What Is A Domain Name Appraisal Scam?
By honeybee2u
What is a domain name appraisal scam, how does it work and what can you do about it? In this hub, I’d like to share my experience of how a domain name appraisal scammer tried to make me a victim.
A domain name is like a property you own on the internet. It is a virtual property and your property address or location would be something like www.lyopia.com. .com is the domain extension and lyopia is your property address on the world wide web (www). Just like a valuer who values a physical property prior to it being bought, sold or mortaged, domain name appraisal or domain name valuation is done to value the virtual property and determine the price (or price range) before you buy or sell.
Most domain name registers and domain name brokers provide domain name appraisal services for a fee for their clients.
A domain name appraisal scam is a scam where you are contacted by an individual expressing interest in buying your domain name. The person will then ask you to have your domain name appraised and will recommend to you a certain domain name appraisal company or to have the domain name appraised manually before he will buy it. The appraiser may be themselves or another company they work together to scam. After you pay for the service, you will not hear from them again.
Example
A few days after I auctioned some domain names, I received this e-mail in my inbox:
Hello,
I noticed that you currently sell this domain. I want to buy your domain name.
Please send me your desired price in USD or euros for the domain name in the subject line.
If you have other names for sale please email me your domains with prices.
I'm looking forward to doing business with you.
Regards,
Aaron Bloomfield
Independent Domain Owner & Investor
========================================================
NOTICE - This communication may contain confidential and privileged
information that is for the sole use of the intended recipient. Any
viewing, copying or distribution of, or reliance on this message by
unintended recipients is strictly prohibited. If you have received this
message in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message
and deleting it from your computer.
========================================================
The email address of the sender is: aaron-bloomfield@domain-hosting-shop.com.
I went to my browser and typed in the website address: www.domain-hosting-shop.com and the URL was directed to another site www.webhostingclue.com
I did a WHO IS search and the results were:
www.domain-hosting-shop.com: IP# 64.202.189.170. Location: Scotsdale, U.S. Nameserver: domaincontrol.com.
www.webhostingclue: IP# 174.123.105.20. Registrant: Yin Chai. Nameserver: Centeurlife.com
This didn't look good so I responded to the sender, indicating how much I was selling my domain name for. This is the response I got:
Have you had your domain names evaluated in the past? I mean domain appraisals. Without valuation we cannot be sure in the sale price. It's very important for me in terms of reselling too.
But we must engage a valuation company with REAL manual service. So I will only accept valuations from independent sources I and my partners trust.
To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable appraisal companies. Please check this blog with suggestions from other sellers and buyers:
http://www.forum-windows-club.com/Archive/792516402.htm
Do you sell domain with a web site or just the name?
Domain without content is ok with me. Web site is not necessary.
If, for example, the valuation comes higher you can adjust your asking price accordingly. It will be fair. I also hope you can give me 12% - 15% discount.
After you send me the valuation via email (usually it takes 1-2 days to obtain it) we'll continue our negotiations.
What is your preferred payment method: Escrow.com, International wire transfer, PayPal.com or something else?
Hope we can come to an agreement fast.
Looking forward to your reply.
The link led to a questionable forum and a thread where Bloomfield and two another people talked about how the two other people were selling domain names and Bloomfield assisted them to get a manual domain name appraisal done and he paid the domain names from the two sellers. The thread was most likely posted by the scammer(s) themselves to fool domain name traders.
I responded in as follows:
to Aaron
Dear Aaron,
If you really want to buy the domain name, I'm sure you'd already done the appraisal yourself and know the price. If you really want to buy this domain name, go to SEDO or GoDaddy and buy it from there.
Do not scam me. Please, be a gentleman and remove my contact details off your list.
Thank you.
If you are buying and selling domain names, beware of the domain name appraisal scam. The letters they send out are very structured and similar like the ones above. I doubt if they will buy the domain name. All they are doing is to make you pay for an appraisal fee which you may never get.
Related Hubs
Comments
Also got the email, thanks for the warning.
Thanks Patrick and Destaek for confirming that you got the same message too.
Thanks for this, it confirmed my doubts when I received the same e-mail from mark-rosenberg@domain-hosting-shop.com
I also received a suspicious offer from mark-rosenberg@domain-hosting-shop.com
Same here! 10000 USD for my domain-name also from mark-rosenberg@domain-hosting-shop.com but www.AuthorizedAppraisal.com seems to be a part of Godaddy.
BTW thanks for posting this info!
BTW this is my answer to his mail (thanks to honeybee2u for puttig it so wel!):
Dear Aaron, Mark or is it Yin Chai
If you really want to buy the domain name, I'm sure you'd already did the appraisal yourself and know the price. If you really want to buy this domain name, go to SEDO and buy it from there.
Please, be a gentleman and remove my contact details off your list.
I also want to be rich, but in a honest way!
Thank you.
DP, Hyp & Kay, thanks for sharing your experience. May it help others not fall victim to these scam. Thanks for commenting on this hub, too.
We got several emails from mark-rosenberg@domain-hosting-shop.com
The forum he refers victims to is a complete forgery. He has several different versions for the different names he uses. But the content is always the same. The url tries to make you believe you are in the windowsclub.com forum, which is a legitimate site. But if you take a closer look this forum url is forum-windows-club.com with hyphens, which is a total fake. Man header and sidebar links lead back to the real windowsclub.com website to add to the illusion that you are in a legitimate forum. But if you inspect the fake forum posts and their information bars you will immediately notice zero interactivity. It is a static html page with hyperlinks to the scam appraisal sites.
I have a shady way to fight him back but it's not for everybody. I had a fight with Google over my adwords ads and was arguing with them for a few hours sending emails back and forth. Well the same day within hours they cancelled my adsense account for suspicious activity. Said I was sending invalid clicks. Strange that it happened the same time I was having a heated argument over running my ads in adwords and I never clicked one ad. Anyway to make a long story short I no longer have an Adsense account.
What does it have to do with this scammer you ask?
I just clicked his adsense ads about 200 times. If you have a suspended adsense account then you can do the same. They take that very seriously and will suspend his account too.
I don't suggest you do that if you have a good adense account since they track IPs and may disable you too.
But since I no longer have anything to worry about......:cool:
I'm going back to click more. Don't worry about running up his cash, google only counts a few clicks from an IP before they stop counting them as valid clicks. But they keep counting the invalid ones looking for frauduant activivity. I don't know how many sites he has but I think hurting his adsense account will hurt his pockets a lot.
Just a suggestion.
I got this email, too, as I've listed a few domains on Sedo the other day. People make typos enough, but I've yet to see any scammer in any area online ever spell properly. When I saw it was worded as "I noticed that you currently sell this domain." that was the first tip-off. Then his request also had "If you have other names for sale please email me your domains with prices.", which was a good indicator it wasn't anyone too serious.
Anything's possible, but just those two things alone made me think I should see if this was a common wording and I found this site that exposes them. I've seen stuff like this in the past (for domains I wasn't even selling) and I've yet to see anything that they didn't reply back with some information about trying to get you to buy some service, or something that was obviously a scam (so I'm surprised anyone falls for them (but that's true of all online scams and spammers, I guess enough do). Anyway, sites and stories like this sure help make it clear very quickly and I appreciate that.
Thanks for writing this post even I got the same mail from mark-rosenberg@domain-hosting-shop.
Hey, I ran across this site while researching the scam for myself. I also got the same email, and I recommend copying and pasting this response as he does with his:
Hi Yin Chai!
I'm afraid 7000 eur is much too high, I think it's worth around $20. If you send $50 to my paypal account, I'll refer you to a great valuation company.
If the valuation is more than the $20 I quoted you, I'll happily charge more, but only between 10%-15% as I'm sure it's only worth $20 and my conscience would haunt me.
Please let me know ASAP as I'd like to help you evaluate this $20 domain.
All the best
Hope none of you were taken in by this guy
Thank you all for sharing your experiences in this hub as it will assist other not to fall prey to this scam.
Amy, thanks for sharing that.
Thank you very much for your posting.
Today I informed the registrar from domain-hosting-shop.com about this fraud spam. Its www.domainsbyproxy.com and it would be nice when everybody makes also a complaint here https://www.domainsbyproxy.com/Support.aspx.
https://www.domainsbyproxy.com/Support.aspx
(no dot at the end, sorry)
Many thanks webpatrol for informing the registrar. Thanks again to everyone who posted here to expose the fraud/spam.
Here is an other link to make a complaint to FBI
Thanks honeybee2u! I got two similar emails from robert-janowitz@internet-domain-investing.com. I posted content of those 2 emails below and hope it will be useful for others not to be taken as victims.
For new domain investors, I wrote an article about online advertising business at below link. Please check it out http://www.answersforquestions.com/answersforquest
tarching
Here is the content of the first email :
Hello,
I noticed that you currently sell the domain in the subject line (correct?).
We are interested in acquiring this domain. Please respond with a desired price in the subject (in USD, Euros or UK pounds).
If you have other names for sale please email me your domain list with prices.
Regards,
Robert Janowitz
President
Web Domain Hosting Inc.
========================================================
NOTICE - This communication may contain confidential and privileged
information that is for the sole use of the intended recipient. Any
viewing, copying or distribution of, or reliance on this message by
unintended recipients is strictly prohibited. If you have received this
message in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message
and deleting it from your computer.
Here is the second email :
I'm thinking about 9,000 - 9,500 USD for your domain. What do you think
about this price range? I have 180,000 budget for 30-40 names.
But I need a professional valuation (domain appraisal) from you first.
Without a professional appraisal we both cannot be 100% sure in the final
sale price. It will minimize my investing risks.
Of course, we must engage an independent valuation company I know and trust. I don't trust automated services from companies I've never heard about.
I also need an appraisal service which verifies a possible trademark infringement. It's important for me to know that you domain has no problems
with trademarks. You should not worry about it. You don't need to pay a fee for this trademark verification service. Some good appraisers include this
option (trademark infringement verification) as a free bonus to the appraisal service.
To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable appraisal services with the trademark verification option. Please check this blog with
suggestions from other sellers and buyers:
http://www.forum-windows-club.com/Archive/02781936
If, for example, the valuation comes higher you can adjust your asking price accordingly. It will be fair.
After you send me the professional valuation via email (usually it takes 1-2days to obtain it) we'll continue our negotiations.
What is your preferred payment method: Escrow.com, International wire transfer, PayPal.com or something else?
Hope we can come to an agreement fast.
Looking forward to your reply.
I got this email:
From: domain-registration@web-name-service.com
Hello!
We are interested in purchasing domain.com. I noticed that it was for sale. Please let me know your price.
Our company is investing in web projects and web names.
If you sell more domains I will review them.
Best Regards,
Aaron Fisher
Vice President
Hosting Clue Inc.
========================================================
NOTICE - This communication may contain confidential and privileged
information that is for the sole use of the intended recipient. Any
viewing, copying or distribution of, or reliance on this message by
unintended recipients is strictly prohibited. If you have received this
message in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message
and deleting it from your computer.
========================================================
After:
I offer you 12000 usd for this. I have 215,000 budget for 15-20 domains.
In order to process with the deal I need two small things to be accomplished.
1. I need a professional evaluation (appraisal) from you.
It should be from an independent evaluation company. I don't trust automated services from companies I've never heard about.
Without a professional evaluation we both cannot be sure in the final sale price. It will minimize the investing risks.
2. I need the evaluation service with a trademark verification. It's important for us to know that you domain has no problems
with trademarks. Some evaluators include this option in the appraisalsal service.
I asked in the forum about reliable evaluation services. Please read this information:
http://www.forum-windows-club.com/Archive/68347592
If the evaluation comes higher you can change your asking price. After you send me the professional evaluation via email (usually it takes one day to obtain it) we'll be doing business.
What is your preferred payment method: Escrow.com, International wire transfer, PayPal.com or something else?
"His name" in this email is Aaron Fisher
destaek 4 months ago
Received the same e-mail me with you on the 26th.
Many thanks to initiating posts were helpful.
Thank you.