Domain Buying Scam

Read the exchange below, needless to say once I emailed the last time I never heard from them again. I am sure this type of scam has been posted before but it should be kept in the forefront so people don't get taken. Being they could not even type proper English I figured it was a scam right from the beginning.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: david-feldman@domain-hosting-shop.com
> [mailto:david-feldman@domain-hosting-shop.com]
> Sent: Friday, January 27, 2012 1:16 AM
> To:
> Subject: re: ITSAFUN.com
>
> Hello,
>
> I noticed that you currently sell this domain. I want to buy your domain
> name.
>
> Please send me your desired price in USD or euros for the domain name in
> the
> subject line.
>
> If you have other names for sale please email me your domains with prices.
>
> I'm looking forward to doing business with you.
>
> Regards,
> David Feldman
> CEO
> Domain Hosting Shop Inc.


________________________________________________________


From: "Rick"
To: <david-feldman@domain-hosting-shop.com>
Sent: Friday, January 27, 2012 10:14 PM
Subject: RE: ITSAFUN.com $5000.00




> Thanks for your interest in ITSAFUN.com, I would be asking $5000.00
>
> Rick


________________________________________________________________


-----Original Message-----
From: David Feldman [mailto:david-feldman@domain-hosting-shop.com]
Sent: Friday, January 27, 2012 12:40 PM
To: Rick
Subject: Re: ITSAFUN.com $5000.00


Dear Rick,


What do you think about 4,600 USD for your domain name?


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.forum-windows-club.com/Archive/638720475.htm


Do you sell domain with a web site or just the name?


Domain without content is ok with me. Web site is not necessary.


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.


___________________________________________________________________


David, forgive me for being cautious however it seems to me you might be just trying to get me to use an appraisal service you run as a means of making money.


If that is not the case let me know and I will get two appraisals from two different sites and we will discuss price based on an average between the two.


Or, feel free to run the appraisal from your end and send it to me. I would think if you are considering investing $4600.00 (which I would consider a fair offer) that spending $50.00 on your own appraisal would only be smart.


Thanks
Rick

 

Hey! Thanks for pointing this out. Now I know!

 

thanks...it's too bad that you had to deal with such people...

 

I got an email from this guy today. Last year I got the same email but from another sender.
Hopefully everytime I get one of these emails I search for the name in Google just to make sure it is not a scam, and I found this post.

 

How do they think of this stuff?

 

Thank you for this thread!
I also today got mail from "president" of "Domain hosting shop inc"

My question is, if you post domain for sale in "sedo.com" and also tell friends on FB, linkedin etc.. and someone buy the domain not via sedo, can there be a legal problem?
Thanks

 

That's scary. Thanks for pointing that out

 

i also got their email,deleted it straight away

 

This is just arrived today, scam for sure!!!!CEO is different this time!!

from: mark-rosenberg@domain-hosting-shop.com [TABLE="class: cf gJ"]
[TR="class: acZ"]
[TD="class: gF gK"][TABLE="class: cf ix"]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[TD="class: gH"]10:17 AM (10 hours ago)
[/TD]
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[/TABLE]

Hello,

I noticed that you currently sell this domain. I want to buy your domain name.

Please send me your desired price in USD or euros for the domain name in the subject line.

If you have other names for sale please email me your domains with prices.

I'm looking forward to doing business with you.

Regards,

Mark Rosenberg

President

Domain Hosting Shop Inc.

 

Thanks Op for this thread!

I also got a similar email today:

Replied to him with the price and a portfolio link. Only out of curiosity Googled the name of the company and ended up in this thread.

Also interestingly [SIZE=-1]domain-hosting-shop.com[/SIZE] redirects to webhostingclue.com. Are they possibly affiliated with the scam?

 

I had exactly the same email last week from Aaron Bloomberg. They are probably exactly the same people and the same scam. I've read about it on the website called Domains in Africa. The bloke is an 'Affiliate Dog' and get the commission for making you to buy the appraisal from the particular website. The one he pushed with me was AuthorizedAppraisals.com that to make it more believable processes the payments via SWREG related to Digital River (both would appear to be a genuine company).
The scam obviously keep changes the names as the webmasters keep working them out, but they keep preying on the domain sellers excited that someone would like to buy their domain. Serious buyer, truly interested would buy the domain appraisal themselves to know how to negotiate the deal. It's a nonsense to approach someone offering a deal, and then demand from them more investment.
The one that email me, was hiding behind the email from the domain registered only a week or two ago as private on DomainsbyProxy. They were cheeky to have their domain redirected to Bluehost too make them more believable.

 

I just got the same scam mail from mark-rosenberg at domain-hosting-shop dot com - what a bunch of scumbags! I sent back an email saying I wasn't going to pay for any appraisals. He replied with a "This is common practice" blah-blah-blah. Here was my reply:

"If you are serious about buying the domain, then feel free to pay for the appraisals; let me know what they say.

If I ever get to the point where I locate an appraiser with verified credentials and references I can check, I will go that route. But being 1 week into what is commonly a 6 month process? Not going to go there right now, I have too many other things to do.

You never answered my question: just who are you?

If I was selling a house or a car, I would not make a move without knowing who the buyer is. You have my phone and address (it's listed on whois); if you send someone by with $14,000.00 in cash I'll gladly sign over the domain (I'll verify the bills are genuine first though).

I won't play games. Show me your cards or fold. Whiskey costs money."

It's a two-common-word domain I've owned and kept hosted since 1997; has over 400 organic backlinks. I've seen hokey two-word domains sell for $25,000 and up. I don't need an appraiser to tell me it's worth a lot - I've seen the sales posted on reliable sites.

I'm 56 years old: Worked full-time since I was 16 and had my own $1 million/year business by the age of 27. I know sleazy businesses when I see them. IMHO, the whole domain sales industry is sleazy. I have it on Sedo right now but I'm going to take a hard look at Godaddy's offerings: at least I know they are a legitimate company.

 

I have a shady way to fight him back but it's not for everybody. I had a fight with Google over my adwords ads and was arguing with them for a few hours sending emails back and forth. Well the same day within hours they cancelled my adsense account for suspicious activity. Said I was sending invalid clicks. Strange that it happened the same time I was having a heated argument over running my ads in adwords and I never clicked one ad. Anyway to make a long story short I no longer have an Adsense account.

What does it have to do with this scammer you ask?

I just clicked his adsense ads about 200 times. If you have a suspended adsense account then you can do the same. They take that very seriously and will suspend his account too.
I don't suggest you do that if you have a good adense account since they track IPs and may disable you too.

But since I no longer have anything to worry about......
I'm going back to click more. Don't worry about running up his cash, google only counts a few clicks from an IP before they stop counting them as valid clicks. But they keep counting the invalid ones looking for frauduant activivity. I don't know how many sites he has but I think hurting his adsense account will hurt his pockets a lot.

Just a suggestion.

 

DatingPort, that's some justified evil

I reported him to GoDaddy, through supportcenter.godaddy.com/Abuse/SpamReport.aspx since all his/her domains are registered with them. I would like to ask everybody who he/she tried to scam to do that. Here are the scammer's three domains:

domain-hosting-shop.com
webhostingclue.com
authorizedappraisal.com

And also maybe, to give a link to GoDaddy to this thread.

 

I also sent this to Sedo since they don't seem to want to do anything about him.

Please close my account. Every time I update a domain that domain appraisal scammer sends me another email. It only happens when I update a domain so I'm going to assume he has inside information and your security is compromised. I already deleted all my domains from your listings and want my account closed.

Thank you

There's other places to list domains and Sedo seems to be a common thread with this guy.

 

I don't think this can be stopped. Once you buy a domain without privacy, you are in for these scam emails.

 

Very hard to stop... But still possible

 

thanks for the warning. I received a couple of emails in the past for this but never replied because I didnt want to sell it. At least I know now not to