Dont fall for this scam

37 replies
Just got hit with this one yesterday and he ALMOST got me.

Got an email from a guy saying he wanted to purchase my parked domain. He asked how much i wanted. I told him.. and played it high. He said it was a fair price. We exchanged a few more emails. He then said he would not buy it unless i first had it appraised.

He recommended a sites to have it appraised and i checked it out. I was so excited to make $3k that i didn't even use my brain. I did a whois on the appraisal domain he sent me to and it was..... registered to him lol.

So here is how it would of played out. I pay the site $75 for the appraisal. I then send him the appraisal and he would say he is no longer interested.

I replied saying he was a scamer, never got a reply.

Just giving this advice out so you don't fall for it.
#fall #scam
  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Eviltomato View Post

    I replied saying he was a scamer, never got a reply.
    It's perhaps not such a good idea to reply to the appraisal scam, or anything similar. "Delete and ignore" and/or "report spam and ignore" is a better policy. By replying, you've confirmed that that's a real, live email address and that it's "manned". Which can lead to more spam when your address is sold on ... just saying.
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    • Profile picture of the author mrjosco
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      It's perhaps not such a good idea to reply to the appraisal scam, or anything similar. "Delete and ignore" and/or "report spam and ignore" is a better policy. By replying, you've confirmed that that's a real, live email address and that it's "manned". Which can lead to more spam when your address is sold on ... just saying.
      Well, based on the story it was too late for that. He had already exchanged a few emails with the individual.

      But he can still report it!
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  • Profile picture of the author jamesrich1
    Damn that guy is good... Seriously, scammers are getting smarter. A couple of years ago I was looking for another job and I applied to a call center position. Well, they sent me a long detailed reply showing interest in me. They had one requirement before setting up the first interview. They said that they needed to run a quick credit report. I had never had one of these done but I heard about companies requiring their employees to have their credit run.

    I was so excited that they showed interest so fast so I went and did the credit check and then sent a reply. I never heard back from them again. I started thinking about it a couple of days later and then did some research to see if the website I went to had a affiliate program. They did and I realize I was the latest sucker in this well thought out scheme.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Eviltomato View Post

    Just got hit with this one yesterday and he ALMOST got me.

    Got an email from a guy saying he wanted to purchase my parked domain. He asked how much i wanted. I told him.. and played it high. He said it was a fair price. We exchanged a few more emails. He then said he would not buy it unless i first had it appraised.
    The appraisal scam has been around for ages. Glad you didn't fall for it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Wendy Maki
    Originally Posted by Eviltomato View Post

    Just got hit with this one yesterday and he ALMOST got me.

    Got an email from a guy saying he wanted to purchase my parked domain. He asked how much i wanted. I told him.. and played it high. He said it was a fair price. We exchanged a few more emails. He then said he would not buy it unless i first had it appraised.

    He recommended a sites to have it appraised and i checked it out. I was so excited to make $3k that i didn't even use my brain. I did a whois on the appraisal domain he sent me to and it was..... registered to him lol.

    So here is how it would of played out. I pay the site $75 for the appraisal. I then send him the appraisal and he would say he is no longer interested.

    I replied saying he was a scamer, never got a reply.

    Just giving this advice out so you don't fall for it.

    Congrats. You did EXACTLY what you should have done... your "due diligence."

    Thank you for reminding everyone about this sort of thing and to be careful.

    This one is a pretty long-standing bait and switch type thing when it comes to domains. I nearly had one a couple of years ago, but fortunately I'd already heard of this, so when I told the person to go to Sedo and put in an offer where I had the domain listed, never heard from again Ha ha.

    If you own domains, someone CAN legitimately inquire about buying it, and so you don't want to just spam filter them all. In fact, a lot of domain broker types do contain domain owners directly. So... you just want to be careful.

    My own personal feeling about this is... if you don't have an idea of what the value of my domain is, why are you wanting it? If you want the appraisal, pay for it yourself... but that's just me Eliminates the issue.

    There's another domain thing to watch out for that I've been getting a lot. I'm getting a lot of "offers" to sell me junk domains that are approximately similiar to ones I do own. They make it sound like I need them to "protect" my interests. What a load of hooeey.
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  • Profile picture of the author KenshinX
    Thanks for the heads up on the newer scams. I just don't know why people so smart waste their time scamming people.
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    • Profile picture of the author WebPen
      Originally Posted by KenshinX View Post

      Thanks for the heads up on the newer scams. I just don't know why people so smart waste their time scamming people.
      I don't think it has anything to do with wasting time- more like using intelligence to hurt people, make IMers look bad, and overall just be a waste of clean air.

      Wasting time is playing video games all day, which I would MUCH rather scammers do.
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  • Profile picture of the author geekology
    I have been in IM for long but heard this type of scam the first time. Thanks a ton!

    Originally Posted by Eviltomato View Post

    Just got hit with this one yesterday and he ALMOST got me.

    Got an email from a guy saying he wanted to purchase my parked domain. He asked how much i wanted. I told him.. and played it high. He said it was a fair price. We exchanged a few more emails. He then said he would not buy it unless i first had it appraised.

    He recommended a sites to have it appraised and i checked it out. I was so excited to make $3k that i didn't even use my brain. I did a whois on the appraisal domain he sent me to and it was..... registered to him lol.

    So here is how it would of played out. I pay the site $75 for the appraisal. I then send him the appraisal and he would say he is no longer interested.

    I replied saying he was a scamer, never got a reply.

    Just giving this advice out so you don't fall for it.
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  • Profile picture of the author StevenJones
    WOW. That's new for me, thank for pointing that out and sharing it with us.
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  • Profile picture of the author Cataclysm1987
    Funny and interesting.

    Would love to know which site the guy had
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  • Profile picture of the author datingworld
    one needs to be very careful with all these scams,
    there are many on line scams around
    be careful guys
    thanks for sharing it with us
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  • Profile picture of the author dragonhawk
    This scam has been around for at least a few years. I guess it's because I used to trade domains which is why I see a lot of these. Anyway, just remember that if it's too good to be true, then it usually is especially when you are asked to pay out some of your hard earned cash before receiving the prize.
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  • What would you have done if he made the domain private when you did a who is?
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  • Profile picture of the author dragonhawk
    Alarm bells should start ringing already when they asked you to get an appraisal done. Anyway, what I would have done is do a google search on either the person or the domain. It would usually come up on somewhere on some scam website. I always do a simple google search on potential buyers when they make an offer and from the results, I decide if I should even reply.
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  • Profile picture of the author jaiganeshv
    Yes as Alexa said, do not reply to those emails or tell the scammer that "you found him"

    He may act smart and use this as an experience to approach another potential victim changing whois email id
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  • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
    Banned
    I'm sorry what was the scam you were talking about? I was getting my website appraised really quick...

    Aw, dammit.

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  • Profile picture of the author cashtree
    some guy keeps spamming me about buying cheapserverdeals.com using different IP's and different emails. I don't know if he really owns the domain or not but is getting rather annoying, as I unsubscribed twice but clearly isn't legit as I never subscribed to begin with.
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  • Profile picture of the author theemperor
    You could have scam-baited him.

    This means getting the scammer back in some way. There are hilarious stories out there on the web about what hoops people have made scammers go through because the scammer believes they may have found a victim, when really the "victim" is having some fun!

    For example tell him that you tried to order the report but the site said it has been hacked and blocked by your anti-virus. Then he'd waste time trying to fix that and panicing. You can then tell him the site redirected to an XXX site the next time etc. It might be enough hassle to convince him to give up this scam if he has just started out.
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    • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
      Banned
      Originally Posted by theemperor View Post

      You could have scam-baited him.

      This means getting the scammer back in some way. There are hilarious stories out there on the web about what hoops people have made scammers go through because the scammer believes they may have found a victim, when really the "victim" is having some fun!

      For example tell him that you tried to order the report but the site said it has been hacked and blocked by your anti-virus. Then he'd waste time trying to fix that and panicing. You can then tell him the site redirected to an XXX site the next time etc. It might be enough hassle to convince him to give up this scam if he has just started out.
      I do this with 419 scammers all the time. It is probably one of my favorite hobbies.
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    • Profile picture of the author Emily B
      Originally Posted by theemperor View Post

      You could have scam-baited him.

      This means getting the scammer back in some way. There are hilarious stories out there on the web about what hoops people have made scammers go through because the scammer believes they may have found a victim, when really the "victim" is having some fun!

      For example tell him that you tried to order the report but the site said it has been hacked and blocked by your anti-virus. Then he'd waste time trying to fix that and panicing. You can then tell him the site redirected to an XXX site the next time etc. It might be enough hassle to convince him to give up this scam if he has just started out.
      That's hilarous. :p Scammers deserve nothing more than that.

      And OP, thanks for sharing this. I hadn't heard about it myself.
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    • Profile picture of the author Tadresources
      Originally Posted by theemperor View Post

      You could have scam-baited him.

      This means getting the scammer back in some way. There are hilarious stories out there on the web about what hoops people have made scammers go through because the scammer believes they may have found a victim, when really the "victim" is having some fun!

      For example tell him that you tried to order the report but the site said it has been hacked and blocked by your anti-virus. Then he'd waste time trying to fix that and panicing. You can then tell him the site redirected to an XXX site the next time etc. It might be enough hassle to convince him to give up this scam if he has just started out.
      I love this! I love reading about people getting back at these spammers. A while back I read somewhere about this guy trying to get this American guy to send him computers. The American took a huge box, filled it with broken, old laptop parts labeled "ANUS" and sent it along, making the scammer pay for it twice. The scammer ended up so angry that he threatened to have the "Governor and his flash mob" take the American down. I was laughing so hard by the time I finished reading that I had tears in my eyes.
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  • Profile picture of the author llncm
    Thank you for the information.
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  • Profile picture of the author Matthieu Miser
    Originally Posted by Eviltomato View Post

    Just got hit with this one yesterday and he ALMOST got me.

    Got an email from a guy saying he wanted to purchase my parked domain. He asked how much i wanted. I told him.. and played it high. He said it was a fair price. We exchanged a few more emails. He then said he would not buy it unless i first had it appraised.

    He recommended a sites to have it appraised and i checked it out. I was so excited to make $3k that i didn't even use my brain. I did a whois on the appraisal domain he sent me to and it was..... registered to him lol.

    So here is how it would of played out. I pay the site $75 for the appraisal. I then send him the appraisal and he would say he is no longer interested.

    I replied saying he was a scamer, never got a reply.

    Just giving this advice out so you don't fall for it.
    First off THANK YOU for the heads up.

    And second, kudos the the scammer, he's one smart guy not that thats a good thing...
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  • Profile picture of the author Usmile
    It was absolutely a trap, it is really awful to know that people are willing to undergo unethical practice just too earn money. Be careful next time don't give all you have.
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    • Profile picture of the author Christopher Fox
      Originally Posted by Usmile View Post

      It was absolutely a trap, it is really awful to know that people are willing to undergo unethical practice just too earn money. Be careful next time don't give all you have.
      You mean to steal money. It is the world in which we live. But I am with you and many others with the inability to fathom how people can do such and still sleep at night. It is beyond me.
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  • Profile picture of the author rodanglee
    Did you pay with pay-pal? then you can ask for a refund.. It's an elaborate pump and dump scheme that takes on the IM world.
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  • Profile picture of the author clarest
    I played along once (or rather got so annoyed) and quoted one million dollars. End of correspondence.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gerald Arno
    Banned
    I'm very suspicious for any of those sorts of emails.

    You should definitely make yourself smart about the deal before you commit to it or even invest time.

    If I'd reply or consider every spammy email proposal I get, I would waist 90% of my time with low priority tasks or even worse, commit to projects that cost me a ton of money..
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  • Profile picture of the author dvega
    nice try lol. Thanks for the info
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  • Profile picture of the author Valdor Kiebach
    I had one of those emails once and after I had toyed with the scammer for a few days I said something along the lines of:

    'As you know there is a scam involving the appraisal of domain names where a fake buyer shows interest in a domain but insists that an appraisal is done by xxx, now what happens is the fake buyer either owns the site xxx or gets commision from it.

    My response is this, if you want to buy the domain yyy.com the you pay for any appraisal and make me an offer based on that value.'

    I never heard from them again.
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  • Profile picture of the author Eleanor
    Scams like this will always be around unfortunately. It sucks because there are some people who don't have the knowledge or know how to spot them and that's why the scammers continue - they will always find someone to fool.

    Good job for spotting it though - could have been $75 down the drain otherwise!
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  • Profile picture of the author Woodward82
    I recieved the same scam so have many others . So if u recieve this delete and move on best advice


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  • Profile picture of the author Eviltomato
    I guess what i took from this..... If somebody is sending you to a website be sure to do a whois on it to check ownership

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  • Profile picture of the author DWaters
    I just about never reply or open any email that I am not certain about. I do want to encourage any more email spam. Thanks for pointing out this scam.

    I also learned to NOT reply to an email that appears to be from your credit card company. Your real CC company will always use your name and mention that your card ends in ...1234 (last four digits).
    I learned from calling my CC company that scam emaillers regularly send out "warnings" and want people to sent them their CC numbers LOOK OUT for that one!
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    • Profile picture of the author cashp0wer
      I never open an email or reply to one unless I know the person. I have learned my lesson in this. At least you didn't fall for this scam. Some people just have too much time on their hands.
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  • Profile picture of the author gasman
    I don't know if I would call it a "scam" necessarily, but a bit of a gray area marketing technique. It always amazes me some of the things people come up with to try and get people's money. In fact when I get emails that I don't see the scam in it right away sometimes I bite out of curiosity so I can see what game they are playing .
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