Webmasters, Go Lock Your Domains Right Now!

JenC · 2003-09-30, 05:28 PM

Luckily I use Domain Name Systems and all my stuff is locked by default I think. I got this email today about this guy's story with GoDaddy:

-----------

Hi there,

If you're getting this email today, it's because you're either on one of the regular visitors
to the GayCamZ / CamsGuys shows or because you're a webmaster and you're on my
newsletter list for AdultNetSupport.

Whatever it is, I wanted to take a few moments to let you know what happened to my site,
CamsGuys.com, last week.

For my regular visitors to the site, I hope this will shed some light on where the free shows
went. For everyone else, I hope this can come as a warning to you as to what can happen
if you're not careful.

About two weeks ago I received an email from GoDaddy (http://www.godaddy.com)
requesting me to "confirm" a transfer of one of my sites (CamsGuys) over to their
company. It instructed me to click a link in the email to confirm this transfer. Since I've
never done business with GoDaddy and because I knew nothing about this, I replied to the
email and told them in NO uncertain terms that this transfer was in no way initiated by me
and they were NOT to touch my site. Well, about 3 or 4 days later I received another
email asking me again. Again, I replied back and told them to not do the transfer. I
thought that was the end of it.

Well, on Thursday afternoon of last week, one of the guys on my site called to let me
know the site was down. I checked and it wasn't "down", but there was an admin screen
on the page for GoDaddy. I then checked the "WHOIS" information and was told that MY
site that I had paid for in May was now belonging to the following person...

**********************************
Registrant:
Maurice Reynolds
P.O.Box 3255
Detroit, Michigan 48228
United States

Registered through: GoDaddy.com
Domain Name: CAMSGUYS.COM
Created on: 19-Jun-03
Expires on: 19-Jun-05
Last Updated on: 25-Sep-03

Secure the registration to this domain or
anyother the instant it becomes available.
DomainAlert(TM) Pro services protect, inform and
keep you in the action, 24/7.
Visit http://www.godaddy.com for details.

Administrative Contact:Reynolds, Maurice mobilevideoguyz@yahoo.com P.O.Box 3255 Detroit, Michigan 48228 United States
(438) 754-9987 Fax --

Technical Contact:Reynolds, Maurice
mobilevideoguyz@yahoo.com
P.O.Box 3255
Detroit, Michigan 48228
United States
(438) 754-9987 Fax --

Domain servers in listed order:
PARK9.SECURESERVER.NETP
ARK10.SECURESERVER.NET

**********************************
I imediately tried to get in contact with my current registrar, Dotster
(http://www.dotdnr.com). Unfortunately, they didn't have a telephone number listed on
their site so I had to send in a support ticket. In the meantime, I went ahead and tried
calling GoDaddy to see what had happened. This is where the fun begins...

I called GoDaddy and without getting into too much detail, their attitude was they did
nothing wrong and that if I wanted the domain back I should hire a lawyer and sue the
person that took it. They even admitted that they received the two emails from me stating
to NOT transfer it, but went ahead with the transfer after the third request. It seems that
after sending me two emails and not getting anywhere, "Maurice" somehow (how I have
no idea) hacked his way into my Dotster account, changed the email address, put in a
thired request, and then approved the transfer himself (because he received the email
from GiDaddy). When I tried discussing this with GoDaddy, they totally and completely
refused to hear it. The only advice they could offer was to sue "Maurice" or file a
complaint with ICANN (something that costs $1500.00).

After getting nowhere with GoDaddy, I decided to call my hosting provider to see if they
had any suggestions. It seems another of their customers had this very same problem
with this very same guy. Apparantly, he does this on a regular basis.

I should also add, that over the weekend he brought my site back up with all of MY images
that my guys had submitted to me and that I owned in conjunction with them. He had
changed the entrance to my member's area to a "SexKey" entrance and was making
money off of my surfers.

At this point I sent an email to Maurice demanding that he immediately return my domain
or face civil and criminal penalties because I intended to inform the FBI about this Internet
fraud. This was his response to me...

"Hi! I'll give your domain back. Would you consider to buy it? Thanks"

I immediately emailed him back telling him I would not "buy" it back and that he could
then add extortion to the list of crimes he had committed. He then wrote back to me
saying he would send it back if I attempted to transfer the domain back he would approve
it. I did, and I've seen no evidence that he's done as he said he would.

I received a call a little while ago from Dotster telling me they were looking into this. I
think I'll eventually get this site back, but whether it's going to be today, tomorrow, next
week, or next month…I don’t know.

I'd like to ask all of my surfers to the site to please be patient. We're working on getting
the site back, and eventually will.

For all the webmasters who get this, please take this as a warning. Call your registrar and
have them "lock" all of your domains ASAP. This can prevent this type of thing from
happening to you. I've done a lot of reading on this type of thing the past week and it’s
much more common than many of you might think. If your domains aren't locked, it can
be a fairly easy process for them to get in and steal your domains. And, believe me…it's
pure hell trying to get them back.

I'd like to add that if you're using GoDaddy as your registrar you might want to
re-consider it. They're business practices are abhorrent and I can't believe the attitude
they took with me over this. I can understand this thing happening…it's 2003 and this is
just a part of life. What I don't understand is what they did after it happened. I'm just
dumb-founded that they could be used in stealing someone's domain and then when it is
made perfectly clear that it was theft and fraud they refused to do ANYTHING about it.
They wouldn’t even investigate it or look into it. All they could do is try and wash their
hands of any responsibility.

Also, if you have a few minutes, drop Maurice an email (his address is above) and tell him
what kind if a low-life bottom feeder he is. I'm not sure I believe in Karma, but if there is
such a thing I surely hope he gets what he deserves one day.

Thanks for reading this. If it helps just one person it was worth the time it took to write it.

Joey

2003-09-30, 05:28 PM	#1
JenC Stupid risks make life worth living Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Eastern Seaboard Posts: 387	Webmasters, Go Lock Your Domains Right Now! Luckily I use Domain Name Systems and all my stuff is locked by default I think. I got this email today about this guy's story with GoDaddy: ----------- Hi there, If you're getting this email today, it's because you're either on one of the regular visitors to the GayCamZ / CamsGuys shows or because you're a webmaster and you're on my newsletter list for AdultNetSupport. Whatever it is, I wanted to take a few moments to let you know what happened to my site, CamsGuys.com, last week. For my regular visitors to the site, I hope this will shed some light on where the free shows went. For everyone else, I hope this can come as a warning to you as to what can happen if you're not careful. About two weeks ago I received an email from GoDaddy (http://www.godaddy.com) requesting me to "confirm" a transfer of one of my sites (CamsGuys) over to their company. It instructed me to click a link in the email to confirm this transfer. Since I've never done business with GoDaddy and because I knew nothing about this, I replied to the email and told them in NO uncertain terms that this transfer was in no way initiated by me and they were NOT to touch my site. Well, about 3 or 4 days later I received another email asking me again. Again, I replied back and told them to not do the transfer. I thought that was the end of it. Well, on Thursday afternoon of last week, one of the guys on my site called to let me know the site was down. I checked and it wasn't "down", but there was an admin screen on the page for GoDaddy. I then checked the "WHOIS" information and was told that MY site that I had paid for in May was now belonging to the following person... ******************************** Registrant: Maurice Reynolds P.O.Box 3255 Detroit, Michigan 48228 United States Registered through: GoDaddy.com Domain Name: CAMSGUYS.COM Created on: 19-Jun-03 Expires on: 19-Jun-05 Last Updated on: 25-Sep-03 Secure the registration to this domain or anyother the instant it becomes available. DomainAlert(TM) Pro services protect, inform and keep you in the action, 24/7. Visit http://www.godaddy.com for details. Administrative Contact:Reynolds, Maurice mobilevideoguyz@yahoo.com P.O.Box 3255 Detroit, Michigan 48228 United States (438) 754-9987 Fax -- Technical Contact:Reynolds, Maurice mobilevideoguyz@yahoo.com P.O.Box 3255 Detroit, Michigan 48228 United States (438) 754-9987 Fax -- Domain servers in listed order: PARK9.SECURESERVER.NETP ARK10.SECURESERVER.NET ******************************** I imediately tried to get in contact with my current registrar, Dotster (http://www.dotdnr.com). Unfortunately, they didn't have a telephone number listed on their site so I had to send in a support ticket. In the meantime, I went ahead and tried calling GoDaddy to see what had happened. This is where the fun begins... I called GoDaddy and without getting into too much detail, their attitude was they did nothing wrong and that if I wanted the domain back I should hire a lawyer and sue the person that took it. They even admitted that they received the two emails from me stating to NOT transfer it, but went ahead with the transfer after the third request. It seems that after sending me two emails and not getting anywhere, "Maurice" somehow (how I have no idea) hacked his way into my Dotster account, changed the email address, put in a thired request, and then approved the transfer himself (because he received the email from GiDaddy). When I tried discussing this with GoDaddy, they totally and completely refused to hear it. The only advice they could offer was to sue "Maurice" or file a complaint with ICANN (something that costs $1500.00). After getting nowhere with GoDaddy, I decided to call my hosting provider to see if they had any suggestions. It seems another of their customers had this very same problem with this very same guy. Apparantly, he does this on a regular basis. I should also add, that over the weekend he brought my site back up with all of MY images that my guys had submitted to me and that I owned in conjunction with them. He had changed the entrance to my member's area to a "SexKey" entrance and was making money off of my surfers. At this point I sent an email to Maurice demanding that he immediately return my domain or face civil and criminal penalties because I intended to inform the FBI about this Internet fraud. This was his response to me... "Hi! I'll give your domain back. Would you consider to buy it? Thanks" I immediately emailed him back telling him I would not "buy" it back and that he could then add extortion to the list of crimes he had committed. He then wrote back to me saying he would send it back if I attempted to transfer the domain back he would approve it. I did, and I've seen no evidence that he's done as he said he would. I received a call a little while ago from Dotster telling me they were looking into this. I think I'll eventually get this site back, but whether it's going to be today, tomorrow, next week, or next month…I don’t know. I'd like to ask all of my surfers to the site to please be patient. We're working on getting the site back, and eventually will. For all the webmasters who get this, please take this as a warning. Call your registrar and have them "lock" all of your domains ASAP. This can prevent this type of thing from happening to you. I've done a lot of reading on this type of thing the past week and it’s much more common than many of you might think. If your domains aren't locked, it can be a fairly easy process for them to get in and steal your domains. And, believe me…it's pure hell trying to get them back. I'd like to add that if you're using GoDaddy as your registrar you might want to re-consider it. They're business practices are abhorrent and I can't believe the attitude they took with me over this. I can understand this thing happening…it's 2003 and this is just a part of life. What I don't understand is what they did after it happened. I'm just dumb-founded that they could be used in stealing someone's domain and then when it is made perfectly clear that it was theft and fraud they refused to do ANYTHING about it. They wouldn’t even investigate it or look into it. All they could do is try and wash their hands of any responsibility. Also, if you have a few minutes, drop Maurice an email (his address is above) and tell him what kind if a low-life bottom feeder he is. I'm not sure I believe in Karma, but if there is such a thing I surely hope he gets what he deserves one day. Thanks for reading this. If it helps just one person it was worth the time it took to write it. Joey __________________ THIS IS MY SIG - CLICK IT.