<--- Hijack attempt or Prankster ? --->

[OnSpec]

I got this note today from Domain Bank. Seems that a certain Dale Bautel has his eyes on one of my domains. Problem is, I have never been contacted by this person and I have never had any offers from him/her for this domain.

Even stranger is the fact that the link code back to Domain Bank has an affiliate code embedded in it.

Has anyone ever heard of this clown or these tactics?

An application has been made to Domain Bank, Inc. by Dale Bautel
to change the sponsoring registrar for the domain name(s) listed below
from the current registrar to Domain Bank. As the administrative contact
for such domain names, you must confirm such request within 10 days from
the date of this notice in order to permit us to proceed with the change.
In order to confirm the change of registrars, please click below where
indicated and proceed according to the instructions provided at that site.

affiliateid=809&id=etc. (<--- modified to nullify link)

If you do not confirm the change request within 10 days, we cannot proceed
with the change request until a new application has been made.

List of Domain Names: mohawk.us

[Yoshiki]

Sure, it's a hijack attempt. Just ignore it.

[Dave Zan]

Once the new transfer policies take effect on November 12, a few weeks away,
I'd hate to imagine what would happen if someone used a foreign registrar that
only requires a fax authorization to accept a transfer to them, they then notify
the Registry, then the Registry notifies the current registrar, then the current
one notifies the registrant or admin, and the registrant or admin didn't get the
email at all or just disregarded it.

Make sure your registrar has a locking feature. Otherwise, transfer to one who
has such now!

[007]

Should we enable passwords on all of our domains as well or is locking good enough?

[OnSpec]

It would be a sad state of affairs if we had to have a lock and a password for every domain. But if that's what it takes to absolutely foil these hijack attempts, perhaps it is the next step.

[Domagon]

Account passwords mean nothing to the TLD registries. Only registrar-lock status and/or domain authorization codes matter.

So if you haven't locked your domains, you should do so asap. Some registrars already allow transfers to go through with absolutely no verification whatsoever from anyone.

I'm not sure Domain Bank has a customer accessible domain lock/unlock feature yet - they didn't as of a year ago ... if they don't, contact them and have them lock the domains manually - then be sure to verify the status of each domain at the registry level to ensure the lock is really on.

Ron

[jberryhill]

One possibility is that the guy was attempting to transfer a domain name he legitimately owns, but made a typo when he was initiating the registrar transfer.

I did that once - entered the wrong TLD in a transfer request - and immediately sent an explanatory note to the registrant of the incorrectly-typed domain name.

[OnSpec]

Thanks for the input guys. My domains are safely locked at Moniker.