Reemergence of the old domain appraisal scam
In recent years domain owners have seen many different scams, we have become accustomed to receiving these scam-ish type e-mails and print mail. The scale it seems to be reemerging, is the one that involves someone e-mailing you with interest to buy your domain. If you reply with interest, they will request that you have a domain appraisal done to verify the value of the domain name. The potential buyer either owns the appraisal company or as an affiliate, and has no intention of actually purchasing your domain. Domain Name Wire brought this to my attention, by posting about a few recent comments of the reemergence of this old scam. According to their site, the latest scam e-mails are signed “Andreas Winksi” or “Ronald Winski” and use many different company names, including TNG technologies and PHR Systems. An example provided by DomainNameWire.com is below:
Hello domain owner,
I’m checking sites with domains for sale from time to time. By my opinion, (your domain).com can generate income. What is your price? We are working on software market. Reselling gives us a good income opportunity but it does not have relation to our main business.
Regards,
Ronald Winski
Vice President
PHR Systems
If you receive one of these scam type e-mails please do not reply. Or if you do decide to have fun with the scammer, egg a little bit and tried to get them excited believing that you have multiple domains that you were going to get an appraisal for. I think it would be enjoyable to put the shoe on the other foot, and at the same time keep them busy from being able to pull of scams on unknowing domain owners.
