Whois Contacts / Caution

[cashman]

Have you ever been contacted via your 'whois' details registerd to your domain, (email address, phone number etc) as some people use real details with their registration. Have any of you been approached for sale of your domain, legal inquiries, spamming or any other reasons?

I am just interested as I have had one or two contacts from people in the past, one of which turned out to be a scam. The scam was this 'person' offering to buy my domain for $50,000 which straight away sounded way too good to be true. I figure that when my domain was registered, this person who contacted me had seen a list of new domain resgistrations via one of the online register services and had scanned everyone for open Whois info, in turn contacting me which eventuated to 'requiring to appraise' my domain through the 'buyers' personal service. In short, it was a scam to get registered domainers (like you and me) exctited and bullied into agreeing to a scam appraisal service all under the ruse of a quick purhase of your newley registered domain.

something to look out for anyway.

more thoughts and expriences regarding contacts from whois info would be appreciated.

Cashman

 

[glaxxon]

In general people contact the owners through whois info. But mostly these are domainers or brokers or people who a general idea about domains. So its important to keep your whois open for easy contact. Though there is also another option of simply putting a notice on the site that says that the site is for sale. Second method is definitely better but then you cant park the name.

 

[xman]

cashman anyone that registered a domain the contact info should be accurate. Any registrant suppose to put their real info.

As far as appraisal scam you mentioned those are old.

If someone offered me a good amount for a domain (knowing that such domain isn't really worh that much) and wants me to go appraise that's a SCAM.

 

[Spade]

I have received several legitimate inquiries from people using my whois contact, and many of those have in turn, become sales. Yes, from time to time you will get scammers - however if you perform due diligence, you'll be just fine.

 

[[email protected]]

common sense is required.
scammers and spammers priority is to get the $s in their pocket
prospect buyer/seller approach and focus is only domain

if one can identify that, it saves time and money ( after exchanging 3-4 mails and realizing the other party to be fraud and in some cases, getting it appraised by)

caution always when dealing with unknown , isnt it?

---------- Post added at 07:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:49 PM ----------

also to add, if you do get free whois privacy, do take it, in some cases, even if u have to spend some money

i ensure my most precious assets are protected (domain lock & whois privacy).

 

[NetOctave]

Appraisal scam is one of the most common scams around domaining. If someone is so naive to easily fall prey to these scams, there is no use even if the person hides his whois contact. Scams are sure to follow him.

 

[mrjohn]

I get so much WHOIS spam it's astonishing. Then again, I don't just own domains, I manage many for clients, too. So, by volume . . .

 

[cashman]

Thanks

Thanks for your replies. Fortunately when I was approached by one of these appraisal scammers, I didn't fall for it.. other people may not be so lucky (or wise) so hopefully people read this thread and add 'appraisal scams' to the 'beware' list that resides in the back of all domainer minds.

Cashman

 

[SpareDomains]

I use an email address for whois that I don't use for anything else and 99% of it is garbage so just gets deleted with zero response. Most of my big sales inquiries come direct from the parked page inquiry link or developed site inquiry link as most end users don't know how to to use whois to find the info. Most inquires made from whois are domainers so I ignore most as they are not my target market. Few sales from whois contact but most are garbage.

 

[infosec3]

I have received several emails from similar scammers. I responded to the first one, but told the scammer his proposal of having my domain appraised was absurd and that I would not consider it. He or she insisted, but I stopped responding. Now, I do not respond at all to any such proposals.