Domain auction scam is the new way i just discovered that people used to scam some online entreprenuers by asking them to do some certification of the domain before they can buy it from you.
below is the mail i recieved to know that its a scam and also with my findings.
My client can pay you a price in $20,000 – $40,000 range.
The exact figure will depend on the appraisal results (see below). Before we go further we need only one thing from you:
My client is a professional investor and he buys certified domains only.
If your domain has been certified, please email me the certificate and
we will proceed with the sale. If you don’t have a certificate it’s not a
problem. I may send you a link where you can obtain it. Please don’t
worry. It takes 1-2 minutes to order it. The results will be sent to you
within 24 hours. Then you send me the certificate via email and we’ll
proceed with the sale
The certification includes the following:
1. Independent valuation of the market price. It will show your domain
name is not overpriced. On the other hand if the valuation comes higher
we will increase the price accordingly.
2. Trademark infringement verification. It proves your domain has no trademark problems.
3. Verification of the owner. It proves you are a legitimate owner and
your domain has no any obligations and restrictions. I’m sure that you
are a legitimate owner so it will be only a formality.
As a middleman I’m very interested in a good valuation part of this
certificate because my client pays me a commission (10-15% of the sale
price) on every domain purchase. So I’m not interested in a low price
too.
You can read about the certificate agency at http://www.answers-google.org/answers/threadview/id/184826.html (“Domain Broker” is my nickname).
The process is very easy:
1. Go to the certificate agency site and order a certificate. Just
submit your domains and let them know you have a buyer with $20,000
offer and need a valuation near this value. After several hours you will
get the results. If the price in your certificate comes higher we will
increase our offer accordingly.
2. Then send these results via email and we’ll proceed with the deal.
If you are new to the certification process, I can help you with the step by step instructions.
With the above mail sent to me you might have not notice some errors if i have not quote them out for you.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE MAIL SENT?
- The first thing i noticed from the mail is that he use a very assured statement that it will only take them nothing more than 24 hours to do and if he did not own the domain for scam how will he tell you that he is very sure of that company.
- The Google answer domain he used is not genuine at all. Google use a dot com TLD not any other not like dot net or dot org
- He will ask you to do it from a particular domain that they can earn from and later tell you that the client is no more interested in the deal
WHAT IS THE WAY OUT?
- Don’t sell any domain or website outside the genuine domain auction site like Godaddy.com Sedo.com or flippa.com
- Don’t make transaction with anyone without making a real and tough search about the program you want to venture into.
That experience is the experience i gathered while i was trying to sell withaffilite.com on flippa
