Getting want to buy emails with a twist

The email wants to buy domain based on appraisel

[bwnbwn]

New twist in what I feel is a scam. Email comes in wanting to buy domain for 65% of appraised value. They say they only buy from these 3 appraisel providers. The ones they use charge for the appraisel.

Here I am now wondering why 3 well know companies are resorting to this kind of activity as I know it is a scam but the way it is being conducted the 3 involved can't be connected.

I guess this is a heads up on a new approach to get money from you.

[Webwork]

This is SOP. Adding one or two "legitimate appraisal services" to the scam makes the email inquiry/offer appear a bit more genuine - as if they're not really pushing you to bogus companyX. The twist tends to be the "new" appraisal service company that gets added each time this scam is played out. Either you're so stupid you select CompanyX OR, if you are gullible enough to pay the legit company for an appraisal the scammers come back and say "We are ready to buy BUT . . . we really need a second opinion now to set the final price . . . so, use . . . "

I have to wonder if the bogus appraisal service is a 2 or 3 way scam: 1) They get your fee for "their appraisal service", which is worthless, because, 2) the purported buyer never actually intended to buy, and, 3) since they're already running a scam why not take it one step further and sell your credit card information.

[edited by: Webwork at 6:46 pm (utc) on May 15, 2009]

[bwnbwn]

Webwork I haven't gotten but maybe one or 2 of these in the last couple months but being how the world economy is I figured it is tempting to one in need of some money to give it a go.

Hopefully our members here can spread the word to others and keep some from taking the bait.

[dodo1]

Such domain appraisal scams have been around for a long time. There are many posts on domain forums and blogs about this type of scam.

For example, recent article on this topic: [domainnamewire.com...]

The best thing to do is to just ignore those emails.