The reserve price has been met, which means that we will definitely sell the domain name to the highest bidder (no flake!)

Here are some details about the 3MW.com auction on Sedo.com that you might want to know:

• Reserve met
• Auction ends May 14th 2010 (05:09 PM EST)
• Valued by estibot.com at $1,300
• Domain age is 5.67 years
• Registered with Go Daddy

Click here to visit the Sedo auction page.

Happy bidding!

• $7.49 .com domains and manual renewals: Use Go Daddy coupon code ZINE10, GOO3, or OK9.
• 25% discount on orders of $100+: Use Go Daddy coupon code OK25.
• 30% discount when you buy any .COM domain: Use Go Daddy coupon code OK30.
• $12.99 SSL certificates: Use Go Daddy coupon code GOOSSL, OKSSL, or ZINESSL.
• Hosting promo code – 20% off hosting:  Use Go Daddy coupon code OK20H, ZINE20H1, or GOO20H.
• 10% off any size order: Use Go Daddy coupon code OK7, GOO1, or ZINE8.
• $5 off on on any order of $30 or more: Use Go Daddy promo code GOO2 or ZINE9.
• 20% off on any order of $50 or more: Use Go Daddy coupon code OK8.

These Go Daddy promo codes have been verified to be valid and working as of this writing. If you tried any of these codes and they didn’t work, let me know so I can remove them from the list. Thanks!

Your request for an Auth Code has been received and your information will be validated for security reasons. If your request is approved, you will receive your Auth Code by email in 4-5 days.

Well, WTF. I used to be able to retrieve the authorization code immediately as soon as I click the Obtain Auth Code button. Now I have to wait five days?

I thought they changed this already. A few years ago, you had to call Register.com to get the authorization code. I called them about this issue once and suggested that they make it easier for people obtain the authorization code. Maybe other domain registrants complained as well because after a few months, they updated their Website and made the authorization code available immediately, just like other domain registrars. But now they’ve changed the process of retrieving the authorization code again.

Times must indeed be tough on Register.com that they’re resorting to desperate measures to hold on to customers.

I am transferring my domain name from Register.com to GoDaddy.com because the renewal cost is too expensive — $35 per year. I can get them for $7.49 with GoDaddy.com

And with this new process of obtaining the authorization code that sucks, I will continue transferring my domain names out of Register.com. Even if I have to wait for five days.

For this, I think Register.com sucks. They’re too expensive and their service isn’t exactly the best in the industry. If you’re a big business and you bring them lots of revenue by buying other services like web hosting, they might treat you better. But if you’re only buying domain names from them, they probably won’t be as nice to you because you’re not bringing them enough cash.

Got a “Register.com Sucks” story? Share it by leaving  a message below.

YourLyrics.com is great domain name for a music site. Lots of potential! You could set up a profitable lyrics Web site (like the popular www.azlyrics.com), a music portal, a community for songwriters, etc. Other major extensions (net, org, info) are already taken.

To place your bid, click the following link:

http://www.sedo.com/auction/auction_detail.php?language=e&auction_id=58428&tracked=&partnerid=14460&language=e

The scammer, with user name possible49sm on the DigitaPoint forums, contacted me via private message and asked for my list of domain names for sale. He had 70 iTrader ratings, so I assumed that he was a reputable member, reputable enough for me to accept payment via Paypal. He even negotiated with me for a lower price (they say scammers don’t usually negotiate).

Everything was perfect until I received his payment. It seemed strange that his Paypal email address was erinleawearne@hotmail.com (I was pretty sure that he was a guy), while the Gmail account that he was using to chat with me was umutbalonlari@gmail.com. The guy had a couple of links on his forum signature at DP, so I checked out the WHOIS record for those domains — they say he’s from Jordan. The Paypal account that he used, however, showed that the owner was from Australia.

Still, I did not jump into a conclusion. I replied to the Paypal payment notification (from erinleawearne@hotmail.com) and politely asked that he reply with his Go Daddy customer number and email address so I could transfer the domains. He also told him on Gtalk that I need him to reply to my email first so I can push the domains. What do you know? He said he did not receive my email (Of course! You don’t have access to the Paypal owner’s email account; you only have access to her Paypal account). I even resent my email message, in case he was telling the truth. Still, he hadn’t received my email.

I already knew he was a scammer. After about five more minutes, I received an email from Paypal with the following message:

~~~~~~~~~

Dear Domibot,

A review of recent transactions indicates that you might have received a
payment that the PayPal account holder did not authorize.

To protect you from problematic transactions, we sometimes request
additional information about PayPal payments.

We need more information about this transaction. Please log in to your
PayPal account, click the “Resolution Center”tab, and provide more
information by 6/3/2009.

We recommend that you not ship the item until our investigation is
complete. If you’ve already shipped the item, please log in and let us know
where you shipped it.

We have placed a temporary hold on the funds until we complete our
investigation.

If you need to provide information by fax, click and print a cover sheet:
https://www.paypal.com/tw/cgi-bin/?cmd=_complaint_resolve_tracking_fax&cid=PP-713-787-213.

Please fax proof of shipment or proof of refund to 65-6510-4597.
Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,
PayPal

~~~~~~~~~

So there you go — I was able to survive another scam attempt. Remember, when dealing with Paypal, be very, very careful. Here are a few tips:

• Verify that the person you’re dealing with indeed owns the Paypal account. One way to do this would be to send him an email at his Paypal email address (and pray that he hasn’t hacked the Paypal owner’s email address as well).
  
• When in serious doubt, ask for a number that you can call to verify his identify. The more hoops you make him jump, the more likely you’ll flush him out if he’s a scammer. Most genuine buyers will understand if you’re taking precautions. Scammers get impatient most of the time when you make them jump hoops.
• If you want a payment method that does not charge back, use Moneybookers. Scammers love Paypal because it looks like Paypal accounts can easily be hacked. And if a scammer pays you with a hacked Paypal account, the real owner can just claim that it was an unauthorized payment and Paypal will get the money back from you. You have no chance of winning the dispute because domain names are intangible goods and Paypal does not protect sellers of intangible goods.
• If the amount involved is substantial, use the escrow service that escrow.com provides. The escrow fee is at least $25 but you can split this with the buyer.

If you learned something from this post, please let me know by leaving a comment. Have a scam-free day!

I thought it was weird so I clicked the Domains > My Domains link to check if my domains were okay. I got the following message:

Bad User name or Password
Failed to get site processor. Please try again.

Bad User name or Password - 3
Loading results

No results returned by query.

I was afraid someone hacked into my account. I decided to call Enom, even though I knew it wasn’t going to be toll-free (I don’t live in the US). Calling Enom Support requires your personal identification number (PIN), which can be found on your Enom Account Info page. When the answering machine prompted me for my PIN, I entered it. What do you know? The phone system didn’t recognize it.

I had no other choice but to settle for the slower alternative — I fired off a support ticket. After an hour or so, I received a reply from one of their support guys:

Any customer that has a symbol in their password appears to get the error message while logging in. Please try resetting your account password to not include any symbol.

That symbol is my password may be the only reason that’s preventing my account from being hacked. Now Enom wants me to change my password to something less secure? It didn’t sound like I had a choice, so I tried resetting my password. Guess what? The system couldn’t reset my password because it couldn’t find my account on its database.

This is starting to sound like the chicken-or-egg causality dilemma. So I fired off another support ticket. I’m still waiting for a reply.

Is anyone else experiencing this issue?

Here’s the phishing email text:

Dear Customer,

This notification is generated automatically as a service to you.

Because of unusual number of invalid login attempts on you account, we had to believe that, their might be some security problem on you account. So we have decided to put an extra verification process to ensure your identity and your account security.
Please click on sign in to domain servers {link removed} to continue to the verification process and ensure your account security. It is all about your security. Thank you. and visit the customer service section.

please contact us within 1 days.

If you need to address this matter, or in any way need further assistance or technical support, call us any time at (480) 505-8877 or email us at support@godaddy.com. We appreciate your business!

Sincerely,
GoDaddy.com DomainAlert team

How did I know that it was a phishing email? There were a few indicators:

• Grammatical errors in the email message (“on you account”, “their might be some security problem on you account”, etc.). These scammers really need to invest on hiring better copywriters or, at least, proofreaders.
• Link to the Go Daddy verification site resembles Go Daddy’s Web site (www.godaddy.com), but it’s not. If you receive a similar email, just hover your mouse pointer on the verification link and you’ll see that the URL is not www.godaddy.com.

The “verification page” will prompt you for your Go Daddy user name and password. Once you enter your user name and password on the page, the phisher or scammer will use it to log in to your account and transfer your domains to his account.

If you receive a similar email, delete it immediately. Do not even click the link as visiting the fake verification page will install a cookie on your computer — something that the phisher or scammer might use later on to gather information about you.

Here’s a screen shot of the phishing email, so you’ll have an idea of how deceiving and official-looking it may seem. Just be careful, use a hard-to-guess password, and change it periodically.

At first, I didn’t mind because I thought that these guys are just trying to make some money. And then more and more “offers” started arriving for other domain names that I own. And it started getting annoying.

Here’s the email that they send:

We are selling the domain name {your-domain-name}.com.  Since you own {your-domain-name}.org if you would also like the more desirable .com we are making it available.  The cost is $99.97.  That includes a year of registration and transfer of ownership to you.  To purchase or to learn more go to:

http://www.{theirwebsite}.com/checkout.php?domain={your-domain-name}.com

If you pass on this opportunity someone else could purchase this domain and it may not be available again. For questions contact us or go to:

http://www.{theirwebsite}.com/faq.html

If you are not interested there is no need to respond.  We will not contact you again regarding this domain.

Almost a hundred bucks for a domain name that they registered for $7.00. They use the email address domains@dcinchq.com to send this spam offer.

So what do you do?

• If you don’t have time in your hands, just mark the message as spam and add the sender to your blocked list.
• If you are bored and you want some entertainment, write back to them and ask for information that answer bots are unlikely to answer. For example, ask for details like how to pay, how long is the registration for, how will the domain name be transferred, how you can be assured that they will indeed transfer the domain name, etc. Ask short questions but demand long answers.  The objective is to waste their time and have fun. You won’t be wasting yours because you’re bored and have nothing better to do, remember?

I used to do this to Nigerian 419 scammers, back when I had nothing else to do. I’d actually get them to send me documents like scanned copies of their passport, driver’s license, etc. as proof that they are legitimate individuals that I can “do business with”. Sure, those documents were probably fake, but that’s not the point. The point is they spent some time to prepare those documents. And for what? N-O-T-H-I-N-G. I was hoping that f they get nothing from their scamming efforts, they’d do something else, something honest.

I think the same thing goes for these spam offers. If you have time to kill, have fun with these spammers!

violetunderground.com (PR5)
dvlmfdonations.org (PR5)
guzman-guzmanlawoffice.com (PR5)

These were scammed from me on v7n.com by user manhattan122, who later contacted me as user -d-. He admitted being the same person and to scamming me last night and last month. You can see how he gloats in the private message that he sent to me on V7n.

The scammer uses the email address ldarushl@yahoo.com and the Paypal account legia_cwks@yahoo.com. If you get offers to buy any of these domain names, please DO NOT buy them. I am in the process of trying to recover them.

It looks like this blog is becoming a domain scam registry. Let’s hope that this doesn’t happen again to me or you. Ciao!

MEDIARECALLDIGITAL.COM
BIKERSBIKEPLACE.COM
EMBAVENEMEX.COM
IMSSURVEY.ORG
SOCAL-ICON.COM
GNUCHILE.ORG
WOCN2008.ORG
REDPOG.COM
MARCUSESTES.COM
COMETOGETHERFOUNDATION.ORG

I have posted the details on DigitalPoint.com where the scammers operate.

If someone offers to sell these stolen domains to you, please do not buy them. Thanks!