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Scam Targeting Bloggers and Real Estate Domainers

By
Services for Real Estate Pros

I happened to receive an email yesterday for one of my clients, sent to my webmaster email that is on all his domain names to help him.  It looked like this....

Hi,

My name is Brandon Birdwell and I would be interested in buying your domain ____.COM from you. Are you interested in selling it? If yes, how much would you want for it? What payment method would you prefer?

And just in case you are wondering how I got your email, anyone can get that info at whois.net

Regards,

Brandon Birdwell

**********************

I didn't think anything about it because this client owns about 100 domain names, so I forwarded it on to him.  Oddly, the original email address didn't attach, so this morning my client asked me what his email was.  I had deleted the email, and feeling badly, I Googled that odd name.  I found a dentist and a Yale student, which didn't seem right.  I kept going down the results and then found a blog called Blog To Great, which described the same email and advised that it was a scam.  This is what they had to say about it...

Funny thing is, the domain he inquired about from me is "parked" at Sedo, who provides full info on my domain's web page on how to contact them to buy.   It seems this person is looking for people wanting to sell via Paypal and would likely reverse payment after they have the domain name.

I know that many of us in the real estate industry tend to get caught up in the domain-buying addiction. I certainly have . So we need to all be careful from now on with inquiries that sound too exciting and come from nowhere. Looks like we are their latest target.  I feel sorry for these two people with the name of Brandon Birdwell! ####

Myrtle Beach Real Estate 

Comments (7)

Anonymous
Sam.

Just got an identical email. Thanks for giving heads up.

Mar 12, 2009 05:31 AM
#1
Anonymous
doug

it is a simple scam , he will only buy if you get an appreaissal from a firm called Pedma Appraissal. He obviously works there or owns the site

Mar 13, 2009 11:12 PM
#2
Anonymous
Anonymous

Great post and thanks for the heads up! If you really want to book Myrtle Beach Rentals you should check out our site!

Mar 15, 2009 04:43 AM
#3
Jan Chilton
Myrtle Beach, SC
Real Estate Marketing

Note to those who drop spam comments - The comments are "no-followed", which means Google doesn't give juice for them.  You are wasting your time.

To the other two, thanks for commenting.

Jan

Mar 15, 2009 05:24 AM
Anonymous
Bec

I've also received that same email, word for word and then when I asked for an offer, I got the let's use the Pedma for an appraisal. ...And it's not just targeting real estate domains. Sure glad I googled and found this post before going further with him! Thanks!

Mar 15, 2009 05:50 AM
#5
Marilyn Harrell
Better Homes and Acres - Beaverton, MI
Wixom Lake - Beaverton MI

Always something new (AND BAD) to look out for........What a shame!

Apr 25, 2009 08:31 AM
Anonymous
prashant

Great post ...thank you .

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<a href="http://www.randygridley.com"> Boise real estate </a>

Jul 15, 2009 05:55 AM
#7