Beware of appraisal scams.

[domainskey]

Hi all,

I have fallen to this scam as well, thinking that at the very least I could learn about how some different "appraisers" perform.

But after sending this person the appraisal results he (assuming it's a he) came back to me with some partnership proposal where he would promote my domain to a an email list he purchased. Then he would take a percentage from the sale. At this point the whole thing started to really smell.

My question is this: What is the actual scam? Is it to win appraisal sales for AllForDomains.com? Or is it something else?

If the scam is to get "apraisals" for AllForDomains.com then doesn't this make AFD automatically involved since they are direct beneficiaries? Shouldn't AFD at the very least post a warning on their site of the scam and that they are not participants in it, as would be expected of any reputable company/person? Apparently this matter has be brought to their attention.

Your thoughts?

[ProudCanadians]

I think they want to see how many scams they can pull on you. since you fell for one they want to milk you dry

[domainskey]

No doubt. Scammers will continue until caught and made responsible.

My point is this: if and how much is AFD involved in the scam since they are benefiting from it?

[KMan]

Hey Guys,

I received a similar e-mail from a Dr. Andrew Evensen and I am glad I did'nt respond but I wonder if he works for AFD.

[ThC]

Looks like he changed his message, name and email, I received this one from topmanager@ToughGuy.net today:

Hello,

I came across Internet auctions and found your domain for sale. We consider investing in names as an additional income. Of course, we are not going to develop eac and every domain name. We prefer to resell them later at higher price.

Please email me price for your domain name. If it's reasonable we'll do business.

If you have other domain names for sale please send us the complete list with prices for consideration.

Looking forward to do business with you.

Regards,
James Ueland, Ph. D.
President
TGR Engineering

[neogeneric]

I just got one from "Mark Hansen" -- Paul's brother maybe?

Whoever is doing this could at least fix the grammatical error in the last line.

I am grateful to this forum for these scam alerts.

[DnWizard]

Just got this mail today morning

Hello,

Could you send me price for the name mentioned in the subject line?

By the way, investing in domain names is not the main direction of our
business but a good way to generate additional income.

If you have other domain names for sale please send us the complete
list with prices for consideration.

I'm a very busy person so it may take several hours before I respond
:-)

Looking forward to do business with you.

Regards,
John Tetner
Vice President
Opera Software

Lucky I searched for John Tetner and I found lot of results at NP.

[snoopy]

what was the email address used?

[DnWizard]

development@operaen.com

I whoised operaen.com and found it was regged with some russian site. Thats when I smelled somethin fishy....

[phronesis]

Heads up. Got his email over the weekend from invest@skallebank.com

***********************************

Hello,

Please email me price for the name mentioned in the subject line.

If you have other domain names for sale please send us the complete list with prices for consideration.

I'm a very busy person so it may take several hours before I respond :-)

By the way, investing in domain names is not the main direction of our investing strategy but a good way to generate additional income.

Looking forward to do business with you.

Regards,
Jon Sonnenberg
Vice President
Skalle Investment


*******************

While it doesn't sound like the broken English of the traditional appraisal scam email, it looks like he's heading that way. I never got a response because I told him I'd sell for $100 (lll name) - clearly too low to pay for an appraisal.

[karter9977]

Heres one I just got from boss@sinnsyk.com

Hello,

Please let me know a quote in US dollars or Euros for the name mentioned in the subject of this email. We saw it listed for sale.

Our company develops software (mainly client-server systems).

If you offer more domains for sale with good reselling potential please email us your list.

Looking forward to do business with you.

Regards,
Anthony Waldner
President
SINN Systems
Software Solutions

[dmyre]

I received one today from the same domain, but different email address: waldner@sinnsyk.com

Hello,

Please let me know a quote in US dollars or Euros for the name mentioned in the
subject of this email. We saw it listed for sale.

Our company develops software (mainly client-server systems).

If you offer more domains for sale with good reselling potential please email
us your list. We are going to resell domains later to generate additional income
since this is not our main business.

Looking forward to do business with you.

Regards,
Michael Waldner
President
SINN Systems
Software Solutions

[randomo]

I love the alias in the one I received today: Macho Man!

*****

Hello,

This is Jon Machomann. I found your name for sale on the
web. Can you give me a price for the name in the subject
line.

Domain names is not my main business. Just another way to
make money online on domain reselling.

If you offer more domains for sale with good reselling
potential please email us your list.

Looking forward to do business with you.

Regards,

Jon Machomann
President
Machomann Web Design & Consulting
Orkanger, Norway

[ducuru]

These are the first and second emails I got about a name I own. Thanks to Domainstate, I haven't wasted any money on this "investor."

Hello,

What is the price you can accept for your domain?

Our company develops client-server systems in Delphi and MS SQL Server. We work as contractors of a big corporation. So domain names for us is just a part of investing.

If you offer more domains for sale with good reselling potential please email us your list.

Looking forward to do business with you.

Regards,

Patrick Elsker
CEO
DBT Technologies


X pounds. Ok.

Do you sell the name only without web site? I'm interested in the name so web site is not so important.

Do you have an appraisal certificate for your domain name?

Domain name is an investment for me. In other words I'm going to sell your name later and make a profit. If I overpay I won't be able to make a profit in the future. It's very important for you and me to know the current market value of your domain.

Of course, we must be sure that you are engaging a reputable appraisal company. I heard many appraisal companies often made inaccurate appraisals. I will only accept appraisals from independent sources I trust. To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable appraisal companies in a forum
http://domaintalk.ourplace.com/Archive/294763.htm

Just check this posting.

If the appraisal comes higher you can adjust your asking price accordingly. I also hope you can give me 10% - 15% discount of the appraised value.

After I get an appraisal from you we'll continue our negotiations.

How do you prefer to get paid: www.escrow.com, www.PayPal.com, check or wire?

Hope we can come to an agreement fast.

Looking forward to your reply.

[safesys]

Yeah that fake forum post approach is a common one of theirs - they've just updated it a little but its clearly still them playing the exact same game as always.