Webmasters, Go Lock Your Domains Right Now!

[JenC]

Luckily I use Domain Name Systems and all my stuff is locked by default I think. I got this email today about this guy's story with GoDaddy:

-----------


Hi there,

If you're getting this email today, it's because you're either on one of the regular visitors
to the GayCamZ / CamsGuys shows or because you're a webmaster and you're on my
newsletter list for AdultNetSupport.

Whatever it is, I wanted to take a few moments to let you know what happened to my site,
CamsGuys.com, last week.

For my regular visitors to the site, I hope this will shed some light on where the free shows
went. For everyone else, I hope this can come as a warning to you as to what can happen
if you're not careful.

About two weeks ago I received an email from GoDaddy (http://www.godaddy.com)
requesting me to "confirm" a transfer of one of my sites (CamsGuys) over to their
company. It instructed me to click a link in the email to confirm this transfer. Since I've
never done business with GoDaddy and because I knew nothing about this, I replied to the
email and told them in NO uncertain terms that this transfer was in no way initiated by me
and they were NOT to touch my site. Well, about 3 or 4 days later I received another
email asking me again. Again, I replied back and told them to not do the transfer. I
thought that was the end of it.

Well, on Thursday afternoon of last week, one of the guys on my site called to let me
know the site was down. I checked and it wasn't "down", but there was an admin screen
on the page for GoDaddy. I then checked the "WHOIS" information and was told that MY
site that I had paid for in May was now belonging to the following person...

**********************************
Registrant:
Maurice Reynolds
P.O.Box 3255
Detroit, Michigan 48228
United States

Registered through: GoDaddy.com
Domain Name: CAMSGUYS.COM
Created on: 19-Jun-03
Expires on: 19-Jun-05
Last Updated on: 25-Sep-03

Secure the registration to this domain or
anyother the instant it becomes available.
DomainAlert(TM) Pro services protect, inform and
keep you in the action, 24/7.
Visit http://www.godaddy.com for details.

Administrative Contact:Reynolds, Maurice mobilevideoguyz@yahoo.com P.O.Box 3255 Detroit, Michigan 48228 United States
(438) 754-9987 Fax --

Technical Contact:Reynolds, Maurice
mobilevideoguyz@yahoo.com
P.O.Box 3255
Detroit, Michigan 48228
United States
(438) 754-9987 Fax --

Domain servers in listed order:
PARK9.SECURESERVER.NETP
ARK10.SECURESERVER.NET

**********************************
I imediately tried to get in contact with my current registrar, Dotster
(http://www.dotdnr.com). Unfortunately, they didn't have a telephone number listed on
their site so I had to send in a support ticket. In the meantime, I went ahead and tried
calling GoDaddy to see what had happened. This is where the fun begins...

I called GoDaddy and without getting into too much detail, their attitude was they did
nothing wrong and that if I wanted the domain back I should hire a lawyer and sue the
person that took it. They even admitted that they received the two emails from me stating
to NOT transfer it, but went ahead with the transfer after the third request. It seems that
after sending me two emails and not getting anywhere, "Maurice" somehow (how I have
no idea) hacked his way into my Dotster account, changed the email address, put in a
thired request, and then approved the transfer himself (because he received the email
from GiDaddy). When I tried discussing this with GoDaddy, they totally and completely
refused to hear it. The only advice they could offer was to sue "Maurice" or file a
complaint with ICANN (something that costs $1500.00).

After getting nowhere with GoDaddy, I decided to call my hosting provider to see if they
had any suggestions. It seems another of their customers had this very same problem
with this very same guy. Apparantly, he does this on a regular basis.

I should also add, that over the weekend he brought my site back up with all of MY images
that my guys had submitted to me and that I owned in conjunction with them. He had
changed the entrance to my member's area to a "SexKey" entrance and was making
money off of my surfers.

At this point I sent an email to Maurice demanding that he immediately return my domain
or face civil and criminal penalties because I intended to inform the FBI about this Internet
fraud. This was his response to me...

"Hi! I'll give your domain back. Would you consider to buy it? Thanks"

I immediately emailed him back telling him I would not "buy" it back and that he could
then add extortion to the list of crimes he had committed. He then wrote back to me
saying he would send it back if I attempted to transfer the domain back he would approve
it. I did, and I've seen no evidence that he's done as he said he would.

I received a call a little while ago from Dotster telling me they were looking into this. I
think I'll eventually get this site back, but whether it's going to be today, tomorrow, next
week, or next month…I don’t know.

I'd like to ask all of my surfers to the site to please be patient. We're working on getting
the site back, and eventually will.

For all the webmasters who get this, please take this as a warning. Call your registrar and
have them "lock" all of your domains ASAP. This can prevent this type of thing from
happening to you. I've done a lot of reading on this type of thing the past week and it’s
much more common than many of you might think. If your domains aren't locked, it can
be a fairly easy process for them to get in and steal your domains. And, believe me…it's
pure hell trying to get them back.

I'd like to add that if you're using GoDaddy as your registrar you might want to
re-consider it. They're business practices are abhorrent and I can't believe the attitude
they took with me over this. I can understand this thing happening…it's 2003 and this is
just a part of life. What I don't understand is what they did after it happened. I'm just
dumb-founded that they could be used in stealing someone's domain and then when it is
made perfectly clear that it was theft and fraud they refused to do ANYTHING about it.
They wouldn’t even investigate it or look into it. All they could do is try and wash their
hands of any responsibility.

Also, if you have a few minutes, drop Maurice an email (his address is above) and tell him
what kind if a low-life bottom feeder he is. I'm not sure I believe in Karma, but if there is
such a thing I surely hope he gets what he deserves one day.

Thanks for reading this. If it helps just one person it was worth the time it took to write it.

Joey

[DangerDave]

http://www.greenguysboard.com/board/...=&threadid=954

DD

[Tommy]

it seems when ever you hear of hijacked domains lately

godaddy is involved

I got a feelin that godaddy is either run by a bunch of crooks or owned by a bunch of crooks

I would sue godaddy

[JenC]

Originally posted by DangerDave

http://www.greenguysboard.com/board/...=&threadid=954

DD

Geez.....apparently that guy IS in the business of doing it all the time. |pissed|

[Nickname]

Ok dude, i just fired of a mail to him about him giving back the domain within 7 days else he is facing legal actions from 15 respected people on the net
lets see if it helps

It really sucks what happened to you, hope ya get the domain back soon......

[Surfn]

I have all my domains locked. And you are right Tommy, it does seem like GoDaddy is in the middle of a ton of questionable business practices.

[JenC]

Originally posted by Nickname
Ok dude, i just fired of a mail to him about him giving back the domain within 7 days else he is facing legal actions from 15 respected people on the net
lets see if it helps

It really sucks what happened to you, hope ya get the domain back soon......

Just for the record, it didn't happen to me. I just got that email out of the blue and I don't even know the guy. I must be on his mailing list or something. Anyway it still sucks and I'm sure he appreciates your help.

[Nickname]

ooops, I forgot that it was something that you read and not you(Jennifer) that it happened to, doesnt matter, that guy is scum and I hope the guy gets his domain back,

it kinda happened to me about 3 years ago too......my very first domain name bustingamateurs.com was stolen from me, I registered it with some low price just strated domain registrar that went out of bussiness a couple of months later, so I could'nt log-in and change the nameservers....and just 1 week after that it was someone elses name on the whois.....now I think the domain is for sale or something

[Nickname]

yea, It came to my mind when I hit the Submit button LOL

[Norad]

Once again, this is prolly a stupid question, but if this person is hacking registar accounts, then what will it matter if the domain(s) are locked?

Norad

[Surfn]

Originally posted by Norad
Once again, this is prolly a stupid question, but if this person is hacking registar accounts, then what will it matter if the domain(s) are locked?

Norad

From what I understand he impersonated the owner by snail mail and never accessed the online control panel. If your domain is locked then they have to go into the control panel and unlock it before the attempt to move it.

You can bet your ass it's more secure that just letting your domain fly open on the web. |rasta|

[Norad]

Mine are locked, but I was just understanding it as the registar's being hacked. My bad. See, I knew it would have been a stupid question

Norad

[Surfn]

Originally posted by Norad
Mine are locked, but I was just understanding it as the registar's being hacked. My bad. See, I knew it would have been a stupid question

Norad

Not a stupid question. Just a wrong perspective |drunk|

[Fonz]

Thanx for the heads up, I have all my domains with GoDaddy, checked their statys and they were all "Active". Took me about 10 seconds to lock them all.

Those 10 seconds could spare me a lot of misery |afro|

[vicki]

[quote]Originally posted by topsmutlinks
[b]Luckily I use Domain Name Systems and all my stuff is locked by default I think. I got this email today about this guy's story with GoDaddy:

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I use Domainnamesystems too and yes, all domains are locked by default

Gord is a buddy of mine and I know for a fact he's gone to bat for many a webmaster that had something such as this happen.
The hard part is when the hacker gets into the registrars system using LEGITIMATE user,pass combinations ... it appears to them as if its the true owner accessing and is much harder to do battle with.
One thing i'd suggest is to use a DIFFERENT user, pass combination for your registrar that you use anywhere else!
I know of incidents where unscrupulous hosts (resellers mainly) have gotten into peoples domain accounts and I also know of a couple times that a person associated with a sponsor program did the same thing.

Your information should be unique and unpredictable, don't make it easy on those arseholes!

IMHO thats the single most important tip for someone that makes a living off their domains.

[urb]

I cut all dealings with GoDaddy since Torn had problems with katvixen. |skull|

[Julene]

I locked all my domains at godaddy. I only started using them a few months ago.

Most of my stuff is at directnic..

[mijoon]

Thanx TSL , .
I just locked all my domains too.

[DangerDave]

In GoDaddys defence..

I moved more domains TO GoDaddy yesterday and have never had a problem with them.. and have over 400 domains there.

DD

[vicki]

Originally posted by DangerDave
In GoDaddys defence..

I moved more domains TO GoDaddy yesterday and have never had a problem with them.. and have over 400 domains there.

DD

Its good to hear you've had no problems, my only concern is ... IF there were ever a problem, would you get the type of 'non'-support from them that so many others have, when you're trying to resolve it.

I have only a couple domains at go-daddy (I purchased them from another webmaster) and so far no prob but they come up for renewal in December so I'm transferring them to my normal registrar where I KNOW I won't have a problem with customer support!
Of course it helps knowing I can personally kick that registrars shin If I did - hubby and I go deep sea fishing with he and his wife a few times a year hehehehe

[firehorse]

Thanks for the heads up TSL!

Peace and Profit

[DangerDave]

Originally posted by vicki
Its good to hear you've had no problems, my only concern is ... IF there were ever a problem, would you get the type of 'non'-support from them that so many others have, when you're trying to resolve it.

Vicki, There can always be a prob with ANY registrar. Shit how many people DIDNT have problems with Network Solutions..

Either way.. safe practice will keep you safe 99% of the time.. No one else has access to my accounts, my domains are locked, I regularly track my domains etc etc..

I have had little stuff ups with them and picked up the phone and got it sorted.

Of course.. not every domain I own is with GoDaddy.

DD

[Cluck]

I've read a few complaints of people cracking registrar accounts on message boards lately. Most of the time It's been that the person cracked the owners POP3 and reset the password.

[Pusher]

You can lock your domains at GoDaddy for free by going into "My Account", then "Domain Details" and click on Manage Locks. You can lock all your domains at once.

[Surfn]

I wouldn't use a registrar that charged for something like that.