Hi,

I purchased a web hosting business a few months ago (first2host.net). I transferred the domain into my name and everything. About 3 weeks ago, someone changed the domain name into their name. They contacted enom and claimed they have a “certificate of ownership”. I never knew enom gave such things. Anyway, I contacted enom, and they said to forward it to their abuse department. I did, and never heard back from them. (I’ve sent 4 emails so far).

I then contact the previous owner, and he claims he has the credit card bill to prove he paid for it. I contacted the person, who took it, and he basically said “I have the domain certificate and receipt that I paid for it”, yet when I purchased the hosting company, I purchased the company and all its assets (including domain name). The person who STOLE my domain is another hosting company o2host.com! They have redirected my domain to their site. I was averaging 2 – 3 new signups per week, which he is benefiting from now.

Does anyone know what I can do? The only thing I can think of is to employ a lawyer, but that is going to cost me thousands of $! If anyone has any ideas, could you please email me at admin (at) cerebro.com.au

How did you pay for the business you bought? Did you get a contract or receipt that listed the assets you purchased? That is pretty solid proof if you can provide that to eNom.

I have all that! But every time I contact enom, they keep saying refer it to abuse@enom. And I've emailed the 4 times in the past 3 weeks, and haven't heard back! The guy who took it said enom contacted him and he said "he has the certificate of domain ownership", but have you ever heard of enom giving such a certificate!

No I have never heard of eNom giving a certificate like that. I can't exactly remember where but I have heard of them before. Maybe OpenSRS?? Anyway, if the domain was in your eNom account how did this person take it from you? Was it in an eNom reseller or retail account? I would recommend that you call eNom and ask to speak with the abuse department.

it was an enom reseller! There was only that domain under that account. The person who took it said that they will only give it back if my lawyer contacts them! If I'm going to go to a lawyer (I've given them til COB Wednesday), Im going to get him to put fraud charges against them, not just to ask for the domain back, as it will probably cost me the same amount.

So was the domain in your reseller account with your unique login/pwd? Or was the domain in another account that you didn't have control off?

It was in my reseller account. They've got the password and changed all the details. I'm starting to think that it's one of the previous owners of the company, they would have logged in or contaced enom, and said some lie and they beleived them! What my point is that enom are very unhelpfull, they're abuse department hasn't contacted me either way to say that he is the legal owner or that I am! Im sure they will have it on record that til 3 weeks ago the domain was in my name!

So you didn't change the pwd for the reseller account? Did the sale happen here at WHT? I noticed that this thread had the domain for sale once http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=265032&highlight=first2host.com

If you bought via WHT you may want to contact the mods also.

Yes, the sale went through here. I did change the password, but I think I didn't change the password reminder question. One of the owners, the one I negotiated everything with, still claims that he did pay for it! Either way, why isnt' enom replying to my emails.

a) Since the sale was conducted at WHT I would notify the mods.
b) I can't speak for eNom but I know they stay pretty busy with fraud. You may be at the bottom of the pile. No offense but think about it, they had access to your account.
c) If you wanted to be a real jerk the whois info looks flaky. You could report false whois to ICANN -- http://wdprs.internic.net

I might just do that (report to ICANN). But what will they do! How do I go around notifying the mods here, and what could they do?

One way is to use the "Report this post..." link in this thread. Why do the mods need to know? This is a community and WHT has a solid reputation, the only way they can keep a good community is to kick out the rif-raf. Take a look around and you may notice accounts do get disabled.

yeah, but it's not that hard to create a new account. Thanks for your help, I guess the only thing I can do is contact my lawyer and get him to go ahead with the legal proceedings and contact the authorities and report the fraud.

Good luck. I'd still contact the mods and call eNom abuse dept.

In the post, it claims that the .net comes with the sale! Either way, if I don't get it back by tomorrow, I will pay the lawyer to make the people pay for this. including the fraud charges, and componsation for all monies lost, as well as breaking the contract and wanting the money back for the purchase.

martin G in enom's legal dept might be able to assist you .

how do I contact martin G?

enom's general counsel

try calling and asking for him. or email him at martin-at-enom