Joined: Nov 04, 2004 Posts: 2789 Location: Roanoke Rapids, NC
Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 2:37 pm Post subject: A Tale of an Internet Scam Artist
So, I own the domain name sneeko.net. I've owned it for a while now, its just where I do picture hosting and whatnot. Today, I get this email -
the scammer wrote:
I buy previously owned .COM domains and I just purchased sneeko.com. I noticed that you own sneeko.net. If you would like to purchase the more popular .COM version please get in touch with me.
For whatever reason, this catches my interest, as this was a bit more than standard spam. So I reply -
I wrote:
So, you're a squatter? Fabulous. Isnt that illegal?
Fuck off.
I thought that'd be the end of it. I was wrong! I got the following reply, only minutes later -
the scammer wrote:
Normally I wouldn’t bother with a reply but I’m in a good mood today so here goes.
No I’m not a squatter. I purchase .COM domains that were previously owned and emailed the owners of the .NET or .ORG to see if they want them. In a great many cases they registered the .NET or .ORG because at that time the .COM was taken. In other cases they originally owned the .COM but it expired for whatever reason and they purchased a less desirable domain instead.
When people want these I offer them at a very fair price. Much less than a registrar would charge you to redeem an expired domain. When they are not wanted after 4 days I release them back for anyone to register.
The benefit of my service is that I try to match them up with people who will actually use them. As opposed to as you call them “domain squatters” who buy expired domains and milk them for ad revenue.
It is easy to read a two sentence email and draw conclusions but maybe next time you will not be so quick to judge.
Alright. Its a slow day at work, and I'm bored. Its on. my reply -
I wrote:
Well... I happened to know that sneeko.com was NOT a registered domain name when I bought the .net version, and was not registered up until you did. It would seem that your game is to make it look as though you "rescued" the domain for me, when if fact you likely registered it for $5 or so, and will be willing to "let it go" to me for what - $50 or so?
Bottom line is this - it was available when I registered the other name. Had I wanted it, I would have registered it as well. But I did not. Did you even look at my site? I'm not selling anything, its just my own personal hosting for images and whatnot. What do I care is the .com version is "more popular". Also, .com is meant to denote a commercial site - I am not running a commercial site.
I miss anything?
Wait - on second thought, I did a WHOIS look-up through internic - its not showing as a registered domain. Also, I would assume that domains you work with get registered though itsyourdomain.com - since your own domain name (dcinchq.com) is registered there. A look-up on thier WHOIS server (whois.itsyourdomain.com) also gets no results, as well as their site telling me that sneeko.com is in fact still available.
Basically... this all tells me that you're full of it.
Thanks for trying though!
"Warren" is now getting a bit defensive. You see, he's not a scammer - he's a "Professional Domainer". He comes back with -
the scammer wrote:
Again you are making a lot of assumptions and drawing some wrong conclusions.
If you go to http://whois.domaintools.com/sneeko.com you will see that sneeko.com has been on 8 different servers over the last four years. That likely means that 8 different people have owned that domain that you say was never registered. Additionally if you search Google for “sneeko.com” you’ll see it was purchased, tasted, and dropped many times by professional domainers to see if it had any traffic.
I will make an assumption about you and say that you are not experienced in the methods of professional domainers. If they see that you have a .NET and the .COM is available they’ll register it. Their hope is some of your visitors are typing .COM by default and thus they will be able to get some of your traffic and show them ads. My whole goal is to prevent that and give people the option to buy their domains at a reasonable rate. If they decide not to do so I have no interest in holding the domain. But once I release it the domain becomes fair game for someone to get and spam up with ads.
I returned your domain after our original email when you expressed that you had no interest in buying it. If I were out to screw people over I would have sat on it.
I’m not sure why you immediately jumped on the defensive when I offered the domain to you. I suppose your nature is to assume the worst in people. But facts are a stubborn thing.
I "assume the worst" when I see cases like this because I spent several years working for a Tier 1 hosting and access provider, one with ties to Melbourne IT, Register.com, and Network Solutions. In that time, I saw and dealt with many, many people just like yourself. You can put whatever title on it you like (professional domainers.. lol), but as far as I'm concerned, what you're doing is no different than squatting. You're attempting to pick up a domain, and resell it to someone else at a higher cost to turn a profit.
While you're right that sneeko.com was "tasted and dropped', That doesnt mean it was legitimately registered for use. It was simply what you said it was - people picking it up to see if it was getting any traffic, so they could attempt to turn around and make money on it. In this case, sneeko.com was not being used, was getting no traffic, so it got dropped. Often. You're just simpy the latest attempt at capitalization on it.
It is now obvious that I am successfully getting under Warren's skin, as he's getting a bit more agitated -
the scammer wrote:
First it was never registered and now it was “legitimately” registered.
When you worked for the anonymous tier 1 hosting company did you do your work for free? Did your company charge the clients only what it actually cost to host the sites? Did you make a *gasp* profit?
Emails like yours crack me up. I have been in business for eight plus years and I get one or two likes yours every year. The rest of the people are either happy to have the domain that they really wanted or respectfully decline but wish me the best for notifying them. You should tell a few of my clients that what I’m doing is illegitimate.
Also, when you worked for this anonymous tier 1 hosting company was your typical response to emails “fuck off”?
By this point, some more investigation on this guy has been done (thanks, Seej) and he's been all over the place pulling shit it would seem. He's been banned from dnforum for being a scammer, and has been labeled as such at several other sites as well. I point this out to him, since he's claiming legitimacy -
I wrote:
Alright, Warren. If you're oh-so-legitimate.. please explain to me why you've been banned from dnforum.com. It would seem you've got a rather stellar reputation as being a scammer at both dnforum.com and namepros.com. Also, you were pretty much labeled as a scammer on a site called gfy.com (where you were going under the name HadesPass) where you were offering to put together thumbnail gallery sites for porn sites. In all three sites, plenty of people report the same thing - you agree to do work, to take their money, and then they never see any results. Further investigation shows that you've screwed people on adultwebmasterinfo.com as well.
For someone as professional as you claim to be... it sure was easy to get you sucked into an argument on the internet over the legitimacy of your "business." Remember when I said "fuck off" in my original reply? Yeah. You probably should have done exactly that.
Your name and the word legitimate are pretty far from belonging in the same sentence.
Anyway, thanks for the entertainment today - you've been a lot of fun.
At this point, I'm still waiting for a response from that last one. I'll update when he does.
Moral of this story? If you own any domain names and happen to come across this guy by the name of Warren Davis and he's offering design or domain name services... dont trust him. He's a scammer. _________________
I wouldn't expect another response. Once he got called out on those forums he vanished. Classic scammer behavior, right up to the "overly defensive" part. It's a shame that he can't really be stopped, though, since he'll just keep inserting himself among respectable web designers and making off with more money. _________________
Joined: Nov 04, 2004 Posts: 2789 Location: Roanoke Rapids, NC
Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:01 pm Post subject:
Oh - he's responded to me again, with -
the scammer wrote:
I’m somewhat flattered that you thought enough of me to kill a good part of your day researching my name. Good job on that.
Since the beginning you have jumped to incorrect conclusions and when called on it simply changed the subject. As stated before, facts are a stubborn thing.
Joined: Sep 16, 2006 Posts: 799 Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:24 am Post subject:
for somebody's sake, i hope you made some sort of difference in the world... _________________ Bobo (BOH.boh) n. A person who combines affluence and a successful career with a preference for countercultural ideas and artifacts.
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