Domain names are getting stolen more often than what you think.
We received this report of a stolen domain, zhibo8.com – and we publish it unedited. The story is scary, because the domain involved has a tremendous amount of traffic associated with it.
Shame On Enom! My website domain name stolen, rank 1600+ in Alexa
My domain name is zhibo8.com,which is ranked 1600+ in alexa.The Biggest Sports Live index Site in China.
A month ago, somebody invaded my email to steal my Godaddy account and password, and then my website domain name (zhibo8.com) was illegally transferred from Godaddy to Enom. Then I immediately contacted the transfer disptes of Godaddy, they agreed to assist me to get it back. After I submitted my passport to Godaddy, they asked Enom to transfer back the domain name. However, Enom provided me with a form which needs my signature. I’ve done it! But there weren’t any responses from Enom. So, I had to contacted Enom again. They replied that they were still reviewing my form, furthermore, they asked for my passport, and I offered it right away! There were still no responses from Enom to both me and Godaddy after 2 weeks. But today,Enom respond me with their refusal,they said the transfer of this domain was a valid transaction as per icann transfer plicy and regulations,they can not get the domain back to me.
What A FUN! This is stolen event, a famous domain stolen event in China,most of the Webmaster and Domainer know this event in China,most of the Chinese media had report this event. Godaddy can prove our account and domain was stolen, but ENOM, with it’s negative in the past one month after my domain was stolen,they said it was “a valid transaction as per icann transfer plicy and regulations”! I feel helpless,and disappoint!
Most important, zhibo8.com is very popular among Chinese sport fans. It has built up a high reputation among Chinese people, especially among Chinese youth. Everyday I suffer colossal loss of website flow since my domain name has been stolen, if Enom still doesn’t take any action! Cause of the hacker maliciously mapped my domain name(zhibo8.com) to zbzb.com(which attached a lot of illegal Ads), and Enom doesn’t take any effective action, I have nothing to do but just wait day after day, with the loss is growing!
I need Enom’s help against the thief, but I don’t know what the hell they are doing! Shame it!
PS: Spain’s Marca has reported zhibo8.com has extensive influence in China.
Let’s hope this gets resolved soon.
Few years ago we had a similar case. The scammer had the domain at NameCheap.com. I contacted NameCheap.com CEO with all the proofs but he was not very warm to do anything. As presure was growing the scammer moved it to ENOM, and we lost the name.
Despite all the proofs from DNForum.com and Paypal.com the registrar ENOM protected the scammer, so it’s possible you have lost your domain for true.
Francois – It seems that it is harder for residents of other countries to convince American companies about their issues with stolen domains.
Some information regarding zhibo8.com :
Today it resolved to 122.228.207.232 which is zbzb.com:
http://whois.domaintools.com/122.228.207.232
That IP is currently down.
Screenshots.com shows that as recently as March 23, 2012 the domain zhibo8.com was up with content unrelated to zbzb.com : http://www.screenshots.com/zhibo8.com/
This is really shame! Enom must help him.
Yes,I think it’s nessary for every domainer pay attation to this matter,and help or give advise for him
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Thanks for bringing this to your readership.
enom needs to be cyber-spanked!
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WHAT kind of attitude prevails at ENOM…???…This is tantamount to being party to criminal behaviour.
Try harder, ENOM…!!
HOW can they justify this? Doesn’t anyone in the domain industry registrars have a decent set of ethics & standards? They have a responsibility to protect the assets of their customers – and, to NOT be a party to unethical, or criminal, behaviour…..Its a lazy, take the money, attitude – and the hell with people.
Indeed. Shame on ENOM.
OMG! No way! What can be done to dog and stop giving business to ENOM…? How do we verify this really happened? I have been off twitter today but imagine there are quite a few comments about it…
We dont like China …but we can not have business with a god father of robbers,thieves and hijackers like ENOM
I’m really surprised that such a thing could happen in 2012! Well, let ALL domain investors and well-wishers rise up and fight the good fight for this guy. Let us individually and collectively fight it out in the courts, all over the world, ASAP. It may be you tomorrow! So, so, sad.
IF TRUE (and I do not know whether it is or not) that Enom is being awkward about this then it does not bode well for Fabulous.com with whom they are now “heavily involved” . I think Enom should be asked to comment on this thread and give their reasons why they are not transferring the domain, then at least we can see from their side.
Someone has just tweeted this thread on Twitter using twitter user name @enomsucks
STEAL IT BACK!
So far there is no information regarding eNom’s response.
zhibo8.com is indeed currently redirected to zbzb.com. It appears that the whois (past and present) for zbzb.com is not in privacy mode, whois info here: who.is/domain_archive-com/…/
maybe contact with is party could shed some light on this theft, here’s hoping anyway.
Apparently, the owner posted about his plea here as well.
You can file a UDRP claim.
This is really shame I will pray for you. I hope you fight to the end don’t stop, ask for donations from domainers to pay for Attorneys fees etc. Set up a website were people can donate to an account for you. There are people out there in the domain world with big hearts that can help you.
On the flip side:
I hope this can help anyone who owns a domain(s). My understanding is not to use a free email addresses use one from a domain as in LLLL.com then make the hardest password you can come with like W1p687UA269ki48Lq6 (if they let you underscore do it). Also do not use the same password for everything you do Bank accounts, websites, facebook, twitter etc. mix it up or hackers may ruin your life completely. Oh and do not store any personal information in your email(s) accounts or iphones (phones get lost) etc. This is just friendly advice from a friend of mine. That is about all you can do to protect yourself!
Good luck my friend I hope all works out for you.
Joel
I hope you to take the domain back ASAP. I will support you strongly. Don’t worry and Keep going.
For this case I feel it sounds like a murder. What was happened in this case? Owner’s email password was stolen, Godaddy’s password was stolen, and the the thief knows the rules of domain game.
I justify that the thief might know the owner and his website. To steal the domain the thief had made a particular plan.
I suggest the owner to sue the thief in the court of USA in order to protect the fair enviornment in current domain marketing.
enom sucks…
I wonder if this post has reached the attention of high ups at Enom already. Perhaps someone with contacts at Enom has forwarded the url already.
If Enom do not move fast to rectify this issue, I suggest getting in contact with a domain lawyer such as John Berryhill. In the first instance, the lawyer can write threatening letter to Enom. If that doesn’t get Enom’s attention, then you can take them to court. I would not have waited 2 weeks before doing starting on the legal action route, since evidently quite a lot of money is at stake.
It doesn’t matter whether your legal case is strong or not, just doing this will get attention from senior staff at Enom and hopefully galvanize them into action.
I believe there are ways of getting the police involved in this too–maybe someone can elaborate.
At the risk of sounding like I’m defending eNom, here goes:
The problem there is how to “prove” to eNom the domain name was indeed hijacked. It would’ve been easier if, say, the form of payment to pay for that transfer was from an equally compromised account or credit card.
Like other registrars I’m sure, eNom’s gotten its share of others claiming their domains were also hijacked, only to find out it’s a civil dispute between two individuals. You could say that’s “jaded” some registrars when dealing with alleged domain-hijacking cases.
In essence, eNom only has the OP’s “word” it’s his domain name and that it was hijacked. Unfortunately that’s where Go Daddy is also stuck: how to prove that to eNom as well.
Of course, they could always use whatever “goodwill” they’ve established between themselves (e.g. we’ll help you recover one of your clients’ domains from our system if you help us recover that for our customer’s). Whether that’s “good” or “bad” depends where you stand, especially if you’re actually involved in said dispute.
I can only wish the OP good luck in trying to recover that domain name.