Scammed and lost my Domain

What happened?

Put my website on sale a month ago. A buyer agreed to buy the website and send me the agreed amount through PayPal with credit card. I sent him the domain and all files after I make sure the money is in my PayPal account. He request chargeback and PayPal returned him the money.

What I have done

1. Sent an email to saying my domain was hijacked. Hoping to take it back.
2. Sent all the things I have to PayPal.
- Email history (The buyer uses 3 different emails)
- Whois screenshot showing the domain previous owner which is me, and the current owner which si the scammer. Domain registration domain, hosting server, update date is showed.
- godaddy receipt to prove that I was the one who bought the domain with my credit card.
3. Contact the buyer, of course, no reply.

What else I can do?

 

I don't have a lawyer yet. The buyer is from Virginia Beach, US.
The buyer insists PayPal is more convenience for him therefore we go for that. Now PayPal seems protect the scammer due to "unauthorize payment" through the credit card.
The deal is $9k. I hope either to get the money or get my domain back. Any advise?

 

Yeah. if he doesn't pay up, post his name here, along with the site.

 

An "unauthorized payment" sounds like the buyer was using a stolen or misappropriated credit card. In retrospect, the fact that the scammer used multiple email addresses was probably a sign that things could go wrong with the deal. S/he could also be using a fake identity for the domain registration.

You will likely, eventually, get the domain and website back. The first thing that I would do is go through the site with as many tools as possible to rid it of malware and other surprises that may be in store for you.

 

Hi jrbiz, do you mean godaddy will return me my domain? I only use one email to register this domain and I have receipt when I bought it and renew it.

 

You are going to have to prove to Godaddy that the domain was stolen from you and should be returned. You need to contact them or read their terms to discover how you go about proving the theft/scam to them. Are you also based in the U.S.? You may need to file a complaint with your local police department or perhaps your state's attorney general's office as part of this process. It will not be fast.

 

I am not from the US. During the change of registrant, godaddy sent me this:

GoDaddy has determined that the registrant has provided the necessary documentation to initiate a change of account. If for any reason this information is incorrect or you feel this change of registrant request was made in error, please contact us within 15 days at .

It is still within 15 days when I contacted them. What should I reply godaddy? Any advise???

This is what godaddy replied and it is pretty standard.


Our Undo staff has responded to your request, details of which are described below:

Support Staff Response
Thank you for your email. The changes were made by a party with account access information. As such, we cannot assist you with the changes made to the domain name.

As a registrar we are unable to make a decision between acquainted parties regarding registration of a domain name. Per ICANN’s UDRP, any dispute over the registration of a domain name must go through the court system or an ICANN-approved arbitration provider. You may access the UDRP, listed in our legal agreements, at the following link:

godaddy.com/gdshop/legal_agreements/show_doc.asp?pageid=UNIFORM%5FDOMAIN

GoDaddy will respond to any dispute resolution per Paragraph 3 of the UDRP. If you file a dispute concerning the domain name, please forward a copy of the filed legal documentation to DomainDisputes AT godaddy.com.

Please note, upon creating your account, you agreed to the Universal Terms of Service for GoDaddy. The Terms specified that it is your responsibility to protect your account's confidential information. The Terms can also be found at: godaddy.com/gdshop/agreements.asp?ci=8924

 

As I mentioned in a previous post, you are going to have to prove to Godaddy that this was stolen from you. They are saying such proof needs to come from a court (arbitration won't work because the scammer won't participate.) So you will need to report the crime and get court proceedings underway. You really need to get a lawyer on this and since it is a $9,000 theft, it is worth paying a lawyer to start the process.

 

It may be stolen paypal account / stolen credit card -> your dealing with a professional crook, it is possible they live in a different country then where you believe they live now -> they might even be your next door neighbour! I have dealt with people online that were "in the US" but later revealed to be india. Lets face it, had you believed the buyer was from india, or from russia, you probly would have insisted on escrow.

One other thing I never do is accept funds from someone that emails me via one address, but pays via another email address.

I would be at the police filing reports, and calling local lawyers. You have very little chance to get this domain back as it is. I have heard of other another company having their domain stolen, and it did cost them well over $9k to get it back in legal fees.

I know you do not want to hear it, but for domains under $1k in value, I often sell them on namecheap -> buyer still pays with paypal, or any other valid payment method direct to namecheap, and its up to namecheap to determine if it is a real buyer or a scam. I know you said the buyer insisted on using paypal, but here is a professional scammer that knows he cannot scam you if you insist on using escrow. If you force the use of escrow and lose a sale, you are not losing a sale, you have instead protected yourself from a scam.