MakeUseOf.com Domain Hijacking from GoDaddy
The MakeUseOf.com domain seems to have been hijacked over the weekend. The guys over at MakeUseOf.com have set up shop temporarily on a Blogger platform at makeuseof-temporary.blogspot.com. The hosting company (GoDaddy.com) released the domain to someone who was impersonating the owner of the domain. Here is what Mark from MakeUseOf.com had to say:
“Now it turns out that in order to transfer the domain, Ferank (or someone helping him) called up GoDaddy and impersonated Aibek. At that point he had already access to our account (or at least had enough information to recover the username/pass for the account) and basically said “hi, I’m the owner of MakeUseOf.com, please transfer the domain”. GoDaddy then complied. “
The plot has thickened because the hijacker (aka Ali Ferank) has requested a ransom of $2000 for the safe return of the MakeUseOf.com domain name.
What I would do if I woke up in Mark and Aibek’s shoes:
1) I recommend that the MakeUseOf.com team go over and take a swim in the ICANN registrar transfer policies to determine what pressure can be placed on GoDaddy.com to take some responsibility for what happened.
2) I would get Google involved since the person currently holding the registration is using Goggle as the email host provider.
The following shows the current WhoIs for MakeuseOf.com:
Registrant Contact:
DomainsGame LLC
Ali Ferank
Alhana baghas nara St
Dubai, NA 85445
AE
Administrative Contact:
DomainsGame LLC
Ali Ferank ()
+1.5544415212
Fax: +1.5555555555
Alhana baghas nara St
Dubai, NA 85445
AE
A quick nslookup for the MX record for the email domain listed in the registration information shows that DomainsGame.org is using Goggle as a host for email services.
> domainsgame.org
Server: vnsc-pri.sys.gtei.net
Address: 4.2.2.1
Non-authoritative answer:
domainsgame.org MX preference = 30, mail exchanger = aspmx3.googlemail.com
domainsgame.org MX preference = 30, mail exchanger = aspmx4.googlemail.com
domainsgame.org MX preference = 30, mail exchanger = aspmx5.googlemail.com
domainsgame.org MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = aspmx.l.google.com
domainsgame.org MX preference = 20, mail exchanger = alt1.aspmx.l.google.com
domainsgame.org MX preference = 20, mail exchanger = alt2.aspmx.l.google.com
domainsgame.org MX preference = 30, mail exchanger = aspmx2.googlemail.com
>
3) I would give these guys at Moniker Privacy Services a call to see who registered DomainsGame.org.
A WhoIs on the DomainsGame.org domain shows it registered to:
Admin ID:MONIKER1571241
Admin Name:Moniker Privacy Services
Admin Organization:Moniker Privacy Services
Admin Street1:20 SW 27th Ave.
Admin Street2:Suite 201
Admin City:Pompano Beach
Admin State/Province:FL
Admin Postal Code:33069
Admin Country:US
Admin Phone:+1.9549848445
Admin FAX:+1.9549699155
Admin Email:
4) I would not assume this to be an international issue just because the person gave a Dubai snailmail address.
Conclusion
In the meantime GoDaddy has told the MakeUseOf team to realax in a bowl of legal stew. GoDaddy is obviously trying to determine their liability in this matter before taking too much action. Lets hope that GoDaddy is not one of the registrars described in the Wikipedia explanation of Domain Hijacking and Domain Theft.
“However, it is well documented that some registrars will admit no fault in accepting the forged credentials and will refuse to correct the record until forced by legal action. In many of these cases, justice is not done and the hijacker retains control of the domain. The victims of such theft often do not have the resources or willingness to invest the effort necessary to regain control of their domain, which may require a lawsuit or a lengthy and time-consuming arbitration process, especially if the hijacker and victim are in different countries.”
GoDaddy.com has a chance to avoid more of the “GoGaddy Sucks” articcles if they handle this correctly.
