Domain Purchase Scam!

Domain Purchase Scam!!

Domain investors, holders of domain names, website owners please be aware that there is a scam of getting you to spend money in a domain purchase offer.

This scam is communicated to the email address of the entity listed in the WHOis database.

Firstly, the scammers send an email to the address listed in the WHOis database to verify that they are the legal owners of the domain name. They act as if they are a broker representing a client.

After you confirm that you are indeed the owner of the domain name and request an offer or maybe you will put forward a price for the domain name, the scammers go into an elaborate scheme to justify how they have contacted you and what the sale is all about.

Please note that in searching for the domain attached to their email address on the web, you are redirected from “woobi-co-kr.info” to “woobi.co.kr” which is really a name registrar and domain name broker in Korea.

In doing a quick check of woobi-co-kr.info in the WHOis database, it is evident that they are illegitimate and are not from Korean origins. In fact they created the domain name only 48 days before sending this email. The picture below justifies same:

The email is so constructed to seemingly answer all the questions that you may have in your mind.

After you have already done a quick search and are redirected to the “real” korean domain registrar you are now convinced that this is legitimate.

HERE’S WHERE THE SCAM HAPPENS

The scammers say that the domain investor wants to be certain that the domain doesn’t infringe on any trademarks or korean laws and that they have already asked the investor if they would be willing to accept certifications from Godaddy or Sedo (two popular domain name registrars that you might be familiar with, or perhaps where you have registered your domain names).

LET’S SEE HOW IT HAPPENS

The scammers does what is called the Domain Name Trademark Certification Scam. The details of this scam is also recorded on www.scam-detector.com and dates as far back as 5 years prior to the writing of this post (This scam happened in 2019). It may have been going on for longer than that as well.

The scam is effective if the “sellers” fail to do a proper check of the email address and background to the link where you are to get the domain name trademark certificate.

A quick check of whois-korea.org in the WHOis database, it is found out that the domain was created only 12 days before they sent the email.

The scam is to get the victims to pay for the certificate without the sale happening. The website asks for $289 to produce a certificate for one domain. That’s a lot of money to be scammed out of.

Can you imagine how many persons this has actually worked on?

LETS SEE HOW IT PLAYS OUT

I really hope that this post will help somebody that is on the verge of being doped by these scammers.

Please be informed!! Be careful!!