Domain Name Appraisal Scam Update
Friday, September 11th, 2009
Two more scam sites added to domain name appraisal scam.
The long-running domain name appraisal scam has moved to two additional web sites: max-appraisal.com and topnameappraisals.com. Both of these sites are scams; do not purchase domain appraisals from them. The full text of the latest scam email is below:
from Domain Trade domain .trd@gmail.com
date Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 10:37 AM
subject HEATINGPAD.BIZDear Sir,
we have an interest to purchase your domain HEATINGPAD.BIZ and usually offer between 50% and 65% of the appraised value.
We accept appraisals from companies such ashttp://www.se do.com/
http://max-appraisal.com/
http://topnameappraisals.com/
If you already have an appraisal please forward it to us.
Please let us know whether you are interested. Upon review of your valuation and in case of an agreement we send payments via PayPal for amounts less than $2,000 and via Escrow.com for amounts above $2,000, as well as further instructions on how to complete the transfer of the domain name.
Thank you,
Domain Trade LLC
Note that Sedo and Escrow.com are not affiliated with the scam.
Related posts:
- Domain Appraisal Scam Migrates to TropicalNames.com
- Domain Name Appraisal Scam Now at NameOrange.com
- PDDomains.com Latest Scam Appraisal Site
Tags: domain appraisal scam
I got that email for a domain I sold one year back.
NameSaleShop.com is another newer one they have been using as well.
Andrew,
Heatingpad.biz is using Traffic Club name servers.
Since there is no more Traffic Club are the
name servers still valid, meaning are you getting properly credited for any traffic you send?
@ Patrick – yes, the servers are part of DomainSponsor now.
Thanks Jamie. I don’t know what it will take to shut these guys down. The scam is obviously working.
[...] Domain Name Wire » News » Domain Name Appraisal Scam Update – The Domain Industry’s Ne… [...]
Note that Sedo is an ethical company. I fell for the scam and since I have lots of domains at SEDO asked them and paid for an appraisal. They contacted me back and said that there is this scam going on and asked if i wanted to order the appraisal or now. I declined and they credited back my CC.
GREAT Ethical company SEDO IS. !!
I am pretty good at sussing out scams but this one got me.
Peter
I got that email in russian (for russian domain) with TOP-NAME.NET as appraisals company.
I just sent this to abuse@gmail.com:
Дорогой сэр,
Мы заинтересованы в покупке домена домена TILLMANN.RU и обычно предлагают от 50% до 65% от оценочной стоимости.
Мы принимаем оценки от таких компаний, как
http://www.sedo.com/
http://pp.top-name.net/
Если у Вас уже есть оценка пожалуйста, перешлите ее нам.
Пожалуйста, дайте нам знать, вас интересует. После рассмотрения Вашей оценке, и в случае договоренности мы отправляем платежи через PayPal на сумму менее $ 2000 и через Escrow.com на суммы свыше $ 2000, а также дальнейшие инструкции по полной передаче доменного имени.
Спасибо,
Домен Трейд LLC
Dear Sir,
we have an interest to purchase your domain TILLMANN.RU and usually offer between 50% and 65% of the appraised value.
We accept appraisals from companies such as
http://www.sedo.com/
http://pp.top-name.net/
If you already have an appraisal please forward it to us.
Please let us know whether you are interested. Upon review of your valuation and in case of an agreement we send payments via PayPal for amounts less than $2,000 and via Escrow.com for amounts above $2,000, as well as further instructions on how to complete the transfer of the domain name.
Thank you,
Domain Trade LLC
- -
AskMaxim.com provides Russian English Translation, Russian Translation, Legal Translation, Technical Translation, Technical Writing, Voice-over translation and mastering.
I too received an email from these guys.
Mine came from a
“D Lawrence ”
with the same message. Said he was from a group named “Net Real Estate Group” and said they are an investment group interested in investing in real estate and websites.
So I reply with a price for the domain they say they have an interest.
Then a day later I receive an email saying that the price was fine but that his company required a manual evaluation and goes on to say that his group only accepts manual valuations from independant appraisers and provides a link to a blog where two people are talking about not using the mainstream domain seller’s appraisal services and goes suggest the “namesaleshop.com” domain.
I knew something was fishy when the reply email goes on about how fast they want to close the sale. And that the manual appraisal takes a day or two and that as soon as I can send him back the appraisal results that he will quickly purchase the domain and goes on to ask how I would like to receive payment and lists out a few methods of possible payment.
I’ve learned over the years that when a person is in that big a rush it’s usually a scam! And sure enough I checked the “namesaleshop.com” domain and it came back with pages of scam reports.
So yes they are still active. So domain owners beware!
Thank You,
Joey B
Hi Joey B,
Many thanks for your mail. I will exclude me from selling domain to these. I got the same email you have written above.
Regards,Manmohan
————-
Can you accept XXXXXXX USD for all these names (package deal)?
Do you sell domain with a web site or just the name?
Domain without content is ok with me. Web site is not necessary.
Have you had your domain names evaluated in the past? I mean domain
appraisals. Without valuation we cannot be sure in the sale price. It’s very
important for me in terms of reselling too. But we must engage a valuation
company with REAL manual service. So I will only accept valuations from
independent sources I and my partners trust.
To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable appraisal
companies.
Please check this blog with suggestions from other sellers and buyers:
http://webdiscuss.007sites.com/Archive-07-2009/81452719.htm
If, for example, the valuation comes higher you can adjust your asking price
accordingly. It will be fair. I also hope you can give me 12% – 15%
discount.
After you send me the valuation via email (usually it takes 1-2 days to
obtain it) we’ll continue our negotiations.
What is your preferred payment method: Escrow.com, International wire
transfer, PayPal.com or something else?
Hope we can come to an agreement fast.
Looking forward to your reply.
Regards,
Gregory Halverson
CEO
BON Office Group
I got this scam email today
relating one of my old domain which I never renewed later.
[...] Dettagli su questa truffa sono disponibili presso DomainNameWire.com. [...]
@elpep
RT @DomainNameWire: @n1k0 No, that’s a scam email. It’s not from Sedo. http://bit.ly/4giXFO
I just got this email also. Where and how should I report this guy?
Thanks,
Kelsi
Kelsi – the only place you can report them is to PayPal
Also look out for “Martin Bradley” VP BON office group. Word for word the same email as listed above.
[...] scam — which seeks to get you to transfer your domain to another registrar — and the domain appraisal scam. Whois data is also used for marketing. Even large companies have used whois data for marketing in [...]
I just got it as follows:
We accept appraisals from companies such as
http://www.sedo.com/
http://top-name.net/
http://max-apprais.com/
If you already have an appraisal please forward it to us.
Please let us know whether you are interested. Upon review of your valuation and in case of an agreement we send payments via PayPal for amounts less than $2,000 and via Escrow.com for amounts above $2,000, as well as further instructions on how to complete the transfer of the domain name.
Thank you,
Domain Trade LLC
This is the email address it came from:
domain.trd@gmail.com
This is the ip address it came from:
66.249.5.210
Follow-up to my previous…after researching the ip address I came up with this info:
City Houston
Postal Code 77079
Latitude 29.775
Longitude -95.613
Area Code 281
Looks like it is in a house in the 700 block of thornbranch…anyone know this spot in Houston Texas?
How does this fool anyone? The 1st time I got this sort of email I thought it was real and wrote a long response about how any appraisal I bring to the buyer will be inherently non-trusted. I was so proud of myself and expected a response, none came and I got a similar 2nd email for a different domain and a lightbulb went off
Had the names posted on ebay and got these emails. after the second one I was realized that it was probably a scam then I searched and here I am.
From: “Bradley”
Sent: Thursday, October 08, 2009 1:13 PM
To: ****
Subject: Re: COLLEGEDATEZONE.COM (sent 10/06/09)
Sorry for delay with the response. My cousin gave birth to a child. We celebrated with our familly.
Can you accept 12,000 USD?
Do you sell domain with a web site or just the name?
Domain without content is ok with me. Web site is not necessary.
Have you had your domain names evaluated in the past? I mean domain appraisals. Without valuation we cannot be sure in the sale price. It’s very important for me in terms of reselling too. But we must engage a valuation company with REAL manual service. So I will only accept valuations from independent sources I and my partners trust.
To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable appraisal companies.
Please check this blog with suggestions from other sellers and buyers:
http://webdiscuss.007sites.com/Archive-07-2009/8152719.htm
If, for example, the valuation comes higher you can adjust your asking price accordingly. It will be fair. I also hope you can give me 12% – 15% discount.
After you send me the valuation via email (usually it takes 1-2 days to obtain it) we’ll continue our negotiations.
What is your preferred payment method: Escrow.com, International wire transfer, PayPal.com or something else?
Hope we can come to an agreement fast.
Looking forward to your reply.
—– Original Message —–
From: ****
To: realinvestllc@hotmail.com
Sent: Thursday, October 08, 2009 8:48 PM
Subject: re: COLLEGEDATEZONE.COM (sent 10/06/09)
Please just make an offer on anyone or all of these names.
COLLEGEDATEZONE.COM – Nov. 08, 2009,
COEDSHOP.COM – Nov. 17, 2009,
PHONEHER.COM – Nov. 27, 2009,
CHATS101.COM – Nov. 29, 2009,
CHATS365.COM – Nov. 29, 2009,
TOPCOMPANIONS.COM – Nov. 29, 2009,
COMPANIONCAFE.COM – Nov. 30, 2009,
WORLDCHEATERS.COM – Nov. 30, 2009
Once I get a reply i will list some more names. Thanks Bill
From: realinvestllc@hotmail.com
Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2009 6:43 AM
To: *******
Subject: COLLEGEDATEZONE.COM (sent 10/06/09)
Hello,
We are interested in the domain in the subject line of this letter. What
are your expectations in us dollars or euros?
We are in real estate but invest in web project too. We have a solid
investing budget and our company is very interested in Internet names and
web sites.
If you have other domains for sale feel free to send your list.
Looking forward to do business with you.
Regards,
Anthony Bradley
Vice President
Real Invest LLC
========================================================
NOTICE – This communication may contain confidential and privileged
information that is for the sole use of the intended recipient. Any
viewing, copying or distribution of, or reliance on this message by
unintended recipients is strictly prohibited. If you have received this
message in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message
and deleting it from your computer.
========================================================
Here is the latest from these scammers:
From:
To:
Subject: sheereloquence.com (sent 10/09/09)
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 2009 12:37:23 -0400
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.3790.4325
Message-ID:
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 09 Oct 2009 16:37:23.0438 (UTC) FILETIME=[C732F8E0:01CA48FE]
Hello,
Our company is interested in your domain name. What is your price?
We have a solid investing budget and our company is very interested in
Internet names and web sites.
If you have other domains for sale feel free to send your list.
Looking forward to do business with you.
Regards,
Pedro Vasquez
CIO (Chief Information Officer)
Bridge Technologies LLC
========================================================
NOTICE – This communication may contain confidential and privileged
information that is for the sole use of the intended recipient. Any
viewing, copying or distribution of, or reliance on this message by
unintended recipients is strictly prohibited. If you have received this
message in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message
and deleting it from your computer.
========================================================
odd. In my posting above the FROM didn’t come through. It was from bridgetechnologies at hotmail dot com. Very impressive! All legitimate companies use free disposable hotmail addresses…lol
I got two emails from “Pedro” today. I replied w/a price, and got the “do you accept $XXX… but you need an appraisal first…” nonsense.
I checked the email, noticed it was from hotmail/gmail… and it was obvious from there, especially given the “we have a solid budget” line.
My suggestion:
Let’s make their life miserable. We can’t stop them, but we can fight back. First thing that came to my mind was subscribing them to some porno newsletters and other junky digests that’ll fill up their inboxes. This will make sifting through emails from honest-guys-who-got duped a nightmare.
What say you?
Just got a email from “Pedro”.
I emaild him back but didn’t get a response.
About filling up their inboxes, they or he will just take another mail adress
Got one yesterday from:
Pedro Vasquez
CIO (Chief Information Officer)
Bridge Technologies LLC
using email: bridgetechnologies@gmx.com
Hi there
I’m so glad I found this. I thought something was fishy. I got the same email from Pedro Vasquez from Bridge Technologies LLC. I had my site up for sale on flippa.com so was not surprised to get an email regarding the sale, but I figured something was fishy. He is in a big hurry for me to validate the site through the only source he trusts http://www.namesaleshop.com I did a search and sure enough he’s a scammer. No wonder he is trying to pressure me and tells me he has to hurry because he is going on vacation. No kidding! A Vacation with the money from people he has scammed. I’m not paying for his vacation!
Thanks for posting so others can know about this scam.
Sharron
Added Note: I checked out the domain sent from Bradley which was http://webdiscuss.007sites.com/Archive-07-2009/8152719.htm
Vasquez sent me to the same site, different page with His NAME on it. I suppose they have different pages for their particular name. Very Clever. My page from him was
http://webdiscuss.007sites.com/Archive-07-2009/8163514.htm
Other than the name change to show their names as the one apparently asking for advice the rest is the same. Same advisors and NameSeller (good choice for trying to convince us he is a professional) of course shows up to let everyone know that the best practice is to use their expert validator.
Sharron
Report them to the Federal Trade Commission here https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/.
Here’s another variant, from a Brad Whitman, whitman@domainsecondhand.com
“1095. Ok
Do you sell domain with a web site or just the name?
Domain without content is ok with me. Web site is not necessary.
Have you had your domain names evaluated in the past? I mean domain appraisals. Without valuation we cannot be sure in the sale price. It’s very important for me in terms of reselling too. But we must engage a valuation company with REAL manual service. So I will only accept valuations from independent sources I and my partners trust.
To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable appraisal companies.
Please check this blog with suggestions from other sellers and buyers:
http://webdiscuss.007sites.com/Archive-07-2009/9172614.htm
If, for example, the valuation comes higher you can adjust your asking price accordingly. It will be fair. I also hope you can give me 12% – 15% discount.
After you send me the valuation via email (usually it takes 1-2 days to obtain it) we’ll continue our negotiations.
What is your preferred payment method: Escrow.com, International wire transfer, PayPal.com or something else?
Hope we can come to an agreement fast.
Looking forward to your reply.”
I got scammed but it was more out of curiosity than greed.I don’t really deal in domain names but I had a domain name I thought was pretty good so I wasn’t completely surprised to be contacted out of the blue. The appraisal price was just twenty bucks at max-apprais.com so I figured what the heck….see what it’s worth. The appraisal came in quite high (I don’t know much about it but the criteria seemed sensible and a lot of info was provided in the report) so I decided to dig deeper and also have sedo.com appraise it. I received an email from them alerting me to the scam and offering a refund but decided to play it out. So……as scam’s go I feel foolish but thankfully it’s only twenty bucks as opposed to hundreds or thousands….just curious if the “report” from max-apprais.com is total rubbish or if it has any validity at all….my guess is rubbish but I’ll follow up when my appraisal comes back from sedo.com and we’ll see how it plays out.
BEWARE OF Namesaleshop.com . they sent me email through: hamilton@domainsecondhand.com
We invest in domain names. What is your price for the domain name?
We have a solid budget but we offer reasonable offers only. We will not
overpay. If you have other domains for sale feel free to send your list.
As a seller you should provide me with an appraisal first. This is a reasonable practice.
Have you had your domain names evaluated in the past? I mean domain appraisals. Without valuation we cannot be sure in the sale price. It’s very important for me in terms of reselling too. But we must engage a valuation company with REAL manual service. So I will only accept valuations from independent sources I and my partners trust.
I’ve found not all the appraisals are accurate. So I accept real manual appraisals from trusted sources only.
I don’t trust $14-$20 services. Nobody will do a research for $14. We need a real manual service.
I researched several companies and here are the results:
I wanted to engage AccurateDomains.com as appraiser but looks like this company has very bad reputation
Just read this blog
accuratedomains.com
So I’m not going to accept this fraudulent service.
I also considered Afternic Domain Name Search: Buy, Sell, Resell, Park & Purchase Domain Names for Sale, but now it’s clear their service is not reliable enough.
Just read this:
Domain Brokers
“Capsule Review: After lots of complaints, Afternic is no longer a recommended service. We will re-review the service in the near future.”
Another complaint
Lawsuit alleges dealings in stolen domain name | Pinsent Masons LLP
I was told about manual research service from ■ DomainMart – Domain Name Consulting (Valuation, Appraisal, Portfolio Management, Investment, Selecting TLDs), Corporate Training. It costs – $200/hour.
Many experienced sellers suggested us Namesaleshop.com as a trustworth manual service. They charge per name not per hour. We’ve read only positive comments about them. And I have my own positive experience with this company and their support.
SO PEOPLE WATCH OUT, THEY ARE USING THIS TACTIC TO MAKE PEOPLE GO TO NAMESALESHOP AND CHARGE THEM MONEY, THIS IS MISLEADING AND RIP OFF AND THEY EVEN TALK BAD ABOUT WEBSITES DEALING WITH DOMAIN NAMES SINCE AGES, AS U CAN SEE.