- Impact
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Been getting a lot of emails lately offering to help me "acquire" a certain domain ... here's the catch: this guy doesn't OWN any of these domains. The last several emails have been for domains that are still in MY name and pending delete! Apparently, this person catches the drop and sells the domain back at a profitable markup.
Here's the email (details deleted):
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Priority Domain Availability Notice for [domain . tld ]:
In the next few days, [domain . tld ] will be listed for sale. Since you are a previous owner, we thought you might be interested in acquiring [domain . tld ].
You can confirm your interest in the domain [domain . tld ] by filling out the form here: [link deleted]
After we receive a confirmation that you are interested in the domain [domain . tld ], our sales staff will be in touch with you promptly to make arrangements.
We look forward to hearing back from you.
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Sender is using the name John Timmers and the company name InTrust Domains. The "from" domain is "intrustway.biz", but there are several variations of the "intrust" name in the send path, including "intrustsolutions.com" and "intrustsystemsonline.com". There's a blog post online reporting similar emails received from "bestintrust.us"
Is it a "scam"? He does use the wording "acquire" and doesn't claim to own the domains. Still, it's misleading and the constant barrage of these emails is obnoxious. Nothing wrong with selling drops either, but if you get one of these messages and you DIDN'T intend to drop the domain, you may want to check with your registrar before handing over any cash to this guy.*
* or of course if you can't retrieve it, just backorder/catch it yourself - I worded it the way I did for the benefit of non-domainers who may come across this post
Here's the email (details deleted):
-------------------------------------------
Priority Domain Availability Notice for [domain . tld ]:
In the next few days, [domain . tld ] will be listed for sale. Since you are a previous owner, we thought you might be interested in acquiring [domain . tld ].
You can confirm your interest in the domain [domain . tld ] by filling out the form here: [link deleted]
After we receive a confirmation that you are interested in the domain [domain . tld ], our sales staff will be in touch with you promptly to make arrangements.
We look forward to hearing back from you.
----------------
Sender is using the name John Timmers and the company name InTrust Domains. The "from" domain is "intrustway.biz", but there are several variations of the "intrust" name in the send path, including "intrustsolutions.com" and "intrustsystemsonline.com". There's a blog post online reporting similar emails received from "bestintrust.us"
Is it a "scam"? He does use the wording "acquire" and doesn't claim to own the domains. Still, it's misleading and the constant barrage of these emails is obnoxious. Nothing wrong with selling drops either, but if you get one of these messages and you DIDN'T intend to drop the domain, you may want to check with your registrar before handing over any cash to this guy.*
* or of course if you can't retrieve it, just backorder/catch it yourself - I worded it the way I did for the benefit of non-domainers who may come across this post
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