During the past few days, I have received quite a few emails via GoDaddy from what appears to be the same person or entity inquiring about different domain names I own. The emails are being sent via the GoDaddy Whois contact form. The other party generating these emails is using the “Interested in purchasing the domain” option.
When I received the first email, I sent a reply and did not hear a response. A follow-up email also yielded no reply. When I received a subsequent inquiry, my reply was “stop,” but I received additional inquiries on a different domain name this morning. In fact, I received four emails for the same domain name this morning.
My guess is someone is sending out lots of inquiries on different domain names. I have no idea if this is some sort of fishing expedition or if this entity is genuinely interested in buying domain names. Whatever the case is, there should be limits on how many times someone can send inquiries from a particular email address, and at the least, someone should not be able to send multiple inquiries for the same domain name.
Here’s the email that GoDaddy sent me after someone filled out the Whois contact form:
Someone would like to contact you about your domain.
Someone is trying to contact you regarding [domain name redacted].
We received a request from someone who’d like to contact you regarding [domain name redacted], which you registered through GoDaddy. This contact method is designed to provide a way for people who are interested in your domain to reach you, while still keeping your contact information private.We’re required by ICANN regulations to forward these types of requests to you, and you’re not under any obligation to respond.
Remember, we have no information on the legitimacy of these contacts, and scammers have been known to try to pose as GoDaddy or other companies. Use caution when viewing or replying to unsolicited messages from third parties. If you determine you would like to respond to this message, please be aware that you are electing to respond directly to a third party that has no affiliation with GoDaddy.
Here is the message from [email redacted]. Once again, this is NOT from a GoDaddy representative.
I am interested in purchasing this domain. Please respond if you are interested in selling.
To respond directly to the requester, simply reply to this email.
Have received the same and shared the incident.. they are mostly scammers. A reply will yield a $60k offer that hinges on you paying for a special appraisal. They might be making a killing offer first time domain name owners who don’t know any better.
Those unsolicited emails are a scourge. The abundance of unwanted contacts come from one person or entity, probably the same as the one you are receiving from, so why redact it, why not just name the serial spammer?
Godaddy customer service and abuse departments have already been notified months ago that their customers have been receiving relentless spam through their system primarily from a single identifiable party and provided proof of it, but nothing has been done to rectify the problem – typical GD.
Nevertheless, to report the problem, go to https://supportcenter.godaddy.com/AbuseReport and submit a report under the Phishing or the Spam category.
This is like spam calls over the phone. When you picked the phone up, they know it is a live # and they will resell the info.
Regards,
BullS
MBA,PhD
Magna cum laude
Graduate of Domain King Academy
MBA-My Big Ass(all of you have one)
PHD-people having dickheads
If the domain is for sale using landing page, it is no need for buyers to use Whois Contact Form. And if it is an active website, mostly it is not for sale. If it is for sale when used as active website, it can be listed through Afternic and Godaddy Auction. So what is the Whois Contact Form for? It opens change for phising emails to easily target victims.
new rule frm ICANN. hide data who is from public