If there is anyone out there who is familiar with this scenario PLEASE PLEASE help me. I had a domain for a while for my band which was basically the name of my band. I had it registered for a year through 123cheapdomains.com. Like an idiot I let it lapse for about a month before renewing it. I did however renew it. This was about three or four weeks ago that I renewed it. When I renewed it the WHOIS lookup showed the domain as being registered to me but expired. Then when I renewed it showed me as being the person who renewed it but said that my status was pending delete resorable. It also showed the expiration date for my domain registration as 12/31/05. I was however unable to login to the server at 123cheapdomains.com and could not redirect the domain to the physical location of my pages, although the WHOIS lookup said that the domain should be pointing to another place I had stuff stored and it was not redirecting to that location either. I emailed and emailed the company 123cheapdomains.com to do something so I could login and change the domain redirect to no avail. I never heard anything from them. Now, suddenly, when I go try my domain that i had already renewed, it pulls up seco.com or something trying to sell me the rights to my domain for $50!!!!!!! I am po'd majorly. I'm starting to feel like I'm in a testimonial for not using cheap domain registrars but I still need to have my domain back. Does anyone know how I can go about this, I did find some information about disputing with ICANN but does this work?? Does this cost me money?? Hopefully someone out there has been through this BS before and can help me.


Seriously Frustrated

 

 

 

Reply

Domain Hijacking: A Dirty Business

All data from this site: ScamBusters

Here's the worst version of this -- and it can hit anyone if they have enough traffic and don't pay close attention to when their domain registrations expire.

In this situation, someone grabs expired domain names and points them to "those" kinds of sites. This is a "no lose" for the hijacker, as they will profit from the traffic even if the previous owner doesn't pay the requested ransom for the domain.

The more traffic the URL gets, the greater the clickthrough value to the hijacker. This means more potential damage to the original owner -- and a higher ransom to get it back.

In effect, your own popularity is your worst enemy in this case.

The solution to this one is simple -- and very important: Don't let your domain names expire!
Useful Resources
If you find yourself a victim of domain hijacking, there is hope for correcting the problem.

For a more formal explanation of the legal aspects of this problem, visit
http://www.llrx.com/congress/100200.htm

For specific information on the UDRP (Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy), the procedure for taking domain names that are being used in violation of a trademark, see
http://wipo2.wipo.int/process1/index.html

For information on taking action under the Anti-Cybersquatting Act (A US law that provides for damages in addition to the less severe penalties of the UDRP) see
http://www.domain-name.org/cybersquatact.htm

If you have a famous name or trademark, the best defense is to make sure that you register the main variations in both the .com and .net form. The .org is probably only necessary if you are heavily involved with charitable activities.

Protect yourself. Scammers come up with new schemes all the time...

So, keep your eyes open.

 

 

 

Reply

I completely sympathize with you Ploforia. I am in a very similar fix as yours.. Me too like a dump f*** had fallen into the trap of getting domain name for real cheap - but guess from who ?? None other than Yahoo!Domains. They had this offer of names at $4.99 if you registered for 5 years. That's what I did - but somewhere along the line something went wrong with their payment gateway. My credit card never got charged for it. Now under ideal circumstances if they don't receive payment - they don't do anything right ?? No money no honey BUT.. bloody b@$t***s went ahead and registered my domain for 5 YEARS - and now it's COMPLETELY BLOCKED and out of my hands. Whois of course shows it's registered to ME and My Company - all details point to me... As a followup I sent over 40 emails to their domain tech-support and didn't receive a SINGLE response - not even a goddamned autoresponder message.. I even offered to pay more and get it back - but still NOTHING... This issue has been going on since December last year. Presently I'm trying to get in touch with them over phone - lets see how far that gees before meeting up with a blank wall. This is absolutely pathetic and unbecoming of a company of Yahoo's repute.

I even paid a company called Sedo.Com who can negotiate with other companies and grab your domain for you. Even they weren't succesful in getting it from Yahoo.

However my next purchase through GoDaddy.Com went really well - and I'm more than satisfied with their service and I think I'm going to stick to them for all my future purchases. I highly recommend their service to you too - and if you register for 10 years at one go - the price comes down to around $72 for the entire period.. I don't really mind $7 per year for a domain name. Quite cheap I'd say

All the best with your effort...

Reply

never buy domains from these sites...
yahoo is providing domains for really cheap now as a special offer.. its much more reliable... godaddy and register.com and also big names and reliable.

Reply

Didn't you read my post above.. I HATE YAHOO!!!!! with all my heart and soul.. They are one of those prime examples of domain squater.. In fact they are even worse - since they DO IT TO THEIR OWN PROSPECTIVE CUSTOMERS... Read my sad story above, again, and you'll know why...

Reply

Yahoo huh. Wow if you can't even trust them who can you trust. I am just disgusted with the whole shabang. It sure makes the proliferation of the internet a lot less likely when doing business is that risky that somebody could just hold your stuff for ransom when you already paid for it. And as for SECO.com they are the company that is squating my domain so I will definitely bad mouth them every chance I get. Hope things work out for you and I microscopic~... A good tutorial on how to prevent this crap from happening or a solution to deal with it or something this is just ridiculous that people can get away with this. Vigilante justice never seemed so sweet.

Reply