For Sale How to know when a domain is stolen?

[spietreser]

This name was almost in pendingdelete, when suddenly the admin info changed into a suspicious one (non-exisiting or blank info). The previous owner, a company, ceased to exist (was taken over by other company) so I can not contact them to verify if they sold the domain to the current admin.

I contacted the new admin contact, who is really eager to sell for what I think is at the high end of the market value.

This all just a bit of a suspicious feel to it. So my question is:
How can I know if the name was stolen when I cannot contact the previous owner?

Thanks in advance for your insight.

 

[Giantpanda]

I've seen many times the owners paid to have their domains restored during Redemption Period.

 

[spietreser]

Yea me too. In this case the address in the whois is entirely different from what it was before entering the drop cycle. Even the e-mail address is different.

 

[888]

Why not just ask the owner to prove appropriate ownership? Like renewal notices and credit card receipts etc?

 

[actnow]

Could someone have bought the name from the former owner? And, once the
name was restored. Change the whois data.

I think we are going to see ALOT of this with WLS.

 

[Steen]

I think we are going to see ALOT of this with WLS.

Already happens quite a bit.

 

[think]

Yea me too. In this case the address in the whois is entirely different from what it was before entering the drop cycle. Even the e-mail address is different.

Was the first email addy a throw away one like Yahoo.com or hotmail?

 

[spietreser]

The first was not a free one. The second is. For now I'll give the owner the advantage of the doubt, I'll believe he got it legally from the old owner....

Fact is, that it remains unclear wether a domain was stolen until you buy it and an old owner comes to get it from you.