Today I’m going to write a post that will hopefully warn everyone about scammers in the domain industry and how to not get caught up in a mess like I previously did.

Forums like namepros.com, dnforum.com and digital point forums are great sites only to name a few, that have domainers selling their domain names. You can pick up some great bargains don’t get me wrong, but something I learned the hard way, which my dad always told me in business “If something is too good to be true, then it usually is” and this was the case.

Like everywhere your going to find scammers, people who don’t give a crap about how much money they take from you or how bad a financial problem you have, their still happy to take your money. If they take your last cent then they will still sleep at night, and guess what? Paypal usually can’t and won’t do anything about it if you used them as your payment processor. They can’t because its to do with domain purchases on a third-party website.

Well I won’t keep blabbering on but I need to help my visitors not get scammed like I did as silly as I was.

I had a post on namepros looking for members to pm me their old unwanted domains and I would pay between $1-$3 for them just so I could build a new portfolio to add to my existing one(I’m addicted to buying domains, it happens in the domain industry) So a new user on namepros pm’d me 400 domains and a price tag. The price was too high for me so I made a counter offer. If I was him I would NEVER have accepted the price I gave him, but wait he did? My offer was for 300 names but he still said I could have the 400.

So here is where the quote I had learned “If something is too good to be true, then it usually is” would have played in so well for me, but being a domainer and seeing the quality of some of the domains in question and being able to make a purchase like this is a domainers dream. So of course I went for it, he sent me the domains first straight to my Godaddy account and all checked out so I paid through paypal. Now lesson number one.

#1 . If a user asks you to pay through Paypal by sending a “Gift” it is because you can not dispute a gift payment on paypal.
This meaning the scammer can take your money, and their paypal account remain still opened. There is nothing you or paypal can do about a gift being sent. So guys please remember this for future reference.

So a happy domainer I was sorting through all my newly owned domains and categorising them. Adding them to my parking account. Making mini sites on the ones I liked and of course I began checking registrants of the domains that all the tlds were taken and began to find emails for end-users. I was a happy domainer, but all was short lived.

I logged into my Godaddy account to see that all domains were on hold. Beside each domain it stated “On hold – Domain Dispute”
I had no idea what this meant, but a “dispute” is never good. So I checked Godaddys FAQ’s and searched Google but of course not one bit of information about it.

So next thing to do ring Godaddy surely they know. I waited 40 minutes on the phone and finally someone answered. I explained all to them and asked what the “On hold – Domain Dispute” tag beside my domains meant. Again waiting another ten minutes on hold while he asked his supervisors he comes back to reply, “I’m new here I haven’t seen this before sorry I can’t help” email so and so.

So I email so and so and guess what they don’t know either , he gave me the wrong email. So I worked it out myself and finally got in touch with the right people. Who say the previous registrants have disputed the previous domain transfers. My guess is that the scammer gained access to their accounts and sent me the domains from there. So now I’m stuck in a messy situation.

I began private messaging the user who sent me these domains and he said “I am no scammer I refund after you delete the thread about me being a scammer”

Of course I was not going to do that , this would give him more time to scam others and if I were to post again my word would not be believed. So in the end his account got banned and I still managed to save others who had received domains from him as I stopped them from sending the payment.

Lesson number 2:

#2. Always check the whois of the domains before you buy them. This way after the sale you can ring the previous owner to make sure all checks out. If a user is new on a forum make sure to check that user out first, and remember “If something is too good to be true, then it usually is”

So in the end I’m stuck waiting now for Godaddy to finish their investigation. I have lost all the money I sent on these domains and all and all had a bad experience with this , but at least now I can save others from making the same mistake I did.

Steps to take when buying domains on forums:

#1. Unless the user is well known never send payment upfront.

#2. “If something is too good to be true, then it usually is” make sure to check all the domains out and if there worth more than the users selling for why is he selling cheap.

#3. Never use paypal “gift” to pay. If a user asks you to use gift then I have figured out now they are more than likely a scammer.

#4. Always check the whois of the domains before purchase and keep them on file. If necessary ring the number on the whois and make sure the dealing is with him or her.

#5. Always document the on goings on a forum so if information is needed and an investigation is on going they know where you stand in the whole mess.

These are just some of the tips I can give for now and I hope that they help. If you guys have others I would be grateful if you comment below and I will add them to the post.

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