ZipDomains.com Possible Scam Please Review
If you own a domain name, you might be the victim of a possible scam where these operators from Zip Domains tell you they found a website, similar to one you already own and recently took possession of the domain name and can get it over to you for a considerable discount.
Basically, here is what they say in the First email they spam out:
Our company specializes in acquiring expired domain names to help individuals and businesses protect their brand online.
The domain name XXXXXX.COM is expired and will become available soon.
We noticed that you own XXXXXX.NET and felt that you may be interested in acquiring the .COM version of your existing domain name.
We can assist in trying to acquire the domain name, as there are likely many interested parties competing for it.
There are no upfront costs, and the fee if we are successful is only $199 USD.
If you are interested, please let us know by XXX at the latest.
So, I actually emailed them, said, “sounds good, tell me what to do.”
I did not hear back until a few days later, and this time, I got almost an identical letter as the first, but, they dropped their price. This made me think, “Ok, this is a spam farm. No one read my letter, I better check on their name with a google search and see what people are saying about this program.”
The second letter said this:
Our company specializes in acquiring expired domain names to help individuals and businesses protect their brand online.
The domain name XXXXXX.COM expired recently and we were able to secure it.
We noticed the you own XXXXXX.COM and felt that you may be interested in acquiring the .COM version of your existing domain name.
It is available for a one-time fee of only $99.00 USD.
To purchase or learn more, please visit http://zipdomains.com/buy.php?domain=xxxxxx.com
I had even gone so far as clicking on the payment link and logged into Paypal and was about to pull the trigger on a pretty good domain name.
So I googled and found someone with the same experience. In their post, they talked about how they went to their regular registrar and just bought the domain for $9.99.
So, I called up Godaddy and I asked them if it was up for grabs.
Sure enough, it was anyone’s catch for $7.99. So… I nabbed it and thought I would make a post about it to save anyone the extra cost of this company basically doing an “end around” to get you a domain name which you could already buy off any site where domains are sold!
Thanks Zipdomains! You just saved me a ton of money!
