Wherein a scammer lays the bait
I just received this in the email today. Bask in all it’s scammy glory:
from David Williams <david@XXXX>
to
date subject Hi
I would be willing to offer you complete ownership of ryandubois.com for only $270 USD. This domain could be used for email purposes, to direct to your current website or even to track specific marketing campaigns. It could also be extremely helpful in building search engine rankings for this specific keyword. This would be a powerful marketing tool while also creating valuable type-in traffic to your existing website.
Pretty sure I know what domain names are useful for, thanks…
If you would like to purchase this domain name or have any questions please reply to this message as soon as possible to avoid losing this rare opportunity as it will be sold in the next 48 hours.
Let’s see if this adds up. First things first, let’s check the DNS system:
rdub@dub-box ~ $ whois ryandubois.com
>>> Last update of whois database: Fri, 09 Apr 2010 19:41:16 UTC <<<
Registrant:
Ryan Dubois
122 Main Street Apt 3
Poultney, VT 05764
us
Domain name: RYANDUBOIS.COM
This domain name is up for auction for a limited time.
To place a bid, visit: http://www.namejet.com
Looks like its up for auction. From namejet.com. Not from whoever this David Williams is.. Popping over to namejet.com, and looking the domain up yields an opening bid of $69, with 0 bids! So, this guy David here is trying to make a cool $270 on a domain he doesn’t even own. At least his timeline lines up, as it will be auctioned on the 11th.
However, why don’t I just wait until no one buys it, and register it myself with Dreamhost for $9.95? Hmm… $69 or $10… Let’s see…
Thanks David, but no thanks.
Tweet
on April 11th, 2010 at 7:05 am
You do have to give the scammer props for actually “researching” the domain name, instead of the usual “I need to transfer 70 million Euros and will give you 20% commission” 419 dealio. I wonder how often do people fall for this domain auction scam?