Beware the “First Name” Domain Name Buyer
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
A new domain buying inquiry makes the rounds.
Michael over at Coin Network has received several domain inquiries lately with an interesting twist. The buyer says his or her first name is the domain name they want to buy. Here’s an example:
Hello,
My name is Latroy Beneters and Im interested in buying your domain www.latroy.com Are you are interested in selling it? If you are, do you have any idea how much you want for it? If you don’t, let me know and I will make you an offer instead and we can take it from there.
Many thanks for your time,
Latroy Beneters
Lest you think this may actually be a legitimate offer from a person named Latroy, Michael has received several similar e-mails. They all follow the same pattern, simply substituting a different name like this (my example; not one of Michael’s names):
Hello,
My name is Brazil Thomas and Im interested in buying your domain
www.brazil.com Are you are interested in selling it? If you are, do you have
any idea how much you want for it? If you don’t, let me know and I will make
you an offer instead and we can take it from there.Many thanks for your time,
Brazil Thomas
The e-mails come from fictitiouslastname@gmail.com.
I suspect the inquirer really wants to by the domain, but is trying to go the sympathetic/not-a-domainer route. Even so, I recommend not responding. Anyone who uses a fictitious name is not worthy doing business with.
No related posts.
I’ll keep an eye out for Nashville Jones, Bullion Andrews and Whisky Thompson
same last name,I responded asking her to make an offer and 1 week later the same email again.
Hello,
My name is Eireen Beneters and Im interested in buying your domain http://www.eireen.com Are you are interested in selling it? If you are, do you have any idea how much you want for it? If you don’t, let me know and I will make you an offer instead and we can take it from there.
Many thanks for your time,
Eireen Beneters
The same person is using at least the last names of
- Beneters
- Westvilles
- Rasmusone
Weird that they usually don’t respond to e-mails, even though they’ve taken the time to send out hundreds of the initial e-mails.
I received this exact email on December 27, 2008 from someone using Rasmusone as their last name. They claimed my LLL.com was their first name.
I think I’m going to send this letter to Donny Osmond and see if he will sell me donny.com.
Donny
[...] More here: Domain Name Wire » News » Beware the “First Name” Domain Name … [...]
Hello,
My name is Dnw* Beneters and Im interested in buying your domain DNW.com since it is my first name.
*We don’t have any vowels in our language.
lol
@ David – wouldn’t surprise me!
@ Edwin and Scammer Magnet – now that’s funny!
My name is Sex Business and I wish to purchase both my first and last names as .com domains. I would also be interested in purchasing the both names of my girlfriend, America Travel.
My name is Alotta Crapp and I wish to buy my first and last names as .com domains.
The things people do…
It’s amazing what people will do these days to get their hands on a domain they want
It’s also amazing how stupid they are. Makes me think, I hope there aren’t many people in the world as stupid as them.
Just one question. Did you receive inquiries from Alan Mercer or somebody @tampabay.rr.com?
Thanks.
I am already waiting a long time for Clariz
Golddigger contacting me to make an offer
for my domain name Clariz.com
Clariz, where are you ?
Thanks.
Jan Huts
The other scam that I’m getting often are from organizations that want me to donate a 3 letter domain to them.
They will say, we run a non-profit organization called “Don’t Know What”. We help the poor seniors in our area. We wish for you to donate your domain DNW.com .
I’m positive if someone donated a domain that domain would be sold immediately to someone else.
[...] Lest you think this may actually be a legitimate offer from a person named Latroy, Michael has received several similar e-mails. They all follow the same pattern, simply substituting a different name like this (my example; not one of Michael’s names)… More… [...]
They are actually attempts to pish out your email address. Look out for spoof emails from your registrars and hosting companies. I have seen a couple of them come thru.
I Just received the foloowing email:
From: beneters@gmail.com
Subject: Im interested in buying your domain othella.com
Hello,
My name is Othella Beneters and Im interested in buying your domain http://www.othella.com Are you are interested in selling it? If you are, do you have any idea how much you want for it? If you don’t, let me know and I will make you an offer instead and we can take it from there.
Many thanks for your time,
Othella Beneters
Looking at the quality of the first names presented here, it might just be that this person is trying to find out what his/her mediocre/weak first name domain is worth.
Well isn’t it nice to know that there are enough intelligent AND nice people left in the world that make it easier for those of us just getting the spam/scam emails from the ignorant and greedy to do a quick search and find this page thereby halting my need to even respond.
While I can appreciate the initial thought and point of view presented by hennie (and I would love to meet LLL from that sleepy little town), the fact that more than one comes from one posing as *Someone* Beneters (in my case Sharelle Beneters), I would highly doubt that there is a large family of Beneters that are interested in finding out the worth of their domain name. Something is only worth what someone is willing to pay.
My email of interest came through my registrar since I register most of mine by proxy. It was identical to the posted email content from “bob” (except for the obvious first name)
At first, I thought perhaps I was contacted by another Sharelle interested in purchasing my domain since there is another performer in CA with the name Sharelle and she owns sharelle.net even though I know that other Sharelle’s last name is not Beneters. But with that thought, I did an anywho.com search first for any last name “Beneters” in CA…interestingly enough, not one single Beneters in CA…or AK, AL, and on down through a few more states. Seems that the Beneters are quite an evasive clan – perhaps even not on our particular sphere of residence.
Waffled – HILARIOUS!
Dave – I wish to purchase your last name only!! Now that would be buying a bunch of Crap!
Thanks for all that have take their time previously to post here. It has been quite helpful.