Real or Scam?

[Eutychus]

I got this e-mail this morning ...

This E-mail is in regard to your website, disneyshorts.org. First, let me introduce myself: my name is Robert Sanders of Epndomain Media (http://epndomain.tel). Epndomain Media specializes in internet investments and acquisitions, and I wanted to get in contact with you to let you know that we are very interested in purchasing your website.


Based on the PR of your site, your inlink volume, and subject matter, I wouldn't hesitate to say that we would be prepared to offer between $60,000 and $80,000 for your website. To protect both buyers, we only purchase through a third party escrow service that we both can agree on, and most transactions can be completed within about 24 hours. I look forward to speaking with you further after we verify that you are in fact the owner of disneyshorts.org.
We hope we shall receive your favorable reply.


Respectfully yours,

Acquisitions Dept.
Epndomain Media

This just has a bad smell to it and usually if it smells bad, it is bad, but I can't see where the scam comes in. I have no ideas what he would do with the site; it's certainly not a money maker (I maybe make enough to pay the hosting fees every month) much less one that would be worth $60-80,000.

Has anyone run into this before?

[ianzin]

Can't say for sure, but there's a very high probability that despite what they say, they will only be happy using an escrow service that they nominate. You will then be asked for all the info necessary for them to take over your site, plus you will be asked to pay various 'processing', 'handling' and 'administrative' fees. At this point, the other party will vanish into thin air. That 60k that's coming your way? You'll never see it.

[CookingWithGas]

See the last post on this page. I don't think it's a scam in the sense that they are trying to cheat you out of money, but there's something fishy going on.

I spent a few minutes poking around for this. To prove that you really own the web site they will ask you to upload a text file to it. This turns out to be the same file that eBay asks you to upload if you register as an affiliate.

My guess would be that this guy is trying to make eBay think that he owns all these domains, though it's beyond me as to why.

ETA: EPN stands for eBay Partner Network

[Quercus]

If it sounds too good to be true....
(especially if the offer is coming from wherever the heck .tel is supposed to be; the offer after mentioning more than $50,000, immediately jumps to talking about how the payment will be made, rather than the terms of the contract; and (unless you removed it yourself) doesn't have an actual human contact listed).

If you would in fact be interested in selling, I'd contact them back saying you need to discuss the terms of the contract (make up a legitimate question about exactly what content they're buying). If it's a scam, I doubt they'll get back to you. But I wouldn't start making plans for how you're going to spend the dough.

[RealityChuck]

The correct answer is: write me the check (a 10$ retainer would be fine). Once it clears, we can talk more.

[coremelt]

Also, any real deal would talk specifically about the content on your website and why they want the site. The words they use are so generic that they could apply to any website.

It could just be a variant of a nigerian scam tailored to webmasters where the "escrow company" will ask you for enough bank account info to scam you.

[Oakminster]

Who offers a stranger an unsolicited deal worth $60-80K by email? That, by itself, would make me suspicious.

[lou2002]

I got the same e-mail:

Dear webmaster

This E-mail is in regard to your website, ---.com. First, let me introduce myself: my name is Robert Sanders of
Epndomain Media (http://epndomain.tel). Epndomain Media specializes in internet investments and
acquisitions, and I wanted to get in contact with you to let you know that we are very interested in
purchasing your website.

Based on the PR of your site, your inlink volume, and subject matter, I wouldn't hesitate to say that we would be prepared to offer between $60,000 and $80,000 for your website. To protect both buyers, we only purchase through a third party escrow service that we both can agree on, and most transactions can be completed within about 24 hours. I look forward to speaking with you further after we verify that you are in fact the owner of ---.com.
We hope we shall receive your favorable reply.

Respectfully yours,
Robert Sanders
Acquisitions Dept.
Epndomain Media
robert@epndomain.tel

I find it an odd e-mail on many levels. He is offering me the same amount as he offered for a non-profitable website. A real buyer would have looked into each business more before making any dollar amount offer. His offer actually falls short for what my business would go for, but I decided to look a little more into this to see if it was worth negotiating. Looks too suspicious for me for more reasons than one.

[Simplicio]

Definitely a scam.

FWIW, epndomain.tel hardly looks like the website of a company that has 60k to spend on a webdomains, and the googlemaps address is a residential neighborhood in Brooklyn.

Curious what the actual scam is though. How is advantageous to make eBay think you have a bunch of affiliates?

[KneadToKnow]

Hmm. A girl I dated in high school married a guy named Robert Sanders. She hates his guts. I wonder if its the same guy.

[Serenata67]

Originally Posted by KneadToKnow

Hmm. A girl I dated in high school married a guy named Robert Sanders. She hates his guts. I wonder if its the same guy.

For some reason, I have a feeling he's not using his real name.

[KneadToKnow]

Originally Posted by Serenata67

For some reason, I have a feeling he's not using his real name.

Oooooohhhhhhhhh yeeeeaaaaaah, that does make sense.

[Measure for Measure]

Originally Posted by RealityChuck

The correct answer is: write me the check (a 10$ retainer would be fine). Once it clears, we can talk more.

Scam baiters have gotten far more than that out of scammers.

[FRDE]

Originally Posted by Measure for Measure

Scam baiters have gotten far more than that out of scammers.

Yes - treat it as a scam, have a look at www.419eater.com especially in the forum where they discuss (and advise on) making life ... confusing for scammers.

In this case I would test the guy out with an Email from a totally invented Email account, and say how delighted you are to hear that he is interested in www.(someone elses web site). The last bit is a bit unscrupulous, but you would be harming no-one - also it is not unexpected for an Admin to have an unrelated (private) Email address.

My guess is that the hook is in the Escrow fees.

[stevia]

Looks like Robert Sanders is upping the ante. I was just offered $260,000 to $280,000. I think the scam is to get your bank account numbers for the $$ transfer, then clean you out.

Dear webmaster


This E-mail is in regard to your website, chunkymonkey.com. First, let me introduce myself: my name is Robert Sanders of Epndomain Media (http://epndomain.tel). Epndomain Media specializes in internet investments and acquisitions, and I wanted to get in contact with you to let you know that we are very interested in purchasing your website.


Based on the PR of your site, your inlink volume, and subject matter, I wouldn't hesitate to say that we would be prepared to offer between $260,000 and $280,000 for your website. To protect both buyers, we only purchase through a third party escrow service that we both can agree on, and most transactions can be completed within about 24 hours. I look forward to speaking with you further after we verify that you are in fact the owner of chunkymonkey.com.
We hope we shall receive your favorable reply.


Respectfully yours,
Robert Sanders
Acquisitions Dept.
Epndomain Media
robert@epndomain.tel

[TroutMan]

Here's one type of escrow scam. This seems to depend on receiving some physical item, so not sure how that would apply here. I'm with others who suspect the scam is in the fees you'll be asked to pay.

[ftg]

What I always recommend is doing a "whois" lookup and in particular see when the domain was registered, in this case I see:

Domain Registration Date: Tue Oct 06 07:37:40 GMT 2009

I would never do business with an unknown person who registered their web site that recently.

If they were around longer, I would enter their website and "scam" into Google and do a search. That is usually quite helpful.