Jay Westerdal reports that several high-value domains were stolen and put up for sale by the thief. Apparently, the thief tries to sell the following domains on the blackmarket for $300,000, so beware not to buy them:
- BO.com
- PU.com
- JY.com
- Showroom.com
- Samantha.com
With the skyrocketing value of premium domain names and the increasing media attention devoted to it, it’s inevitable that scammers, con artists and thieves will target the industry. We domainers are going to have to change our way of doing things. Leaving domains unlocked, renewing them at the last possible moments, and even private whois records will have to go. We have to start guarding our domain names the way we guard our credit cards or wallets.
I agree that domain owners must be more careful about their domain names than ever before. Few things every domain owner should do, is to advance-renew quality domains for 10 years, lock the domains at the registrar and consolidate all domains at one secure registrar. I can recommend Moniker.com and Fabulous.com for domain registrations, for instance. It is also important to use secure email addresses, because passwords of free web-based email accounts are usually easier to be cracked, hence opening the door for domain hijackers. The most secure solution is to run your own domain registrar, of course.