I wanted to pass along an email I received from EscrowDNS.com who is very good at detecting scams early.
"Recently there has been a rash of domain name scams, mostly involving Godaddy domain names. The scammer will act as both the buyer or seller in these scams and also will spoof emails which look as if they are coming from different escrow services. Normally when they are acting as the buyer they will create an escrow transaction at EscrowDNS, Escrow.com, Moniker and most of the other escrow sites.
They will then immediately email the seller asking him/her to push the domain name into the "escrow holding account", this is almost always done with Godaddy domain names. The scammer makes these emails look as if they came from the escrow service. PLEASE remember that all domain name escrow services will NOT ask you to push or transfer a domain name until AFTER the buyer’s payment is received.
You should also login to your account and confirm in your transaction status that the payment has been secured! Several people have fallen victim to these scammers so please scrutinize all buyers or sellers that you are doing business with. At EscrowDNS we are now calling all new members to verify a working phone number, we have caught several scammers this way.
This scammer is also hacking into Godaddy accounts (unknown if it is directly or using a phishing technique), we recommend that you login to Godaddy and change your password and security questions. Also confirm that all domain names are still in your account. Godaddy has been very slow reacting to these scams and in most cases they cannot do anything for you."
These attempts appear to be putting a focus on LLL.com’s but I’m sure does not limit to only these type of domains. It is always best to never act on an email to "push a domain". You should always login at the service you are using and do things based on what it says IN your account, not based on an email. It is always a very wise choice to use an escrow service for domain name transactions for the safety and security of your domain and the funds coming in.
Never use a "free email" as the email account at a domain name registrar and never repeat your passwords at "other registrars". Be sure to change your passwords often.
