Don’t be stingy selling a domain name otherwise you may be scammed

An author on the Domain Name Wire site reported that scammers behind the scheme where an owner of a domain name is offered to sell it for some percentage of the appraisal price are constantly changing their internet addresses so as to evade being recognized. They have already used such names as Pozde.com, TropicalNames.com, NameOrange. And the latest address of these crooks is FlyAppraisals.com.

The scam is acting this way. A person receives an email where he/she is offered to sell his/her domain name for some percentage of the appraisal price. The message may look like this:

“We are interested to buy your domain name DOMAIN.COM and offer to buy it from you for 65% of the appraised market value. As of now we accept appraisals from either one of the following leading appraisal companies…”

Then there is a list of three appraisal companies. Two of these are legitimate while one belongs to scammers. People usually choose the fake company as it offers lower prices.

The latest scam includes a guarantee that if you aren’t able to sell your domain for the appraised price within 6 months you’ll get your money back or they’ll buy the domain. While the site uses PayPal for payments victims of the scam won’t be able to dispute the transaction 6 months later. The “Terms and Conditions” of the FlyAppraisals.com include such a statute: “Our offer to buy your domain name might or might not be for the full appraised value”. Thus it is up to an owner of a domain to make efforts to sell its name.