I wondered if anyone here had actually ever had a domain stolen or hijacked by another person, which is the subject of the 'lock' and other hurdles that are commonly put in place for alleged security reasons..

Not issues with registrars holding domains and the like, but actually had someone successfully transfer an unlocked domain away from you??

I have never actually heard of, or seen, one of these, and I'd be very interested to know what happened....

Well, something along those lines happened to me. I registered a domain name that had recently expired, went with the registrars default "under construction" page.

Three-four days later when I loaded up the domain I saw a black page with a picture of a molested teddy bear and the text: "Did web pirates grab your domain? Contact us at xyz to get your domain back" or something along those lines.

I obviously didn't contact these guys, I contacted the registrar and they were quick to get it back.

A bit silly, but I was pretty surprised to see that black page -- I took a few screenshots just to make sure I hadn't lost my mind.

do you still have the screenshots? post them if you have time :)

Yes, I had my domain hijacked...

I had one of my websites, www.CoolGuest.com (a free guestbook service) registered at www.weblaunching.net ... they asked for renewal, I paid... they never processed the money, and my domain name never renewed, and got bought over by another company, starting the exact date the domain name expired...

*OR* they were *REALLY* quick, *OR* they just had a plot against me or sth ;)

There was nothing I can do about it, since they never processed my money... something went wrong, but I think they at least could have sent me a warning...

There is always things you can do, especially if it is online. :)

Originally posted by Angel78
do you still have the screenshots? post them if you have time :)

Sure! I've uploaded it to: http://www.editmysiteonline.com/domain.jpg

:) wow and did your registrar told you how did they did it?

No, not at all. I called them up, and when I told the guy what had happened he quickly said "ok, I'll fix it right away, thanks for calling" and basically hung up, he didn't leave room for complaints or dumb questions. :-)

And whats funny, the next day it was no longer the black page, but something completely different. Really bizarre:

http://www.editmysiteonline.com/domain2.jpg

.. After about a day of that, it came back to the normal "under construction" page.

Can't tell you what had happened.