Domain investor, Richard Dynas, shared his recent experience of how he was scammed out of $2,000 dollars in an attempt to acquire the domain Technology.com, without using Escrow.com or a comparable service.
A person calling herself “Barbara Untergasser” approached Dynas, offering to sell him the domain. Negotiations lasted about two weeks, during which, the scammer gained Richard’s trust; “she” even used a fabricated Austrian passport for this purpose.
Dynas was asked to wire the funds to a third party, that “Barbara Untergasser” owed money to. He was going to send the reminder via Western Union, for a total of $120,000 dollars.
In his own words, Richard Dynas blames himself for the loss of the funds, which were sent via bank wire:
- It was 100% greedy
- I dont blame anyone but myself
- Not looking for sympathy – I hope others will learn from my mistake
- I am out 2K – I can live with that. I paid 2K to learn a valuable lesson.
- I received an email from enom (I though) that said transfer was in progress so I released the funds
- I know it was stupid!
Technology.com is under WHOIS privacy; the scammer, who is apparently from Nigeria, sent out a fake email to suggest that the domain was “in transfer” so that Richard Dynas would release the funds.
Richard Dynas considers this monetary loss to be a valuable lesson, which he shared in a recent domain thread over at NamePros.
