email to fast approve MLS, by mistake owner can do it, fake seller gets sale.
Afternic is doing nothing to solve this, who knows maybe they themselves are involved into this scheme.
I got already 2 such requests for 2 domains which I dropcatch and I m not stupid to process the move.
I think for such careless behavior people can get in contact with authorities to complain, they list domains without verification and authorization from real owners.

 

[Namingfy]

The tactic is simple.
Add all possible domains to Afternic, if the domains get sold the real owner receives email to fast approve MLS, by mistake owner can do it, fake seller gets sale.
Afternic is doing nothing to solve this, who knows maybe they themselves are involved into this scheme.
I got already 2 such requests for 2 domains which I dropcatch and I m not stupid to process the move.

You were able to reject fast approve, just because you HAD NOT APPROVED IN THE PAST.

But, in case of SAV, if you had opted for 'FAST TRANSFER', then you can NOT OPT OUT.
And if you remove your afternic listing, just because you don't want to sell at all, and if a scammer adds it and it gets it sold, then you'll lose the name, since you've already given approval in SAV.

@Sav.com Can you help us understand why there is no way to remove the fast transfer approval once opted in? Maybe I'm wrong here, as I might not have been able to locate the remove link. If that's the case can you guide us in locating the link in Sav account.

 

[DomainNature]

You were able to reject fast approve, just because you HAD NOT APPROVED IN THE PAST.

But, in case of SAV, if you had opted for 'FAST TRANSFER', then you can NOT OPT OUT.
And if you remove your afternic listing, just because you don't want to sell at all, and if a scammer adds it and it gets sold, then you'll lose the name, since you've already given approval in SAV.

@sav-com

No, I had to contact SAV to cancel this requests, most interesting they did not implement such function for user to reject SEDO/Afternic MLS , which is weird.
I like SAV but to not introduce more security is bad for a registrar.

 

[Namingfy]

No, I had to contact SAV to cancel this requests, most interesting they did not implement such function for user to reject SEDO/Afternic MLS , which is weird.
I like SAV but to not introduce more security is bad for a registrar.

The point is if we can't keep the domain asset safer with a registrar what's point in saving $1 p.a.?
I would rather pay $1 extra to protect my $8.88 investment.
I have stopped accepting FAST TRANSFER in SAV account. As you've pointed out, will contact SAV to remove all my previous FAST TRANSFER approvals.

 

[DomainNature]

The point is if we can't keep the domain asset safer with a registrar what's point in saving $1 p.a.?
I would rather pay $1 extra to protect my $8.88 investment.
I have stopped accepting FAST TRANSFER in SAV account. As you've pointed out, will contact SAV to remove all my previous FAST TRANSFER approvals.

When you have more than 1000 COM domains you can SAVe allot.

 

[Namingfy]

When you have more than 1000 COM domains you can SAVe allot.

And IF you lose 1 DOMAIN that's worth $1000, you lose whatever you saved in 1 year.
And IF you lose 2 DOMAINs you'll end up with loss.

And most of the times, our domain is worth more than $1000.

 

[LoveCatchyDomains]

As an update, the fake listing tally is up to four now for me, and Afternic still has not removed the two that I knew about.

So, even more fake Afternic listings are becoming apparent. And, so far, there is no response to my request to have them immediately removed. No wonder that this problem is not being resolved in general. If there is a slow response to even when such fraudulent activities are found, that's not good.

Do they even have a quality management section? I used to really like this company, and still believe they offer a useful platform. Maybe their fraudulent listings issue is getting out of control recently, with all the integrations and other changes?

 

[DomainNature]

Also something that I did not see to be pointed out, they raised the fees to 25% if not using Afternic NS, this means that it will force the owners to point NS to Afternic and probably help to get rid of fake listings, but this will not help to prevent anyone from listing other peoples domains which do not point to Afternic NS.

 

[Dane]

So is the answer to not use Fast Transfer? Just don't approve the Fast Transfer request?

 

[LoveCatchyDomains]

So is the answer to not use Fast Transfer? Just don't approve the Fast Transfer request?

The hard part about this is that it remains unclear what really is going on. Ultimately, I elected to remove all the domains from the registrar having problems recurrently with FT showing up despite removing it.

Trust is important with a selling platform. If fraudulent listings are a continued, obvious problem, are there other issues we don't know about? Are there security flaws elsewhere in their system?

For myself, as much as I really would like to use their platform, these issues really make me hesitant.

 

[Dane]

The hard part about this is that it remains unclear what really is going on. Ultimately, I elected to remove all the domains from the registrar having problems recurrently with FT showing up despite removing it.

Trust is important with a selling platform. If fraudulent listings are a continued, obvious problem, are there other issues we don't know about? Are there security flaws elsewhere in their system?

For myself, as much as I really would like to use their platform, these issues really make me hesitant.

How much difference do you think it really makes if a name is part of the Afternic "Premium" network (with Fast Transfer on) vs the "regular" Afternic network (without fast transfer)?