Expired domain emails sure are fishy.

I hadn’t paid much attention to Intrust Domains until Epik announced last week that it had acquired the company. [See update below]

But it just so happens that I’ve been bombarded by email from Intrust over the past week, so I took a deeper look into its marketing.

The emails come from “Alexander”, who’s informing me that a domain name similar to one I own (actually, the domain is one I just let expire myself) will be auctioned off soon.

Alexander invites me to “express interest” in the domain name so they can try to acquire it.

I wasn’t sure why he sent me four separate emails about this opportunity, but I think I’ve figured it out. Alexander appears to be moving a lot, so he may not have received any responses to his earlier emails.

In his first email he lists a P.O. Box in Colorado Springs. In the second email he’s moved to Franklin, Tennessee. The very next day he’s moved again. He’s still in Franklin but has a new street address (read: mailbox). By the fourth email he had moved across the country to Montecito, CA.

Making matters worse, his email address changes every time! Poor Alexander wouldn’t receive a response to his emails even if I tried.

(Hopefully these practices change now that Epik owns the company.)

[Update: Epik Founder Rob Monster says the email marketing activities that have been marketed under the label of Intrust Domains were not included in the acquisition; it was only the registrar itself. See his comments below.]