{"id":5819,"date":"2019-04-22T15:15:06","date_gmt":"2019-04-22T19:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/?p=5819"},"modified":"2019-04-22T15:37:15","modified_gmt":"2019-04-22T19:37:15","slug":"scammers-using-bitcoin-in-an-effort-to-steal-domain-names","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/scammers-using-bitcoin-in-an-effort-to-steal-domain-names\/","title":{"rendered":"Scammers using Bitcoin in an effort to steal domain names"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>During the past two weeks I experienced two attempts by scammers to steal domain names, by offering payments in cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n<p>These Bitcoin scammers offered to acquire premium domains by indicating they can only make payments in BTC.<\/p>\n<p>There is a reason why such a method of exchanging domains for money isn&#8217;t supported by the <a href=\"http:\/\/uniregistry.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Uniregistry Market<\/strong><\/a>. There is no safety process to validate the source of payment, and anonymity &#8211; <em>while a welcome feature in many circumstances<\/em> &#8211; can also be a safe method to commit a crime and hide behind it.<\/p>\n<p>Payments in cryptocurrency can remain in limbo and if not careful, the party with the domain name can falsely believe that a transaction has been confirmed. There are ways to delay the confirmation of the payment, and to the uninitiated it can lead to a complete loss of the domain.<\/p>\n<p>There are services out there that play the role of an escrow in order to process payments in BTC but they are not true escrow services, and I am very reluctant to use them. <a href=\"http:\/\/Escrow.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Escrow.com<\/strong><\/a> does not allow transactions in cryptocurrency and that&#8217;s an indication of what constitutes a trackable exchange that protects both the buyer and the seller.<\/p>\n<p>Bottom line: payments in FIAT are preferred, as they almost certainly arrive with validation of the parties&#8217; identities. While it&#8217;s possible to transact in BTC and other cryptocurrencies, I would not advise anyone to do so if they aren&#8217;t 100% certain of the other party&#8217;s identity and intentions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During the past two weeks I experienced two attempts by scammers to steal domain names, by offering payments in cryptocurrency. These Bitcoin scammers offered to acquire premium domains by indicating they can only make payments in BTC. There is a reason why such a method of exchanging domains for money isn&#8217;t supported by the Uniregistry [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-domains","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Scammers using Bitcoin in an effort to steal domain names<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Scammers using Bitcoin in an effort to steal domain names\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/scammers-using-bitcoin-in-an-effort-to-steal-domain-names\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scammers using Bitcoin in an effort to steal domain names\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Scammers using Bitcoin in an effort to steal domain names\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/scammers-using-bitcoin-in-an-effort-to-steal-domain-names\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Acro.net - A Domain Investing Blog by Theo Develegas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-04-22T19:15:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-04-22T19:37:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Theo Develegas\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Theo Develegas\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/scammers-using-bitcoin-in-an-effort-to-steal-domain-names\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/scammers-using-bitcoin-in-an-effort-to-steal-domain-names\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Theo Develegas\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c9625f061a0e603a87f5bf0f6f781fe\"},\"headline\":\"Scammers using Bitcoin in an effort to steal domain names\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-22T19:15:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-04-22T19:37:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/scammers-using-bitcoin-in-an-effort-to-steal-domain-names\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":264,\"commentCount\":5,\"articleSection\":[\"Domains\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/scammers-using-bitcoin-in-an-effort-to-steal-domain-names\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/scammers-using-bitcoin-in-an-effort-to-steal-domain-names\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/scammers-using-bitcoin-in-an-effort-to-steal-domain-names\\\/\",\"name\":\"Scammers using Bitcoin in an effort to steal domain names\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-22T19:15:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-04-22T19:37:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c9625f061a0e603a87f5bf0f6f781fe\"},\"description\":\"Scammers using Bitcoin in an effort to steal domain names\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/scammers-using-bitcoin-in-an-effort-to-steal-domain-names\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/scammers-using-bitcoin-in-an-effort-to-steal-domain-names\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/scammers-using-bitcoin-in-an-effort-to-steal-domain-names\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Scammers using Bitcoin in an effort to steal domain names\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Acro.net - 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