Domain Appraisal Scam is Reborn
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
The latest twist on an old scam.
Over the weekend I received three identical e-mails that show the domain name appraisal scam is alive and well.
Here’s one of the emails:
Dear sir,
we are interested to buy your domain name.COM and offer 65% of the appraised market value.
As of now we accept appraisals from one of these leading companies:
sed o.com
pozde.com
accuratedomains.comShould you already have an appraisal please forward it to us.
We appreciate your business,
Sincerely,
R. Thomas
DNR, Inc.
The previous incarnation of this scam sent you to a forum that discussed the best place to get a domain appraisal. This version takes a different angle, displaying the popular Sedo site first to make you think it is legit. Another variation of the email mentions Sedo and Moniker. The goal appears to be for you to order an appraisal through Pozde.com, since it offers the lowest price domain appraisal service of the three.
Most people would love to sell their domains for 65% of the typical domain appraisal price, which is why this email will hook many people.
When you get an email like this, just hit the “Report Spam” button in your email system.
Further Reading:
- Domain Appraisal Scam Migrates to TropicalNames.com
- The Incredible Mutating Domain Appraisal Scam
- Domain Name Appraisal Scam Now at NameOrange.com
Tags: domain appraisal scam
[...] Entries Domain Appraisal Scam is RebornTypo FAILSpecial Olympics, The R-Word, and One Embarassing Domain Name2009 Guide to Bulk Uploading [...]
Yes, I received this same email over the weekend. Strangely the domain they offered to buy was one which I had let drop. I thought perhaps I forgot to delete it from one of the domain marketplaces but that was not the case. I suppose this spammer has an old database of domainers and their holdings.
Domain Appraisal Scam is Reborn – http://tinyurl.com/chujae
I received already like 50. First they started by domains starting with zero, last time I was deleting were just by AM….so still can expect lots of spams to go
Yes, I get lots of emails about domains I no longer own. Sometimes I haven’t owned them in 5 years!
Yes, they are alive and well. I have been recieving them offering up to 75% of the appraised value. As many know in the industry, I do not get appraisals. If someone wishes to obtain one, it is up to them to get the appraisal for a said domain I maybe offering.
Good luck in your online adventures.
Yeah, I got a couple of them too. And I also got one of them for a domain I haven’t owned in years! Morons, can’t even use the correct whois info on names!
[75%]
I only got 65% offers!!
I only got 1 so far, a week or so ago. I believe the offer was actually for 85%, but then again, 85% of ah, ZERO, is still $0. And go figure, it was also on a domain that had expired! Talk about clueless, nice Whois data.
Amazing how clueless these scammers are. RT @dnnews: Domain Appraisal Scam is Reborn – http://tinyurl.com/chujae
Ya, A Guy in a Popular Domaining forum chat room asked about this. We all said it was a scam, Don’t know if he took our advise or not. Seems like more are going around.
The others Guys was from RocketMail.com which points to YahooMail.
Yeah same here, just got it over weekend as well, and almost fell for it until I decided to check and verify it online lol
Yep.Got one too.Responded with a coupla’ sentences to the effect of: Make an offer.
I responded to one last night saying I had a Sedo appraisal for $2200. I’m curious if they’ll say “we only accept pozde.com now” or something. I’ll let you know when (if) I hear back.
Andrew
Call me clueless, but when I first started out in this business?
I got screwd by one of these scamers.But only once and that was about 6 years ago.
Funny thing is, the name was appraised for $2500 when I whent for the appraisal scam. 2 years later I sold the name for a little over $6000 . So I guess the scamer that settled for the $85 appraisal screwd his self by not buying the name.
I guess you win some and lose some.
Got a couple myself over the weekend.
Actually took the time to respond to the first one; though I thought that it was likely a pitch for “pozde.”
Funny to see them send ‘em out “from” the same “person”…but using different free e-mail services.
Got one from ‘Peter Jackson’ for 70% of appraised value… I was thinking of doing the same thing as you, Andrew, let us know how it goes…!
The first batch of email I saw used Pedma.com (instead of Pozde). Some quick searching revealed Hostgator shutdown their hosting account on Pedma pretty quick. Next day the same messages are advertising Pozde.com.
Interesting twist on an old scam – I guess appraisals at Pozde are slightly cheaper than the competition? FYI: I’ve also seen a variation of this message with Sedo/Afternic/Pozde.
does anyone know how I can trade a domain name?
[...] “Richard Smith”, “Mark Brown”, and “Jeff Lewis” . There is some speculation this is an email marketing campaign by Pozde.com to gain market share in the domain [...]
OK,
This scam is like… four years old.
The REAL trick is to…
Identify who is doing it. Anyone? We can complain, warn, advise, comment, post, etc…
But it means nothing unless someone identifies who these dicwads are…
just my 2 cents
[...] scam originally sent people to Pozde.com, and later changed to [...]
[...] Pozde.com. Then TropicalNames.com. Then NameOrange. Now the latest domain name appraisal scam has moved to [...]
Hi All
I have been victim to the scam in the past week. I got the standard generic with ridiculous offer of USD 10,000. I was encouraged to get a manual appraisal done – which I did at a cost of £65. The company was DomainExplorer.org. The appraisal came back at half the original offer. Here was the response…
“Your valuation looks reasonable enough and I agree with it.
To get a fair value I ordered another valuation from different site.
Since it’s not smart to rely on one valuation only.
I’ve got the figure already. It’s very close the result of your valuation.
Of course, I expected a lower estimation
.
Anyway, now I see from different sources that your name has a good
potential.
My partners told me about ICANN rule that prohibits domain reselling before
two months from registration. I did not want to wait for two months.
Here is my solution:
I search for a buyer and get 14%-15% upon sale. I wrote about reselling in
first emails.
Of course, I don’t require exclusive rights to sell. You can try to sell at
the same time. If I find a buyer faster I get my 15%.
I’ve already bought opt-in lists to promote your domains. I invested about
$150 in these opt-in lists.
I was already contacted by an individual regarding your domain. His partner
was interested in purchasing. He asked for valuation certificate. I’ve
already sent him your appraisal link upon receiving his request.
Of course, I cannot list your names with brokers and auctions since I’m not
the owner.
I’m going to use your valuation in my promotio? Is it ok with you?
I think if you list your domains with several brokers and auctions it will
help us. Many buyers prefer to buy through auction sites or domain brokers.
Moreover, many brokers help with transfer. I’m not the owner so I can only
use my database to promote your domains and I cannot list. As the owner, you
can list your domains on http://www.eBay.com, http://www.Amazon.com,
http://www.DomainExplorer.org and http://www.Pool.com. Please don’t forget to send your
auction links.
If you list domains with DomainExplorer.org we can avoid the brokerage fee
(10% at Sedo.com). DomainExplorer does not charge commission upon sale
and offers free escrow. So we can save up to 10%-15%”.
I then made several attempts to make contact and was received with responses that were totally irrelevant to my correspondence. In the end I sent an email saying they had been ‘rumbled’. I then did get a response saying that if I continued to be abusive he would not do business!!! He then sent a further email asking for my excuses in my last mail. I have just sent him the link to this article apologising and highlighting the uncanny resemblance!
The name is Mark Greenwald
The appraisal company DomainExplorer.org
Reborn, and STILL in full swing. pity, he made a decent offer this time