A warning to all internet domain name owners. The following is a scam that had me going for a while, and after research it seems that this same person (s) has been ding this for a while with many people falling for the scam. Initially I could not understand what the scam was, being a wary suspicious sort of guy I carefully played the game.Essentially it revolves around firstly making an enquiry about a domain name, then making an offer and asking for an independent appraisal for the value of the domain, for which he suggests two companies:http://www.allfordomains.com/
http://www.DomainMart.com
Don’t go to their site… don’t give them your clicks!
Basically after suggesting others it appears he will only accept appraisals from the above sites, and from research this is constantly the case no-matter who else is suggested leading me to believe that this is where the con comes in, I suspect he is somehow involved with the above companies, or these are fronts for a bigger fraud with any credit card details they may be in receipt of.
I did not get that far… anyway have a read of the correspondence between us below…
Email 1.
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From: DIT Solutions <hansen@disponent.com>
To: MY EMAIL ADDRESS
Subject: DOMAIN IN QUESTION.com (sent 04/10/06)
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Hello,
Did you get offers from other people already?
What is your price for the domain mentioned in the subject line?
I'm very interested in this name.
I run a software company. We develop client-server systems and databases in MS SQL and Delphi. Buying and selling domain names is not my main business. Just another way to invest money and make additional income.
Looking forward to do business with you.
Best regards,
Paul Hansen Ph.D.
CEO
DIT Solutions
EMAIL 1 My Response
Dr Hansen
Thank you for your enquiry. I would be very interested in selling this domain. Please make me an offer and we can start from there. You can make an offer by going to:
LINK TO MY SEDO ACCOUNT
This will give you the security in the negotiations and payment.
Thanks
Matt Houldsworth
Digitalquill & Quill Internet
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Message-ID: <053901c65caf$1a097f20$e4e18cd5@diamondoji4lze>
From: "Disponent Solutions" <hansen@disponent.com>
To: "Matt Houldsworth"
References: <20060410102456.10782.qmail@mx.webhuset.no>
Subject: Re: DOMAIN IN QUESTION.com (sent 04/10/06)
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I need to know the lowest price you can accept for the following three:
DOMAIN IN QUESTION.com
What is your price range: $8,000 or $10,000 or even higher?
Please send it to me via email as soon as possible.
EMAIL 2 MY RESPONSE
Hi
I was looking to accept a figure of around £6500 currently about $11,320
Thanks
Matt Houldsworth
Digitalquill & Quill Internet
EMAIL 3
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Message-ID: <085401c65cd1$e8e74a30$e4e18cd5@diamondoji4lze>
From: "Disponent Solutions" <hansen@disponent.com>
To: "Matt Houldsworth"
References: <000301c65cb3$9681ace0$524010ac@csl62>
Subject: Re: DOMAIN IN QUESTION.com (sent 04/10/06)
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How about 11,000 USD? Ok?
Do you have an appraisal certificate?
Domain name is an investment for me. In other words I'm going to sell your name later and make a profit. If I overpay I won't be able to make a profit in the future. It's very important for you and me to know the current market value of your domain.
Of course, we must be sure that you are engaging a reputable appraisal company. I heard many appraisal companies often made inaccurate appraisals.
I will only accept appraisals from independent sources I trust.
If the appraisal comes higher you can adjust your asking price accordingly.
I also hope you can give me 10% - 15% discount of the appraised value because I need a room to make profit.
After I get an appraisal from you we'll continue our negotiations.
To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable appraisal companies in a forum http://domaintalk.ourplace.com/Archive/69047.htm
How do you prefer to get paid: www.PayPal.com, www.escrow.com, check or wire?
Hope we can come to an agreement fast.
Looking forward to your reply.
EMAIL 3 MY RESPONSE
That sounds fine to me. I do not have an appraisal. Sedo where I have the domains for sale offer an appraisal service, however before I spend this money, and go ahead with that I want to ensure this would be acceptable to you, as I do not know what is involved with these appraisals as they sound very much subjective.
I would prefer wire as paypal would be costly in the percentage they take.
Thanks
Matt Houldsworth
Digitalquill & Quill Internet
EMAIL 4 – The SCAM is played!
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Message-ID: <09d601c65ce3$c87db150$e4e18cd5@diamondoji4lze>
From: "Disponent Solutions" <hansen@disponent.com>
To: "Matt Houldsworth"
References: <20060410193311.15018.qmail@mx.webhuset.no>
Subject: Re: DOMAIN IN QUESTION.com (sent 04/10/06)
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Sedo is a good broker. Unfortunately , Sedo is not acceptable as an appraiser because your names are listed with them and they are not independent. They are interested in earning 10% commission on every sale. I need appraisals from a company which is not interested in selling your domains.
I thought about Afternic, but found their service inaccurate and automated.
Moreover, here is the link about complaints to Afternic at http://www.igoldrush.com/links3.htm"Capsule Review: After lots of complaints, Afternic is no longer a recommended service. We will re-review the service in the near future."
So Afternic.com is NOT acceptable.
Reading responses from experienced sellers I was impressed by one reply:
"Many Internet users are not smart enough and popular domain brokers are using this fact to make money. They offer them cheap appraisal services. But if their customers would have something in their heads they'd understand experts could not make a professional research for $15-$20. These appraisals are made by machines. Easy money for such appraisers as http://www.Afternic.com and several other major brokers that offer cheap auto-generated appraisals. In my eyes, all services under $50-$55 are not manual and the results are generated by special scripts. I don't trust auto-generated appraisals."
The same is true for GoDaddy and SEDO. Their services are not manual. They are just collecting money using their well-known names.
I heard many appraisal companies often overpriced domains. So I cannot accept appraisal from each and every site.
To avoid mistakes I asked about reputable appraisers in a forum. Several experts recommended me AllDomains' appraisal service - http://www.allfordomains.com/appraise.asp as a fast, accurate and non-expensive manual service.
I also trust the manual appraisal service from http://www.DomainMart.com but it's very expensive - $200/hour. This service was also recommended by many people but I thought it was too expensive. But if you can afford DomainMart.com's fee it's ok with me.
EMAIL 4 My Response
I would be happy to go with allfordomains but would like to share the cost of the appraisal with you.
If you could pay £40 into my paypal account mth78@quilldevelopment.co.uk then I will then pay the rest and send you the certificate.
Thanks
Matt Houldsworth
Digitalquill & Quill Internet
EMAIL 5 – On the back foot!
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From: "Hansen" <hansen@disponent.com>
To: "Matt Houldsworth"
References: <000701c65d3e$2533dff0$524010ac@csl62>
Subject: Re: DOMAIN IN QUESTION.com (sent 04/10/06)
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No payments upfront. This is my rule. You can "forget" about appraisal aftre receiving my money.
You can always use this appraisal to promote your name or sell it to somebody else. But what will I do with the appraisal certificate if you decide to sell your name to another buyer?
EMAIL 5 MY RESPONSE – The End Game
Please make a formal, legally binding offer through SEDO
I will then fund the appraisal and forward you a copy
Thanks
Matt Houldsworth
Digitalquill
Thats where it ends fokes!
So far I have had no such offer, or any other response.
I will be following this up with the relevant authorities and abuse teams.
