Accused of Site Theft **HELP PLEASE**

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Have you read your escrow contract? Contact your escrow company and see what they have to say. Were title services part of what you paid the escrow company? If so, they can help you with this.
 
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I signed up for domaintools and I got the whois.com information for the past 12 years until 2001.

From 2001 to mid 2012. One guy owned the domain. The name and company don't even match the alleged owner of the domain.


From 2012 early 2013. A non-US person owned the domain

then from May 2013 till recently the guy that I paid through escrow and the private money transfer is listed as the owner of the domain.

But then again, I bought the domain in may and did a 3 month payment until July. So it looks like, the guy got the domain and immediately put it up for auction on flippa...
 
I have my opinions about what is going on with the guy who is claiming rights to the domain...

But opinions only muddy the waters, so are best kept...

However in your position I would get legal advice on your position - which will clarify all the issues and enable you to move on...
 
It looks like a scam. Why this new 'owner' doesn't contact the first owner if he told you that he knew about it? Why you? Why now? Just ignore him and move on.
 
A lot of horrendous advice, as usual, in this thread. I'm tempted to delete the thread as idiots giving legal advice is very dangerous. People should NOT be giving legal advice when they haven't got a clue what they are talking about.

@ OP -

1) Flippa's "ownership" verification is misleading. They are not verifying legal ownership, they are merely verifying control of the domain. Ownership and control are very different things. If you do end up losing the domain I would recommend having a lawyer look at Flippa's claim to have "verified" ownership.

As a general comment, as someone else mentioned, it's highly unlikely anyone is going to come after you in court over a $17k domain as it wouldn't be worth the cost. ICANN may well have an arbitration process so you may want to read into that. If you did pay for stolen property, then you might be out of luck, I'm afraid.

Finally, speak to a lawyer. Stop talking to the "owner" now and take proper legal advice before you say/do anything you shouldn't.
 
Thanks for the advice Meathead

I've emailed a bunch of domain name dispute attorneys so hopefully I should hear something soon. Most likely I'll have to pay some kind of consulting fee.

Anyways i'll update what happens..
 
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meathead1234 said:
A lot of horrendous advice, as usual, in this thread. I'm tempted to delete the thread as idiots giving legal advice is very dangerous. People should NOT be giving legal advice when they haven't got a clue what they are talking about.

@ OP -

1) Flippa's "ownership" verification is misleading. They are not verifying legal ownership, they are merely verifying control of the domain. Ownership and control are very different things. If you do end up losing the domain I would recommend having a lawyer look at Flippa's claim to have "verified" ownership.

As a general comment, as someone else mentioned, it's highly unlikely anyone is going to come after you in court over a $17k domain as it wouldn't be worth the cost. ICANN may well have an arbitration process so you may want to read into that. If you did pay for stolen property, then you might be out of luck, I'm afraid.

Finally, speak to a lawyer. Stop talking to the "owner" now and take proper legal advice before you say/do anything you shouldn't.
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So speaks the voice of vast experience and knowledge.
So good in fact that it is worth repeating :)

although to be honest, I would prefer the thread to remain live, simply because
it serves as a good template for others who may have encountered similar situations.
 
well a lawyer told me to change my whois information to reflect my non-US address, then transfer the whois and hosting to my local providers here. Then he will draft a letter to this guy.... cost is $500

Should I do this or should I wait until he or the lawyer contacts me again? $500 can buy me some pretty great linkbuilding services here :(
 
I felt for you buddy, just ignore that loser. If I had an ability to know his personal info and "ugly" face who accused you for site theft, I would have kicked that guy's sorry butt for real, and may even do the "chokeslam" right in front of the public
 
wwallace1 said:
well a lawyer told me to change my whois information to reflect my non-US address, then transfer the whois and hosting to my local providers here. Then he will draft a letter to this guy.... cost is $500

Should I do this or should I wait until he or the lawyer contacts me again? $500 can buy me some pretty great linkbuilding services here :(
Click to expand...

Amending WHOIS to reflect an address outside the US will help, as soon as they realise you're not resident in the US it will get a lot more expensive to pursue you. I'm not sure how changing hosting will help when protecting a domain - all registrars have to abide by ICANN rules when it comes to .com domains. That sounds expensive for a letter but if he's already given you his time elsewhere it might be okay. Try the user aaronklaw on here - he's pretty good when it comes to all things online.

In general, you should take the advice of your lawyer. $500 may well be able to buy you some link-building, but it's a small investment to protect your $17k outlay.
 
Not giving legal advise, but if it was me, I would ignore it- as far as your concerned you haven't done anything wrong, and you have no reason to entertain him, and even less to start giving him your personal info.

tell him to go see his lawyer - IF he is telling the truth, and his layer contacts you with proof, then you probably will lose the domain and the money you paid (as stated above, if you but stolen goods, known or unknown, you don't have any rights to those goods).
however, until it gets to that stage, I don't think you have a problem.
NOTE: that's just my opinion, not my advise.
 
cheezyboy said:
I felt for you buddy, just ignore that loser. If I had an ability to know his personal info and "ugly" face who accused you for site theft, I would have kicked that guy's sorry butt for real, and may even do the "chokeslam" right in front of the public
Click to expand...

What are you talking about? More bad advice. If the person contacting the OP did genuinely have the domain stolen, then his grievances are perfectly justifiable. The rest of your advice is just juvenile - there was a time when the majority of posts on a thread on BHW would be useful, unfortunately, judging by this thread, it's more like 10% that make any sense.
 
meathead1234 said:
Amending WHOIS to reflect an address outside the US will help, as soon as they realise you're not resident in the US it will get a lot more expensive to pursue you. I'm not sure how changing hosting will help when protecting a domain - all registrars have to abide by ICANN rules when it comes to .com domains. That sounds expensive for a letter but if he's already given you his time elsewhere it might be okay. Try the user aaronklaw on here - he's pretty good when it comes to all things online.

In general, you should take the advice of your lawyer. $500 may well be able to buy you some link-building, but it's a small investment to protect your $17k outlay.
Click to expand...


Good point, but my whois is protected by domainsbyproxy and the actual whois won't be revealed by a simple whois.com look up...maybe I should cancel my privacy subscription?

Anyways thanks for the recommendation, I sent aaronklaw a PM :)
 
Without a ton more details nobody can give you solid advice. There are so many paths available if there are any truths to the claims.

With that said, I'd not pay this Attorney $500 for a letter. His advice is haphazard at best. I suspect his specialty isn't International Domain claims. This is a very specialized field so soliciting advice from online Attorneys offering free consultation isn't going to get you great results.

Flippa had a few guest posts from an Attorney a while back that specialized in Domain claims. I'd suggest you reach out to him and see what advice he can offer. Here is a link to one of his posts on Flippa that provides his business details.

http://flippa.com/blog/cease-and-desist/

As a general rule, once someone threatens litigation the communication with that party is over. Explain you take his threat very seriously and will only respond to his Attorney's requests. Provide a valid mailing address for his Attorney's correspondence and stop talking to him. If he continues just copy and past the same message again explaining communication will only be continued through Certified Mail by Solicitors (Attorneys), as neither of you are legally qualified to argue a position.

Good luck and hopefully the whole matter resolves itself without more outlay of money.
 
kvmcable said:
Without a ton more details nobody can give you solid advice. There are so many paths available if there are any truths to the claims.

With that said, I'd not pay this Attorney $500 for a letter. His advice is haphazard at best. I suspect his specialty isn't International Domain claims. This is a very specialized field so soliciting advice from online Attorneys offering free consultation isn't going to get you great results.

Flippa had a few guest posts from an Attorney a while back that specialized in Domain claims. I'd suggest you reach out to him and see what advice he can offer. Here is a link to one of his posts on Flippa that provides his business details.

http://flippa.com/blog/cease-and-desist/

As a general rule, once someone threatens litigation the communication with that party is over. Explain you take his threat very seriously and will only respond to his Attorney's requests. Provide a valid mailing address for his Attorney's correspondence and stop talking to him. If he continues just copy and past the same message again explaining communication will only be continued through Certified Mail by Solicitors (Attorneys), as neither of you are legally qualified to argue a position.

Good luck and hopefully the whole matter resolves itself without more outlay of money.
Click to expand...

that's some great advice thank you. The attorney I found was through Google. I just G'd 'domain dispute attorney' and sent emails to everyone on the first 2 pages. Actually the attorney asking $500 for the letter is on the first page for that keyword and looking at his page, looks pretty legit to me.

Anyways that's some good advice about the litigation and stopping communication. Something that I will always remember and probably do now on until the day I die :)
 
the biggest fact i can see is that why don't he took action when previous person owns that domain.
you paid him in 3 month period so the person from which you had buy domain must own it from least 3 month.
so the person claiming to be real owner has enough time to put a lawsuit or file a application to cease the domain until court justify.
believe me this is just a hoax.
 
Okay, I'm closing this thread now. Too many idiots and with a $17k purchase at stake, I don't think this thread should stay open and I'm not going to spend time deleting individual posts from the thread.

Sorry to the OP and everyone who contributed something sensible. To everyone else, try DigitalPoint or WarriorForum in future.
 
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