Email Scams

Email scams have been with us for a while, and continue to evolve. I have various domain names that I have purchased throughout the years, and use various ones for email. I have not advertised these domains for sale. The other day I started to receive interesting emails from a self proclaimed “domain investor”. Is this another email scam? Obviously he is attempting to generate income from an unsuspecting domain name seller. You be the judge.

The following is our email correspondence regarding TWO of my domains. This individual was apparently trying to push http://www.ResearchAppraisals.com. One of the sources he uses is http://www.domainexplorer.org/Archive-09-2009/8157463.htm to try to fool me into using a service he obviously has interest in.

Long story short, if you receive an email from anyone@thedomaininvestors.com, delete it…it’s a scam.

Email scam received Subject:BarnBags.com

Hello,

We buy and sell domains and web pr®jects. What is your price for the domain?
If you have other domains for sale feel free to send your list.
Looking forward to do business with you.
Regards,

Robert Paulson
President
Online Investment & Consulting LLC

My Email reply

I figure what does it hurt to ask for an offer, I should have trashed this email or sent it to my spam box. Any ways, I reply with:
What are you offering?

Email scammer makes a too good to be true offer

Can you accept 5,000 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://www.domainexplorer.org/Archive-09-2009/8157463.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.

So, is your Email offer 5,000 or not?

Mr. Paulson,

You contacted me. I am not going to pay someone to valuate my domains. Let me know if your offer is 5,000 USD as stated in your email.

Thank you,

Brian

No, that last email was to sucker you into my scam…just use the service I am pushing and I will buy.

As a seller you should provide me with an appraisal first. This is a reasonable practice.
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

http://accuratedomains.blogspot.com/

So I’m not going to accept this fraudulent service.

I also considered www.Afternic.com, but now it’s clear their service is not reliable enough.
Just read this:

http://www.igoldrush.com/links3.htm

“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

http://www.out-law.com/page-1630

I was told about manual research service from http://www.DomainMart.com. It costs – $200/hour.

Many experienced sellers suggested us http://www.ResearchAppraisals.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.

Hey now…why should I utilize a unsolicited service for something I wasn’t doing to begin with?

That’s just it YOU CONTACTED ME! Either make an offer, or move on pushing this stupid service.

Another Email scam attempt from the same person Subject:247-talk.com

About half way through the previous correspondence, I began receiving the SAME EXACT Emails for another one of my domains. I approached these emails a little differently this time.

Sure I will sell for 5,000!

OK, I will sell to you for $5,000. I will accept payment through paypal.

OK but first I have to push my Email scam to you, my unsuspecting victim.

Brian,

It’s a standard practice to show independent valuation to buyers/resellers.
Nobody will do business without it. I’m a businessman and have no intention
of changing rules which help both parties to avoid additional risks.

Of course, investors never take into account auto-generated valuations. So
manual valuation is a “must” too.

I read the following information about appraisals at:

http://www.domainexplorer.org/Archive-09-2009/8157463.htm

Thank you for understanding. I’m looking forward to do business with you

My Email Reply

Oh, I thought you had just made an offer.

I did…but that was just a Email scam to entice you to use the service I’m pushing!

It’s a big risk to proceed without professional valuation. I already spoke
to industry experts and they prohibited me to do business without
valuation..

Without manual valuation nobody will buy. You’ll sit on your domain for
years in this case, paying renewal fees to your registrar. Just think about
it. So sooner or later, you’ll have to obtain an appraisal. Why waste time
now?

As a seller, you can use a valuation certificate to sell names to other
buyers. I cannot do the same because I don’t keep control over your domain.

I’m still interested in your domain. Hope you’ll change your position. I
simply don’t want to take additional risks.

Thank you for understanding. I’m looking forward to do business with you.

Great! If I use this service I am sure to receive 5,000 US, right? Yea, and I won the lotto too!

Since you contacted me, by the way, I have not listed my domains for sale…feel free to have them valuated yourself if interested.

Oh yea…I will be using your emails in a blog of mine warning of Email/Internet Scams.

Thank you,

Brian

Conclusion of the Email scams I received.

I haven’t heard from the scammer again, I even began investigating the domains he was using as well as the ones he was pushing, but alas…I began to invest too much time so instead I will just rant about it in a post and hopefully anyone else receiving his email will not fall prey to using a service on the hopes of getting thousands of dollars.

I have been approached by legitimate businesses in the past and they make offers up front, without a need for appraisals. They know what they want and what they are willing to pay.

Have you been contacted by a Email scammer? What were they trying to push? Let us know!

Tagged as: email scams

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