Godaddy asking for $199 Fine

[Expressweb]

Hello

one of my client who is having his domain registered with Godaddy today received an email that he is accused for spamming through his domain..

Later on investigation we found that Godaddy received a complaint from a person using Gmail account to send unsolicited emails & was having my client domain name include in E-mail body..

Now we asked Godaddy that our Client is not involved in doing any spamming using godaddy email service but the Godaddy officials answer that our client is responsible because the email which is notified as spam is having his domain name (which is registered with Godaddy)

Now they are forcing my client to Pay $199 or they will shutdown his site and also cease his email service ..

My question is How my client is responsible if someone is using his Website URL within his email body to send unsolicited emails using Gmail ..

What can we do at this Point of time either Pay them $199 or take off our domain from Godaddy for which they are also asking for $75 Payment to transfer the current domain to other registrar ...

[~ServerPoint~]

Now they are forcing my client to Pay $199 or they will shutdown his site and also cease his email service ..

Funny - pay $199 fine and go ahead with spamming??!!!???

[samanime]

Are you sure you're dealing with the real GoDaddy? Go to their site through the customer service thing and make sure. This kind of sounds like a scam.

[Force Flow]

It is something that godaddy has been noted to do:

Go Daddy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Since it sounds like you're aware of the spam emails, if you have a copy of the spam email, save it and attach it to an email in a response to the fine notice.

[EbizBrain2]

Well I Hate Spamming But if thats what he or she does then transfer domain over to Bluehost or Domain Monster

[~ServerPoint~]

Are you sure you're dealing with the real GoDaddy? Go to their site through the customer service thing and make sure. This kind of sounds like a scam.

I agree. That is better and even recommended to talk with their official representative to make sure you understand that correctly.
IMO.

[bfpseller]

It sounds like a phishing attempt. As others recommend, just call them.

[sandeephegde_me]

Even I feel its like a phishing attempt.. check for the authenticity including the url being displayed. Try contacting official godaddy support from Domain Names, Web Hosting and SSL Certificates - Go Daddy

Keep us updated with what happens

[Tanner74]

I would highly redcommend just paying the fine. GoDaddy means business and if thereis sufficient ground to say they were at fault I would just try and settle it.

[bbcwebhosting]

$199??????//

I am sure it is pissing and spamming.

[anthonyorva]

today i received same kind if email from Godaddy, can you please update whether it is real or kind of spam?

should i contact godaddy now ? or else leave it

[Force Flow]

It is something that godaddy has been noted to do:

Go Daddy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Since it sounds like you're aware of the spam emails, if you have a copy of the spam email, save it and attach it to an email in a response to the fine notice.

What I said earlier.

[wipro1]

spam domain warning are not issued for just 1 spam email but only when lots of ISP complain
just transfer domain to new registrar and use icontact like service to send emails.

[Force Flow]

spam domain warning are not issued for just 1 spam email but only when lots of ISP complain
just transfer domain to new registrar and use icontact like service to send emails.

GoDaddy charges you extra to transfer a domain that has received this notice.

[rldruse]

This is absolutely true- Someone else just forwarded me this link so I realize these posts over a year old now but hopefully they will be seen.

I received this very same email message from Go Daddy today (Monday, July 16, 2012) because a few days ago a member of our networking site sent an email (invitation) to someone they did not know. I assume they also did not know this was just some poor lonely pathetic <snip> woman somewhere in Ohio who has nothing to with her time but troll around the Internet stirring up trouble with people she resents and who have better things to do than engage in drivel with her.

We wrote back telling GD about this and they wrote back with another scolding so we replied again with basically "We have said we are not sending out these messages and to go away and leave us alone, we are not interested in hearing from you on this matter anymore...". That is when we got the "extortion" letter.

I called GD on the phone (their 24/7 customer service has always been excellent in my opinion) and they verified this was indeed and authentic message from Go Daddy.

However it does not matter now as we have already transferred the domain names. I was told that this was because of ONE SINGLE complaint, not several like someone in this thread said. Most people receive tons of "spam" every day and simply ignore it. Yes, spam is annoying but in the grand scheme of things it is nowhere near the worst thing in the world. It's just that trolls like <snip> have nothing productive to do.

Someone in this thread suggested to another to just pay the $199- Why in the world would you do that just because GD demanded you do?

Hello

one of my client who is having his domain registered with Godaddy today received an email that he is accused for spamming through his domain..

Later on investigation we found that Godaddy received a complaint from a person using Gmail account to send unsolicited emails & was having my client domain name include in E-mail body..

Now we asked Godaddy that our Client is not involved in doing any spamming using godaddy email service but the Godaddy officials answer that our client is responsible because the email which is notified as spam is having his domain name (which is registered with Godaddy)

Now they are forcing my client to Pay $199 or they will shutdown his site and also cease his email service ..

My question is How my client is responsible if someone is using his Website URL within his email body to send unsolicited emails using Gmail ..

What can we do at this Point of time either Pay them $199 or take off our domain from Godaddy for which they are also asking for $75 Payment to transfer the current domain to other registrar ...

[ralph.m]

This does seem pretty heavy handed action from GoDaddy, but all the same, be under no illusions that

a member of our networking site sent an email (invitation) to someone they did not know

is an admission to spamming. Hopefully the real lesson has been learned.

[cheesedude]

Go Daddy has a long history of doing this. In fact, this is why I transferred my domain names out of Go Daddy and into Namecheap back in 2006 or 2007. So I wouldn't have to worry about this crap. I posted about this years ago. In fact, on Feb. 14, 2006, I made this post:

http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/show...-Spamming-quot

I've read on numerous forums and webpages about Go Daddy's practice of confiscating domain names for "spamming" and holding them hostage unless the domain name owner pays a huge fee to transfer the domain name out of Go Daddy (can be hundreds of dollars).

As webmasters, I don't think any of us likes spam. Right? Even still, it is not a domain name registrar's job to police the internet and to extort money out of clients for one email alleging--but not proving--spam.

You should always do a little research into the companies you do business with in real life or on the internet. People have known about Go Daddy's confiscation/hostage-taking policies for 7 years now. There is little excuse for not knowing about this by now.

All you can do is help spread the word. After over 7 years of having this policy, Go Daddy doesn't seem interested in changing. They were purchased by an equity fund last year and not even they seem interested in changing. Why? Maybe it is profitable.

[cheesedude]

This does seem pretty heavy handed action from GoDaddy, but all the same, be under no illusions that



is an admission to spamming. Hopefully the real lesson has been learned.

If that's the case, then a lot of users on Facebook or even Facebook itself is a huge spammer. Because I've gotten plenty of unsolicited invites to join Facebook from readers of a blog I write.

[DaveMaxwell]

OK, we don't need to be talking about this more than a year later. THREAD CLOSED