Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Domain Names : Domain stolen by GoDaddy from NameCheap

[Trix]

Hi All,

Wondering if you could give me a bit of advice on below situation:


12/06/2009
I purchased a .me domain from mitok on namepros.com, and transferred it to my dynadot account (free push, order 830153).

12/06/2009
Transferred it to my preferred registrar namecheap.com (ORDR:1997645-TRAN:2341025)

13/06/2009
Transfer completed from dynadot -> namecheap (Order ID: 1997645, Tranfer Order ID : 36347903.

18-19/08/2011
Domain stolen from my namecheap account (email says both Transferred Date : 8/18/2011 9:25:18 PM and Date: 8/19/2011 1:40:47 AM).

19/08/2011
I log a support ticket with namecheap, as soon as I see the transfer email (#CBT-685-66510).

05/10/2011
eNom say that "FOA from Godaddy.com shows that this domain was transferred to them in August 2009" - which is a complete lie (why would I want to transfer a domain to a registrar that I'm trying to get away from? ).


Is there any other recourse? I obviously do not want to lose this domain!

[unique-links]

Its really a bad, to see such activities by such large companies, have you contacted the namescheap on this? they can only help you in this regard..

[stub]

You need to ask NameCheap why they transferred a domain without your authorization. It also seems weird to me why the transfer date is 2 years ago. There is definitely something weird going on here.

[Trix]

support ticket with namecheap seems to be going nowhere

[Techno]

Was the transfer email from NameCheap or GoDaddy?
What does the WHOIS say - for Registrar and Date Last Updated?

[Trix]

The only email I got regarding it was from namecheap.

Thankfully GoDaddy still have it locked:

Domain Status:CLIENT DELETE PROHIBITED
Domain Status:CLIENT HOLD
Domain Status:CLIENT RENEW PROHIBITED
Domain Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Domain Status:CLIENT UPDATE PROHIBITED

[stub]

If the FOA was in 2009, I wonder why it took GoDaddy 2 years to go after the domain? If GoDaddy are claiming it was stolen, then I'd ask mitok for my money back. You might also ask eNom for a copy of GoDaddy's FOA, but doubt they will give it.

So far, it looks like Dynadot is a better place to keep your domains rather than eNom/NameCheap. eNom refused to go after a domain I won in their auction at NameWinner, which was stolen by the previous registrant. This is still a very sore point for me, even after all these years have passed, and why I only have a handful of domains left in eNom (from thousands), and don't use NameCheap (although I don't have a beef with NameCheap).

[NataT]

Hello Trix,

There was an issue of your Namecheap account being hacked back in 2009 (which you are aware of) and that is where this discrepancy may be coming from. We are investigating this issue further with eNom and GoDaddy to try to get it resolved.

We'll keep you updated via support ticket.

Kind regards,
Nata T.
Namecheap.com

[Trix]

Thanks for the update NataT. Strange that GoDaddy have taken two years to take the domain! - I didn't put the two events together in my head.

stub, why would eNom not provide the FOA if I requested it? I did my research when I purchased the domain, and am sure it wasn't stolen back then.

[Dave Zan]

Originally Posted by Trix

stub, why would eNom not provide the FOA if I requested it?

Probably because they felt that was "too sensitive" an information to be shared, and could be used against them, even though that isn't always necessarily the case.

[stub]

Precisely Dave.

Well at least this thread has got the ball rolling again at NameCheap. Seems like Trix's account was hacked 2 years ago. Now things make a lot more sense.

[TDS-chriss]

Originally Posted by Trix

Strange that GoDaddy have taken two years to take the domain! - I didn't put the two events together in my head.

The difference between the dynadot -> namecheap transfer and the godaddy transfer is 2 years, 2 months, 5 days. Which is somewhat close to that of an expired domain with a 2 year reg period.

If I had to guess, it would be that the domain was on godaddy's books somewhere, expired and went to their auction system, at which time the transfer was effected.

I could also be completely wrong and the timing could just be a coincidence.

[Trix]

Originally Posted by stub

Precisely Dave.

Well at least this thread has got the ball rolling again at NameCheap. Seems like Trix's account was hacked 2 years ago. Now things make a lot more sense.

Yep, by a fellow WHT member none the less , namecheap where very helpful over that incident.

It's weird as I've been updating DNS entiries/paying this whole time.. seems the domain has both namecheap & godaddy dns servers.

[aselmani]

What a strange case.

Hope you get your domain name back.