I just received an email from Enid at Natural Selections Exotics in Fort Lauderdale. Her web address has been stolen by a porn site and she will not be able to get it back. If you are a regular on Enid's site please discard the address, it is bad!
I will post the new address as soon as Enid gives it to me.
Steve
NSE xotics website address stolen by a porn site!
I saw once on a PBS show that there are people out there that make it their business to keep up w/ expiring website contracts. they then go and snipe purchase them and try to sell the domain back to the orig. owner for a king's ransom. Many people give in b/c they have established business w/ name recognition and don't want to start from scratch. Very profitable for those who do this.
Maybe such a sniper (and one into porn) has attacked Enid. Somebody that keeps up w/ all domains having the word "exotic". I'm just mentioning this to remind people not to let their web contracts expire, and if they don't know the date, to be sure and find out so they don't get caught with their proverbial pants down.
The PBS was broadcast a number of years ago, so I don't know if it still applies; however it sounds like it's still happening.
This message was edited Jul 22, 2010 8:22 AM
Enid said it was just due when she went to pay it and these guys had bought it up plus every similar address they could get. She is now searching for anything that might be similar but it looks like she may have to come up with a totally new name. As of this morning Google has a warning about the site name but I don't know what might happen.
Several years ago I had a porn bunch hack into my site and try to steal the address as well but fortunately my server jumped on it quickly and we got everything fixed. I was no where near due but you are right, they are looking for any way to make a fast buck. I now pay mine three years in advance!
I'm sure once Enid has this worked out she will let me know and I will pass the info along.
Steve
We had the same thing happen with our Jupiter Tequesta orchid society website a few years ago. Type in the address and you got porno. Thanks for the explanation as to why it was done.
It's a great racket. Suppose the person whose website expired decides they will/cannot pay to get their website back. Well, there are others waiting in the wings who will buy the site in the hopes to get the benefit of the biz. If the site looks the same when they buy it, few customers will know that it doesn't belong to the orig. owner. These raiders get their money one way or another.
It hasn't happened to me, but it happened to a charity for whom I did a little bit of work. The lil church ladies didn't know/realize that their domain had expired. somebody bought it and guess what: they started pocketing the donations! It was a major effort to change to a new one and inform everybody not to go to the "kidnapped" site. it was a mess. It was an internet crime b/c the new owners got money that didn't belong to them, but a few years ago the police was barely able to fight porn sites and other types of crime such as this one just fell thru the cracks for lack of resources. With a little bit of luck and much prayer, things went back to normal for the church ladies in about 2 weeks following discovery.
And it doesn't have to be ill-intended either. If these people know that any site with the word "rose" (for example) is in high demand, then they keep up with these expiring contracts, buy them and then resell for exhorbitant prices. Capitalism at its best, lol.
Maybe Enid should change the name of her nursery to 'The Wicked Garden', like the STP song (just kidding) That's horrible I wish it had not happened to her. I guess there is no real legal recourse either
It is truly a shame. She and her husband are really great people and don't deserve this, but the perpetrators really don't care. She is a savvy business lady and will come out of this on the top!
Steve