Black rice domains : Did 988.com just sell for $1,000,000 dollars?

A distraught domain buyer claiming that they lost $1,000,000 dollars to a seller that reversed the escrow-less transaction, now claims the exchange went through.

User “Dong Yuan” asserted on NamePros that they acquired a domain for $1,000,000 dollars but it was subsequently locked down after a TDRP complaint was filed.

Seeking advice for a million dollar transaction that did not involve any escrow or other type of secure intermediary, attracted the attention of IP attorney, John Berryhill.

The domain has now been identified as 988.com, a valuable NNN .com that was until recently under the control of a Chinese registrant, with a physical location in California.

We contacted the alleged seller of 988.com, Mr. Zhaohua Luo,  who told us that the domain was not stolen, and that the exchange has completed. Mr. Luo is currently in China, and not in California.

According to John Berryhill, TDRP complaints do not resolve in a day or two, and definitely not after someone provides a proof of sale. The TDRP process is filed by the Registrar, and it’s a procedure for determining if a transfer was technically and administratively correct.

There are, however, some questions about the buyer’s past activities, stemming from their recent claims and the WHOIS information that they used.

The buyer’s contact information for 988.com displays an address of “24b1 world trade plaza,” in Torrance, California. No such address exists, but the plaza does exist in Shijiazhuang, China.

Researching past activities of the buyer’s email address, turns up a number of valuable NNNN .com domain names that were in his possession last year. These domains were subsequently returned to their previous owner, who confirmed that they were stolen and were returned with the assistance of the Registrars involved.

These domains were:

1048.com
1049.com
1215.com
1539.com
1844.com
1846.com

There is a chance that the buyer of 988.com acquired stolen domain assets in the past, but the historical WHOIS information points to their current email address, and not that of someone else. The name “Papola Kanto” is being used, along with a different address in Torrance, California.

Domain investors in China are becoming aware of so-called “black rice” domains, or “black domains” which are stolen assets.

Did 988.com sell for $1,000,000 dollars? We will probably never know for sure.

Update 6/30/2017 : 988.com is confirmed stolen.

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