I was contacted by Mike aka Makeawave on NamePros.com and DNF.com. He had his domain name 6a.net stolen. The user name Nascar on NamePros is the one who did it. He also has an account at DNF under the user id BigNameLover.
The scammer used a common tactic.
Pay with a stolen (hacked) Paypal.com account. Once the domain is transfered, do a charge back a short time later. This is done even with a hacked Paypal account so the funds get replaced and the account doesn’t look that fishy.
The hacked Paypal account was a Yahoo account with the email address adriannemcginnis@yahoo.com .
Once the scammer has the domain, it is normally flipped (sold) quickly and often times pretty cheap.
The scammer did this and had sold it on Sedo during a GreatDomains.com auction but it appears the buyer from Sedo didn’t pay.
The whois has changed twice, but it is thought the scammer still has the domain name. The first name used in whois right after the transfer of the domain was:
Dariush Omidi no34-east 34 ST-3rd Blv estanbol, stanbul 34674 Turkey. Another name used was dariush khajegiri. More names and email address:
ANADOLU MAH
Email: ldomainl@gmail.com
Payment Sent to: jjdomainjj@gmail.com
You can also see a thread on DNF.com that has more info and other scams by this same person.
Mike has contacted Sedo and Afternic and the domain was removed from both. Currently the domain is still listed for sale on DomainCow.net .
If you can help Mike out, please do. You can contact him via NamePros.com or DNF.com or simply leave a comment here as he will be watching this post.
If you decide to accept Paypal payment for a domain sale, you better really trust the buyer!!! I would not advise anybody accepting payment via Paypal for any digital product as history has shown that Paypal is more about helping the Buyer then the Seller! If a charge back is done, it is Very Likely you will never see your domain name again or the money.
Registrars pretty much have there hands tied when it comes to these type of things as it becomes a "He said, She said" kind of deal. It has happened that registrars do get involved and recover the domain, but it doesn’t happen all that often.
Try to Always use and escrow service for domain name transactions! Sedo even offers a 3% escrow option for lower dollar sales. (bottom of the page)
Tia Wood
I received an email too from him. Has anyone tried contacting Adam Dicker of DNF yet?
Leonard Britt
You would think Paypal would have addressed this scam by now. Really sad because Paypal transactions avoid those 10% commissions we pay to the marketplaces. Better a 10% commission than giving your domain away for free…
Ross
Mike had contacted me as well. Had not done the research yet to give advice to him. Hopefully we can all band together and figure the best way for him to handle this situation.
Jamie Zoch
@Tia,
Mike had contacted Adam, which he stated to deal with the registrar (I thought he did work at Godaddy). The scammers account BigNameLover has been closed at DNF.
Jamie Zoch
@Leonard,
I spoke with Paypal several times to have them at least consider putting in a better option for digital items to protect the seller better, but you know how that goes. Paypal use to make four figures in fees from me each year, but not any more. It’s Mass Pay or no pay from me via Paypal unless it’s coming from a company I trust.
Bulls
My policy is ..I never do business with anybody outside USA/Canada.
PLAIN AND SIMPLY.
I want to meet the buyer in person.
Leonard Britt
One thought which came to mind on this topic is that the domain marketplaces pay via Paypal (if that is the option you select). If there were ever a disagreement over parking revenues, a domain purchase, advertising service, etc…
Pubdomains
It would be good if you could also tell us more about the process to recover stolen domains. Does ICANN have any say in establishing ownership or to prevent recurrence of such fraud in future. After all they charge 20c for each domain registered and must have to be accountable for something, instead of acting as tax collector only!!!
Stephen Douglas
This is very alarming.
I think Paypal and the registrars together should at least provide enough data for the holding registrar to make a judgement on whether the domain was obtained/sold/transferred legitimately.
This is a sad but very good article, Jamie. The more domainers are informed, the less this will happen.
Even more alarming is that the domain is registered at GoDaddy. This registrar, the largest by far of all registrars, has the resources and means to police transfers and purchases within their systems. With all the users they have, what would bad press about them not responding to scam investigations by their customers, or to investigate customers who are suspected of scamming? If Godaddy doesn’t investigate complaints like this, then they are partners in the crime.
Current whois for “6a.net” as I write:
Registrant:
Jehad Almustafa
PO Box 5265
Fujairah, 12345
United Arab Emirates
Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: 6A.NET
Created on: 24-Jan-06
Expires on: 24-Jan-10
Last Updated on: 12-May-09
Administrative Contact:
Almustafa, Jehad jmgulf@yahoo.com
PO Box 5265
Fujairah, 12345
United Arab Emirates
+971.1650602 Fax –
Technical Contact:
Almustafa, Jehad jmgulf@yahoo.com
PO Box 5265
Fujairah, 12345
United Arab Emirates
+971.1650602 Fax –
Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.SPEEDYDNS.NET
NS2.SPEEDYDNS.NET
What is odd is that the “CREATION DATE” on the whois is listed as the year 2006. Huh? I’m sure this domain was created long before 2006.
Hope this works out well for the owner/seller. We all need to feel comfortable in knowing that selling a domain name through well-known banking services such as paypal will protect us.
John
There is options available for cheap escrows, even with a fixed fee. Putting trust in Paypal is not a smart move.
Jamie Zoch
@Stephen
If Godaddy really wanted to assist, I’m sure they easily could but I can see why they may want to stay out of any issue similar to this. Proof is a hard thing to prove but with a little help from Paypal, GD should have the proof they need. As for the creation date.. The domain was purchased in an Expired auction in 2006 at Pool.com from what I can tell.
Jamie Zoch
@Pubdomains,
I wish there was a process to recover a stolen domain… ICANN doesn’t help, Internic.net seems to do little, Paypal is more for protecting the buyer then the seller. Your best shot is providing enough proof to the domains Registrar to have the it transferred back.
LazyDomaining
Paypal(+CC) is a strict no if the buyer has no solid reputation. Escrow should be strictly opted for all transactions above $500 especially when the buyer has no solid reputation and wants to pay using Paypal. Hope Mike gets his name back.