Domain investor Ammar Kubba‘s initial shock, after discovering that the newly acquired domain Ammar.com was stolen, didn’t last long.
Kubba acquired the domain ‘in good faith’, after its seller assured the broker handling the exchange, that the domain had been in his possession legitimately.
Ultimately, award-winning French photojournalist, Ammar Abd Rabbo responded in public about the domain Ammar.com, declaring its removal from his Network Solutions account an outright theft.
Ammar.com has been reclaimed.
After researching the domain’s tracks, it became apparent that a Russian seller who approached Kubba twice in recent months to sell the domain, acquired it directly from a thief at a price much lower than its value.
That theft occurred in November 2014 and it remained unnoticed by Ammar Abd Rabbo, as he was forwarding the domain name.
The Russian seller has been involved in other recent sales of stolen domain names, and he’s therefore untrustworthy.
According to Simon Byrne, administrator of DNForum, the seller has been banned. The same seller has been suspended from Flippa for the auction of another formerly stolen domain, NPSA.com.
Meanwhile, Ammar Kubba’s funds were returned by the domain broker, who arranged for the domain’s return to Ammar Abd Rabbo. As of today, Ammar.com redirects to Ammar.Photoshelter.com, as it did before.
Ammar Abd Rabbo operates Ammar.pics as well.
The moral of the story: even experienced domain investors can be fooled when acquiring domain names. When a domain’s price is considerably lower than its value, one must perform extensive due diligence to ensure the domain name’s legitimacy.
Who was the broker?