Tags: godaddy

May 4th, 2008

IHYM.COM ( ihym .com ) IBJF.COM ( ibjf .com ) Stolen! Godaddy PayPal Do Nothing!

Written by: Sterling
Published on May 4th, 2008 @ 09:12:33 am , using 1977 words, 927 views

Posted in Domains

Stolen:

IHYM.COM ( ihym .com )
IBJF.COM ( ibjf .com )

If you see these names for sale from anyone other than me, do not buy them, they are STOLEN.

I have been in this business for 11 years. I had heard about it. I have read about it. But yet, I never thought it would happen to me. I got scammed out of 2 4 letter domains on the DP forum.

I had alot of names for sale. 2 of them were IHYM.com and IBJF.com. Apparently it starts with a hacked account on this forum. This guy hacks a better known forum member and uses his account to send you a offer. Well, I accepted his offer. He at first said that since I had a lower trader rating, I should push the names first. Well, I told him I wasn't crazy, you send the funds first.

Well, having a hacked (assuming) PayPal account also, he sends the funds. Well, after I confirm the payment, just like a ebay auction, I push the names to him. I send him a thank you and ask him to make sure he got them and I would leave feedback. Well, 5 minutes later, I log back into PayPal and the funds are on hold. It says it was unauthorized.

Here we go, I PM him and he says he is on the phone with PayPal, wait 5 minutes. That was it. My names were gone. And after spending 24 hours Googling sh**, I find out there are hundreds of stolen domains. They all have 2 things in common, PayPal and Godaddy.

Well, PayPal can't do much, the account the money was sent from was more than likly hacked. But when you have proof of what has happend, and you know this has and is happening over and over again, you have to take responsibility Godaddy! It is time to call them out. This is ridiciolous.

Just like the Registerfly mess, if we make a loud enough noise, they will hear us.

As for my names, I would love to have them back, but my options are very limited. I could file a domain dispute for $1300+. I could file a report with that .gov link. I don't know, I am sick.

But maybe by posting this here, Google will put it up to the top when he tries to sell these names which will make thiem useless until I get them back.

And before everyone replies scolding me, I know. I shoulda seen it coming. I don't need that. We need some kind of new policies for when something like this happens. Don't just give the default answer of Escrow. Who is gonna do escrow everytime in our business?

Before I go, I am gonna post this idiot's information he used to pull this off:

He then sent the funds using this account:

rwne17925@blueyonder.co.uk

And his Godaddy info he sent was:

Robert Watson
address: 2661 Horner Street
city: Akron
state: ohio
zip:44308
phone: 3309682415
email: angeluniversity22@gmail.com

The user name at DigitalPoint Forums that he used was:

compules

Here is how it works (Quoted from another domain forum) This is what happend to me :

Recent events have made it very evident that both PayPal and GoDaddy support and protect internet scamming, identity theft, and fraudulent account activities. PayPal and GoDaddy are giants in their respective market segments and domainers have been using both for years. Domainers trusted their domain sales and transfers in the hands of these two corporations, but I do not think that trend will continue much longer.

Recently there have been a lot of scammers going on to forums and initiating sales and purchases of LLLL.com (4 letter .com domain names.) What happens is the scammer either creates a new username at a forum or he somehow hacks into a preexisting username and emulates another user. The scammer then sends out private messages (PM) to users that have posted their domains for sale and offers to buy them. Once negotiations have ended and a price has been established by both the seller and scammer, the scammer sends payment. Currently these scammers only pay via PayPal and only buy names that are registered at GoDaddy; of course, there is a reason for that.

The scammer sends payment via a STOLEN or HACKED PayPal account, assuming the identity of that person. Once the seller receives/confirms payment via PayPal he or she transfers the domains registered at GoDaddy to the Scammer. In order to complete the transfer of the domain the buyer (scammer) must provide the following information: Name, Complete Address, Country, Phone, and Email corresponding to the GoDaddy account where the domains will be transferred to. Usually, the account information is manipulated to match the identical information as the stolen PayPal account, preventing suspicion. Now the seller transfers the domains to the scammers GoDaddy account. Once the domains have been transferred a confirmation PM is sent and the scammer of course says everything is perfect.

The seller goes to sleep happy and the scammer is grinning ear to ear because within minutes the scammer initiates a Chargeback on the stolen PayPal account. A chargeback occurs when fraudulent activity or unauthorized purchases have occurred and PayPal immediately reclaims the funds, without question. After the chargeback is completed the funds in the sellers PayPal account are $0.00. At this point the Scammer has the seller’s domains and the seller has neither the money for the domains nor the domains themselves.

This is where both PayPal and GoDaddy facilitate and condone the scammer’s getaway. The seller calls PayPal and asks,” What happened to my money?” PayPal responds with, “We are sorry sir but the funds you received for the following transaction were fraudulently acquired and the TRUE owner of the account denies initiating the transaction.”

The seller then asks, “Well, do I get my money back? What about my domains can I get those back?”

PayPal responds with, “Actually sir because domains are an INTANGIBLE item they do not comply with the Seller Protection Agreement and are not covered by PayPal, only TANGIBLE items are covered against charge backs. We recommend contacting your registrar to see if they can help you.”

Seller says, “Ok, so the TRUE owner of the account gets his money back, the scammer gets my domains and I am left with neither! I don’t understand how this is possible. Can you provide me with information that you uncover about the scammer so I can contact him or her?”

PayPal representative, “Unfortunately there is nothing we can do for you on our end. Any information that we find can only be obtained by SUBPEONA. The only thing you can do is take legal action against the perpetrator.” Seller says something along the line of, “This is unethical and you will hear from my lawyers, I will never use your services again,” and then hangs up.

So that’s step one in the Scammer’s getaway. PayPal is concealing the identity of the scammer; they can easily track him or her down via a reverse IP lookup to see who initiated the transaction. They protect the TRUE owner of the account and the thief but they do not protect the seller? The seller is the one that has to pay the 3.2% fees, for what, what are those fees going towards if they cannot even protect you. If a transaction is for intangible goods then you should not be FORCED to pay their fees, there is no point.

Here comes step 2 in this disappearing act. By now the seller is feeling agitated but still feels that their is light at the end of the GoDaddy tunnel. The seller checks the WhoIs.sc information for the stolen domains and sees that they are still registered to the THIEF and remain in the GoDaddy system. Surely it would be easy to reverse the transfer; it should not be that hard, you have the GoDaddy email along with all the other contact info to which the domains were transferred to…WRONG! You decide to contact GoDaddy and see what they can do. After explaining your situation to the representative they respond with this, “Unfortunately, GoDaddy does not get involved in third party disputes. This is why we have TDNAM, so you can sell your domains safely.”

TDNAM is an online auction site OWNED by GoDaddy wherein the seller must pay a yearly fee of $6.95 and Escrow fees.

Seller says, “WHAT! These domains were stolen from me and they are in your system. They were just transferred hours ago and I can’t get them back?” GoDaddy, “I’m sorry sir, but since these domains were not transferred via TDNAM we have no responsibility to the buyer or the seller. Once the account change is initiated and accepted we are not involved.” You go back and forth with the GoDaddy representative but get nowhere, there is nothing you can do, and you just got SCAMMED.

The only way to get your domains back is by legal action or reporting the problem to ICAAN.org. Or by the grace of God you find out who the scammer is and harass them to the point of forfeiture. Other than that you are shi* out of luck and there is nothing to be done.

That is how I and countless other sellers got scammed and all we can do is sit here holding the bag. We thought we were safe, but both of these companies take no initiative to solve our problems, despite the crimes involved. It is almost as if they are aiding and abeding criminals. The scammers know every angle, they choose GoDaddy and PayPal because they know that they do not pursue or amend fraudulent transfers and charge backs. The next step is to file a class action lawsuit against PayPal and GoDaddy . All I ask is that anyone that has had this occurrence please email me at benvardag@aol.***, I will compile a list of victims and their situations.

Courtesy of BGMV at another forum

Here is the reply that Godaddy.com gives to everyone that has been ripped off:

Dear Sterling,

Thank you for your email. It appears you entered into a third party agreement regarding the domain name and initiated the account change. As such, we are not able to become involved in this dispute.

Any further dispute over the ownership of the domain name will need to be sent either to the registrant, through an ICANN-approved arbitration provider (http://www.icann.org/dndr/udrp/approved-providers.htm) or the court system. Please be assured that if we receive notice of a pending legal dispute we will lock the name so that it cannot be transferred or otherwise modified. Likewise, when we receive a decision we will update the name accordingly. If you file a dispute concerning the domain, please forward a copy to domaindisputes@godaddy.com.

If you find that you are unable to contact the registrant because information in the Whois database is invalid, such as containing a disconnected telephone number or an undeliverable mailing address, please send a detailed email to invalidwhois@godaddy.com. At that time we may attempt to contact our customer and request that they update the information.

Thank you,

Undo Department

I don't know about you, but I know someone somewhere can do something. This is bullshit!

Related Links:

Just got scammed $650 on DP

I Just Got Took For 2 Domains By User Compules

GoDaddy Stolen Domain Names -- Report Them Here.

Now Taking Offers iHYM(.)com iBJF(.)com

Theft threads at Domain State

How to avoid stolen domains

Warning: In Regards to Stolen Domains

WARNING: LLLL.com Scammer targetting Namepros members

Domain hackers Alert.

I am SICK and TIRED of these "stolen domains"