All - I just got hit by someone claiming to be Diane Snyder. It's unfortunate too that Mac mail doesn't show you the person's real email address but only their NAME. However, If you right-click on the name of the person in mail, you can see the fake email address. The first step you should take when trying to figure out if this is a scam, is to see if there's something fishy with their email address. In my case, right-clicking on the name "Diane Snyder" shows their email address as: sector5@allianzagents.club
Scammers can indeed still use fake names such as first.last names. However, most real people have a proper email address with a reputable domain such as gmail.com, yahoo.com or hotmail.com. However, in this case, the user's name is "sector5" which sounds like a hacker name for sure. However, even more telling if the fake domain of "allianzagents" & even more suspicious is the ".club" domain.
The internet is full of liars and thieves and if you try to just search for allianzagents.com, you'll see this scammer just created their own fake domain as well. There is no actual web page, It's just a temporary page for that allianzagents.club domain - hosted by the very real but questionable domain registrar called Namecheap.com. scammers use that registrar because as the name suggest, they're "cheap" and don't ask too many questions of the scammers to allow them to set up a domain with email they use in their crimes.
Since all domains must be properly registered by some domain registrar, you can search the ICAN "whois" registry (https://whois.icann.org/en) on the web to locate the "owner" of this site. I put quotes around "owner" because it turns out the internet is littered with criminal fakers and liars who create temporary domains to scam people and no one really monitors this.
In my case, my WHOIS record shows up as below. You will note below, there is a proper "abuse" email address listed in the record where you can at least send the scammers details to the domain registrar and they are, by law, supposed to investigate or block that domain site from sending any further criminal email. So please go ahead and send the scammers email address with some detail of your interaction with them to the abuse email listed;
I am NOT an internet fraud security expert - however, If you've already sent money or been defrauded of your personal information, I would suggest you start by contacting your local police department for your city. Also I would suggest you immediately contact the credit card company you may have used and or your bank to see if you can get your money back. Your local police department may also tell you to record the details of your fraud using the I3C website - the IC3 is supposed to be the governing body which should be fighting against fraud and scammers. The I3C complaint form site is below:
https://complaint.ic3.gov
In my case, however, I'm satisfied this is a faker and I haven't sent any money. I've just had a single email contact, so I've lodged my complaint to the domain registrar by sending an email to:
abuse@namecheap.com
as that is the domain registrar for the fake domain called "allianzagents.club" (for my case not necessarily yours.)
Hopefully, they will shut down this faker and hopefully that guy will eventually be found and go to jail.
But please, please, before you send any money, you should be doing your research on these scammers, fakers and liars!
Here's the output from the whois record - I used this WHOIS website to locate this record;
https://whois.icann.org/en
Again, on that page, just enter the person's domain from the email (in my case = allianzagents.club) - just the domain portion of the email and NOT the whole email address.
One more note - you will notice if you read this WHOIS record that the actual owner of this domain, naturally, left all of the specific details for the actual record owner blank except the county which is set to Panama or PA. which is obviously fake. Why the I3C cannot simply "validate" real people before they allow domain creation, I do not understand that logic. There literally is no compliance here.
And by the way, trying to stomp out this illegal activity is not going to be getting better as the Obama administration allowed the I3C organization to leave the U.S. so there's no possibility of the U.S. stopping this abuse in any way. So everyone should be very diligent when dealing with people over the internet.
...And here's what the actual scammer entered for his registration, yes just the bare minimum of Country = PA or Panama which of course is fake.
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name:
Registrant Organization: WhoisGuard, Inc.
Registrant Street:
Registrant Street:
Registrant Street:
Registrant City:
Registrant State/Province:
Panama Registrant Postal Code:
Registrant Country: PA
Registrant Phone:
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Raw WHOIS Record
Domain Name: allianzagents.club
Registry Domain ID: DCF297B344C1742E5BC2EE0AA99D141B3-NSR
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.namecheap.com
Registrar URL: http://www.namecheap.com
Updated Date: 2019-07-16T20:25:23Z
Creation Date: 2019-07-11T20:25:22Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2020-07-11T20:25:22Z
Registrar: NameCheap, Inc.
Registrar IANA ID: 1068
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@namecheap.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.6613102107
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name:
Registrant Organization: WhoisGuard, Inc.
Registrant Street:
Registrant Street:
Registrant Street:
Registrant City:
Registrant State/Province: Panama
Registrant Postal Code:
Registrant Country: PA
Registrant Phone:
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: Please query the RDDS service of the Registrar of Record identified in this output for information on how to contact the Registrant, Admin, or Tech contact of the queried domain name.
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name:
Admin Organization:
Admin Street:
Admin Street:
Admin Street:
Admin City:
Admin State/Province:
Admin Postal Code:
Admin Country:
Admin Phone:
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax:
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: Please query the RDDS service of the Registrar of Record identified in this output for information on how to contact the Registrant, Admin, or Tech contact of the queried domain name.
Registry Tech ID:
Tech Name:
Tech Organization:
Tech Street:
Tech Street:
Tech Street:
Tech City:
Tech State/Province:
Tech Postal Code:
Tech Country:
Tech Phone:
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax:
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email: Please query the RDDS service of the Registrar of Record identified in this output for information on how to contact the Registrant, Admin, or Tech contact of the queried domain name.
Name Server: dns2.registrar-servers.com
Name Server: dns1.registrar-servers.com
DNSSEC: unsigned
URL of the ICANN Whois Inaccuracy Complaint Form: https://www.icann.org/wicf/
>>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2019-07-27T20:09:58Z <<<
The above WHOIS results have been redacted to remove potential personal data. The full WHOIS output may be available to individuals and organisations with a legitimate interest in accessing this data not outweighed by the fundamental privacy rights of the data subject. To find out more, or to make a request for access, please visit: RDDSrequest.nic.club.
For more information on Whois status codes, please visit https://icann.org/epp
.Club Domains, LLC, the Registry Operator for .club, has collected this information for the WHOIS database through
an ICANN-Accredited Registrar. This information is provided to you for informational purposes only and is designed
to assist persons in determining contents of a domain name registration record in the .Club Domains registry
database. .Club Domains makes this information available to you "as is" and does not guarantee its accuracy. By
submitting a WHOIS query, you agree that you will use this data only for lawful purposes and that, under no
circumstances will you use this data: (1) to allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass unsolicited,
commercial advertising or solicitations via direct mail, electronic mail, or by telephone; (2) in contravention of any
applicable data and privacy protection acts; or (3) to enable high volume, automated, electronic processes that apply
to the registry (or its systems). Compilation, repackaging, dissemination, or other use of the WHOIS database in its
entirety, or of a substantial portion thereof, is not allowed without .Club Domains' prior written permission. .Club
Domains reserves the right to modify or change these conditions at any time without prior or subsequent notification
of any kind. By executing this query, in any manner whatsoever, you agree to abide by these terms. You agree that
violation of these terms would cause .Club Domains irreparable injury.
In using the WHOIS system, you agree to consent to the jurisdiction of courts of the State of Florida over your person
in matters related to your WHOIS query. You agree to consent to Florida jurisdiction regardless of your geographic
location at the time of your query or your nation of citizenship.
NOTE: FAILURE TO LOCATE A RECORD IN THE WHOIS DATABASE IS NOT INDICATIVE OF THE
AVAILABILITY OF A DOMAIN NAME.
Contact information: Disclosure of contact data is restricted because of UK and EU Data Protection
legislation. The contact details for this contact ID may be available by looking up a domain object in the
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Visit http://www.nic.club for more details.
**********************Include fake email from Diane Snyder (SCAMMER)******************
Hi,
Thanks for your reply. We own the place and our daughter lived there until 2 month ago when she got married and she moved to WA.
That`s why we decided to rent it.
Unfortunately, because of my job, it will be a bit difficult to meet you personally now for the moment we are in NY now and I am unable to travel right now.
Last week I came there to meet a couple who was interested, but they never showed up, and I think you can imagine that it's not very comfortable to fly back and forth from NY, especially when work commitments are made. Because of that we decide to make everything through Airbnb, an international company that mainly deals with rentals.
They will organize the inspection and will also assist you in managing the payment.
First of all, I`ll have to make the booking registration for you with Airbnb, and they send you the booking confirmation containing all the rental information including the payment instructions to secure the booking.
You`ll have to make a down payment of 1 month of rent to Airbnb and after they will receive it, an agent will be assigned for your reservation, which will contact you to schedule the perfect time when you can inspect the place. Can be even the same day when the down payment was made.
If you like the place, you`ll sign the lease, you`ll get the keys from the Airbnb agent and you can move in right away.
The down payment is a simple formality, after the inspection if you do not like the place and you do not want to rent it, Airbnb will return your down payment in full immediately.
If you would like to proceed, please give me your details (full name, current address and phone number) and we will make the registration for you with Airbnb.
Thanks,
Diane Snyder
**********************end of Include fake email from Diane Snyder (SCAMMER)******************