have you received an inquiry like this

[urlurl]

Dear 31-¾.¤.-11, It has come to our attention that you are the owner of ******.com
On behalf of a private domain broker i would like to hear if you are interested in selling this domain name?
We have more than 10 years experience in the domain brokering industry and see a potentiel value in your name. We value a fast and easy communication, if you are interested in selling ******.com, please send an email to: sales@villafund.net with subject line "Interested in selling ******.com" including your asking price and prefered payment method for further considerations.
Thank you in advance
Best regards

any thoughts would be great

[Coldforce]

hm to me it sounds like one of those appraisal scam emails, reply back and see, if they answer that they want you to do an appraisal for any reason, it is fake...otherwise it might be legit!

looks a bit fishy to me tho!

good luck!

[draggar]

10 years experience and using a .net?

The domain was also just registered today:
Date Registered: 2010-6-2
Date Modified: 2010-6-2
Expiry Date: 2011-6-2

DNS1: dns1.hostfly.in
DNS2: dns2.hostfly.in

Registrant
Private Whois Service
Private Whois Service
*******PLEASE DO NOT SEND LETTERS******
****Contact the owner by email only****
c/o villafund.net
N4892 Nassau
Bahamas

DNS in India yet the registrar is in the Bahamas - fishy fishy fishy.

You could have a lot of fun with this one, though!

[Coldforce]

oh well then its obvious! damn good point there!

[urlurl]

i thought it was as i just bought the name yesterday and i could not find villa fund web site

[draggar]

i thought it was as i just bought the name yesterday and i could not find villa fund web site

That's because there isn't one. The domain in the URL is a blank page with some folders in it. Hmm, you'd think a company with over 10 years experience in domain brokering would at least have a website? (The only thing better would be is if it was parked!).

[TopWebNames]

Yeah... I received two at the same time for the same domain name, one from zeitz27426nq@aol.com, and one from "James Benton <j.benton29@yahoo.com>", both saying to reply to: domains@villafund.net. They both have improperly coded robot salutations. One says: "Dear 30-¾.¤.-11," and "Sincerely, #FSENDER_FNAME# #FSENDER_LNAME#", and the other says: "Dear 30-¾.¤.-11" and just "Regards".

Can you spell: b-o-g-u-s, i-n-e-p-t, j-e-r-k-s, etc.?

[slimpickins]

That's because there isn't one. The domain in the URL is a blank page with some folders in it. Hmm, you'd think a company with over 10 years experience in domain brokering would at least have a website? (The only thing better would be is if it was parked!).

haha! or, better yet, forwarded to the domain they are "inquiring" about!!

[TopWebNames]

It seems to me that the appropriate thing to do... to help them with their efforts... is to post their email address to as many spammer email address lists so they get picked up by spammer email address harvesting robots... and get LOTS of nice responses

[Aleksandar]

Yeah, they'll probably get some similar scamming attempts by email too...

[urlurl]

i had a sneaky one a little while back - it had a link that took you to the sedo website (sneaky) which made it seem legit...

After doing some more research by googling some of the deatails took me to a DNF thread here (thats when i became a member) where i found semilar stituations.

thanks again

[nielsencl]

I got one of these today also, know about the apprasial scams, and was not sure if that was it or not. They have a home page up now, and it looks pretty nice for a scam site. They may be hiring offshore workers to contact domain owners, or it could be a scam which is likely. I will contact and post when I find out for sure.

[draggar]

They have a home page up now, and it looks pretty nice for a scam site. They may be hiring offshore workers to contact domain owners, or it could be a scam which is likely.

All I see is a graphic, that's it. Not even a very good one even.

This is starting to remind me of a company that tried to sell me a domain with one little snag, I already owned it. They had it up on their website for almost two years, too (selling the domain that I owned) and wanted $990 for it. Complaints to them, their registrar, and host all were ignored.

[nielsencl]

Hi, I posted this over at NamePros.com and one of the members there got a reply. In the reply they say they want you to get an appraisal and name a company, so I think it is safe to conclude that it's the same tired domain appraisal scam, but perhaps with a new player. Avoid, and if you have the time, report them to their ISP since at the very least they are spamming.

[DNabc]

Received the same message but with instructions to contact a different email: sales@investet.com (registered today). It seems they listened to your feedback complaining about them using a .net, LOLOL! Of course I didn't even replied...

[draggar]

I just got one today, too. I actually had to chuckle a little.

fromMargeret Starkman <margeretstarkmanaodou@hotmail.com>
dateMon, Jun 7, 2010 at 3:51 AM
subjectRegarding: (domain)mailed-byhotmail.com
hide details 3:51 AM (7 hours ago)
Dear Ed Blood, It has come to our attention that you are the rightful owner of (domain)
On behalf of a large domain invest firm i would like to hear if you are interested in selling this domain name?
our company hava more than 10 years experience in the domain brokering industry and see a potentiel value in your name. We value a fast and easy communication, if you are interested in selling (domain), please send an email to: domains@investet.com with subject line "Interested in selling (domain)" including your asking price and prefered payment method for further considerations.
Thank you in advance
Best regards
Margeret

I'd love to respond with:

Margaret,

While I am interested inselling the domain (domain) I do have a few concerns that need to be addressed first.

- Your email is identical to a template that's been going around with offers to buy domains yet when the inquiries are responded to the owner is asked to conduct an appraisal. I'm assuming you'll do the same with an apprasial "firm" that is associated to you - like a typical appraisal scam?

- If your company has over 10 years experience, why are you still using Hotmail and not your own email? If you're a company that brokers domain names then shouldn't you be using your own domain?

- The email you asked me to send my response to was registered on June 4, 2010 is under 'whois privacy" - what are you trying to hide?

- The domain linked to the email address doesn't even have a website yet, one would think a company that's been around for 10 years would at least have a website!

Please address my concerns before we continue to discuss the sale of my domain.

I won't even start with the spelling and grammatical errors that are all over the email.

[snicksnack]

appraisal scam, got many emails from these idiots.

[jdk]

Dear Doug Kelley, It has come to our attention that you are the owner of xxxxxxx

On behalf of a private domain invest firm i would like to hear if you are interested in selling this domain name?

our company hava more than 10 years experience in the domain brokering industry and see a potentiel value in your name. We prefer a fast and easy communication, if you are interested in selling xxxxxxxxxxx, please send an email to: domains@investet.com with subject line "Interested in selling xxxxxxxxxx" including your asking price and prefered payment method for further considerations.

Thank you in advance

Regards
Suzanne

I just received this one today from email address suzannestudyvinlatvx@hotmail.com

[Maxwell]

What I find funny is how these all get sent out at the same time...

Do you think that could be indicative of something?

[draggar]

I think they just scan/spam a whois database and send them out in huge numbers. The sad part is that I'm sure they make a lot even from the .00001% that falls for the scam.