Yet Another Scam Alert

It seems that Domainer.com.au has become a magnet for stories about domain scammers. In particular, those who “borrow” the legitimate credentials of existing Aussie businesses or entities in order to pursue their schemes.

When I ask these people if they have reported these issues to either the Registrar of record or auDA, they tell me they have. However, nothing seems to happen quickly.

Given auDA’s recent expressed desire to rub out these scammers, hopefully complaints and concerns will now be better addressed!

In the meantime, I’m happy to keep highlighting them.

Here’s Another One

• This particular one is very similar in modus operandi to isires.com.au – I wrote about this the other day. That website was swiftly taken down and put into policy delete.

• The domain in question is offenbachstrings.net.au. This excerpt is from their original website: “The Offenbach Strings have been entertaining in Queensland for 22 years now. They are one of Queensland’s most respected professional string ensembles for weddings, corporate functions, birthdays, openings and other special events”. 

• Original registrant didn’t renew domain name – picked up by scammer using what appears to be totally legitimate business details.

• The domain name now resolves to an eCommerce offering for “The North Face”. Half-price bargains being offered. Yeah, right!

• Note that the current Registrar is Public Domain Registry – the same as for isires.com.au.

• The screenshots do the talking:

Original Website from March 8th 2016

Current WhoIs

Current Website Screenshot of offenbachstrings.net.au

In Conclusion

Scammers wouldn’t be doing this if it didn’t make them money from unsuspecting members of the public.

I hope auDA jumps all over this tomorrow (Monday).

Ned O’Meara – 9th October 2016

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