Domain Rescued, or hijacked?

[johno69]

I haven’t heard about this domain scam before so I thought I would let all other members know about the latest.

I have a client that had 2 domain names

Domain 1 = hisproductname.com.au
Domain 2 = hisproductnames.com.au (plural of main domain)

He decided that he would let domain 2 expire last month.

Today he gets an invoice from a crowd called Domain Rescue (domainrescue.com.au) for the domain 2 registration.

They had purchased the domain after it expired (I dont know how because there is no way that they could have passed the policy check) and sent my client an invoice for the registration.

The invoice contained the exact client details as appeared in the whois

They have even left the name servers pointing at the same place and when he called them they said that they were going to cut it off unless he paid by a certain date!!

From: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1274960

The discussion goes on with some input from others, but these guys seem pretty dodgy.

 

[Blue Wren]

Interesting read on that Whirlpool thread. I hope to never be ensnared in that tangled web.

 

[FirstPageResults]

Sounds pretty dodge to me

 

[GGroup]

I had a similar thing with someone (probably the same mob) who registered a net.au equivalent of an existing com.au I had.
They were nice enough to register the net.au using my details (even email address). So, in effect, had gifted it to me but still sent a generous invoice for their troubles.

Just a numbers game. Send out enough and you'll (maybe) strike enough busy/unwitting people who will just pay the bill.

Similar type of thing to the infamous 'Domain Registry' (or something like that) letters people have been receiving for years, in the .com/net space.

 

[DavidL]

Hmm never heard about that.

Don't think you could really call it a scam as such although looks pretty clear they are breaching auda rules by registering for the sole purpose of resale.

I wonder whether they were trying to do it within the 3 day grace period. So they could drop the domain if no interest and get their money back. Otherwise it's a bloody tough way to make a dollar - spending $20 per registration and hoping more than 1 in 10 coughs up the $200 to break even