I had wrote about this domain name apraisal email scam before, which provides a lot of info on this scam. They mainly target newly registered domain owners.
The basics, you get an email of somebody interested in your domain name, and they offer a high dollar amount for it. They then wait for you to reply. Once you reply, they try to get YOU to pay for a domain name appraisal, with NO intention of really purchasing your domain name. Do Not Order A Domain Appraisal!
They change up the scam email from time to time and use Sub Domains for links that are misleading. The newest one going around is from the email address:
campanella@eliteinvestment.net
Simply DELETE any emails from this person! They may also try to send you to this link which they try to explain "Evaluation" of a domain name. The link they are using this time is:
http://namepros.007sites.com/587419.htm
You will notice they use the popular domain name forum namepros as a Sub Domain. NamePros.com has NOTHING to do with this.
The actual domain name used in the above link is 007sites.com but by adding the sub domain namepros. before the domain may make people think it’s a NamePros.com link and it is not.
The appraisal site they try and get you to use is DomainExplorer.org
IT
Thanks for the alert, Jamie. Newbies need to be very careful in this domain market. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! Scammers are desperate to get money in this terrible economy, be alert!
Morgan Linton
Also look-out for DomainSecondHand- people run the exact same scam and attempt to get you to have your names appraised at DomainSecondHand.com.
Report any more scammers you find to DomainTheft.org.
Perchboy
What still I’m trying to determine is why do these domain appraisal e-mail people even do this?
Is their scam primarily to point you to an appraisal site from which they get a kick-back, or are they seeking to somehow low-ball the price on domains?
Jamie Zoch
@ #3 Perchboy
The scam is they show False interest in your domain name and then try and get you to PAY for a domain appraisal. They own the appraisal service!
atul
agreed, they send me the offer of $45000 for my newly registered domain Moderncruise.com and asked me to take appraisals and also stated that you could further increase the domian price after appraisals. I just ignored them completely, thinking smart about myself.
LOLz To The Wall
I received one of these emails for my domain LOLzToTheWall.com and it directed me to Sedo.com, Pedma.com AccurateDomains.com for an appraisal. Seems like a scam! Hey! Get some funny links over at LOLzToTheWall.com!
Glynn
I received the same email as above. I’m surprised that a company with SEDO’s reputation would allow their name to be used by these alledged affiliate scammers.
If you receive one of these ‘offers’ I suggest you forward it to SEDO so that they are aware of the extent of the problem and hopefully take the appropriate action.