Toughguy.net - Domain Name Appraisal Scam
One of my hobbies is domaining. I buy and sell names on a regular basis, typically for profit - and I have what I consider to be a substantial portfolio. I’m not new to this game though - I’ve been trading names for almost a decade, and I’ve seen all sorts of scams being run around the domaining marketplace…
Imagine my surprise then when I got an email this evening, apparently from somebody interested in buying a domain name I recently snagged in an auction. I was quite excited by the prospect of a quick turnaround on the name - but felt that I should do a bit of Googling on the sender of the message.
The guy who sent me the email called himself Anthony Garringer - and he’s apparently the President of a company called TGNet Consulting. His email address is garringer@toughguy.net.
Here’s what I found out…
Toughguy.net email addresses have been used extensively for scamming, and the scam emails often come from somebody labelling himself as a professor, doctor or president of a company.
The same individual owns multiple domains (including toughguy.net, hotpop.com and jerky.net), and all domains have the same registrant information attached to them. Recently he began registering domains by proxy (hiding personal data) with oversea registrants. His latest emails come from the liberalist.com domain.
Now, Hotpop LLC is incorporated in State of Massachusetts and its registration information can be found using the Massachusetts LLC Search. The real name of the scammer and an address can be seen as being:
Andrew Shoemaker
61 Prescott St
Newton
MA 02640
This guy has managed to rip an awful lot of people off - by offering to buy their domain name, but only if they get it appraised using the company he recommends - and which he probably owns! He gets paid for the appraisal and then drops out of the deal! Fortunately, domainers are slowly getting wise to his tricks, and blacklisting him on many of the domain trading forums.
I’m hoping that this post will end up doing well on Google - because nasty pieces of scum like Andrew Shoemaker deserve to be called out… You have been warned!
Did you find this post via a Google search perhaps? If so then please let me know by leaving a comment below!
Update: October 17
I bought another domain by auction a few days ago (both domains purchased using GoDaddy’s Domain Name Aftermarket service) and surprise, surprise - he’s emailed me again! Does the idiot never learn?
This time he’s using the name Anthony McQueary (President for TG Logitech), with the email address mcqueary@toughguy.net. I sent him a rather caustic reply.
Update: October 31
He’s changed his identity set a little, and is now using the name Shawn McElligot, President of GBW Software.
Update: November 5
More identities: Paul Camacho (President of TG Network Consulting) and Shirley M Leurquin (!!!).
Update: November 22
Another new identity (Thanks Nick): William Quiqley, President of GSC Services.
I’ve got one word for people like that, and it’s not printable :anger:
Hi Paul,
Thank you for the research of ThoughGuy. I recently sold a domain name for $1000 and got exited by this guy making an offer to another of my domains. Thank you again for your help to keep the internet in the US free fo garbage people like this.
Regards,
George
Yep, just got an email from him too for my domain. NO DEAL!
Paul - I’ve got lots of words for people like that, but the kids are within earshot…
George and Shylor - I’m so glad that people are finding this post! I’m on page 2 of Google already, for the term ‘toughguy.net’ - so cheers big G!
I wonder if Mr Shoemaker has read this himself?
Thanks for being number one in the Google search for this guy. I was almost ready to reply.
Entirely my pleasure Shaun! That’s three people ’saved’ from the asshole - glad I posted this now!
Great post! Thanks for having the guts to expose this loser. I was scamed by someone claiming to be a domain reseller from Hong Kong on a domain I had just registered and listed on ebay. He suggested I have it appraised at a physical appraissal service of my choice but gave me his preference… of course I used his preference since he said he was “ready to purchase”.
Thanks again,
Sumbini
Sumbini - Exposing the guy is an absolute pleasure - but I’m sorry to hear that he scammed you.
I hope he didn’t take you for too much…
Hey Paul,
It’s like one of those “I am Dr.(Mrs.) Mariam Scammer,” who has millions to move to the US emails!! I am glad you avoided being scammed.
Thanks Sunny - I might have got ripped off if it hadn’t been for Google!
hi
he contact me to buy any one my domain names!
i search his email address in google and find this page!
tanks
Amir Najari
This guy contacted me when trying to sell a domain on eBay. Your story is my story. In the end, I wrote him and told him he is a fraud. This guy should be investigated by the FTC and thrown in jail.
Please go here to file an FTC complaint and get this guy behind bars:
http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/cmplanding.shtm
Thanks. It only takes about 5-10 minutes to get this guy busted.
I’m glad I could help Amir - thanks for your comment!
Eric - good work on calling him out! Unfortunately, I can’t file an FTC complaint as I live in the UK. If anybody from the US finds this post after being contacted by him, then I strongly recommend completing the FTC form!
[…] the love of chocolate October 14th, 2007 (1 Views ) Paul is my favorite person this week. Why? Out of all the great people in my life, why would I choose […]
You’ve got to love Google for checking up on scammers. I think many of us have learned to ‘Google’ anything which appears dodgy.
At least he never got the better of you Paul. How hateful, and what sort of disturbed childhood did scammers like these have?
It would certainly seem that these people are taking out some sort of personal vendetta on society at large… I’d love to know what his upbringing was like actually!
Nice one Eric - I just wish I could help with the FTC! I’ve posted an update on this above…
Thanks for your comment Robert - I’m glad you decided to do that search!
Good luck on your sale…
well, i was too late. this loser got $100 for 2 appraisals.. i thought it was a scam but did an whois search and saw no resemblence but now i see how he did it! he found me on ebay listing various domains. he even sent me to a link that convinced me he was legit.. don’t i feel dumb! I’m from canada, can i file with the FTC?? oh, here’s the link he sent me: http://domaintalk.ourplace.com/Archive/961735.htm
although too late, thank you paul for at least grounding my expectations. cheers. aris
also found this:
Andrew Shoemaker Age: 47
61 PRESCOTT ST #APT 2
NEWTON, MA 2460
oops, zip is 02460.
well hey, i guess since i was a sucker and paid, i figured i’d see who got paid via my paypal account! here’s the info.. lets get this loser!!
Business Contact Information
Customer Service URL: http://www.plimus.com
Customer Service Email: support@plimus.com
Customer Service Phone: 858-350-7473
Item Title: Order Reference #1286479
Invoice ID: 1286479
Description: http://www.domainsecondhand.com/appraisal.htm
I called the numebr and it’s an outsourced e-commerce site. office was closed but i’ll try again in the day tomorrow. any more suggestions on action would be appreciated.
cheers, aris
P.S. successfully filed with the FTC!!!!
Hi Aris,
I’m sorry to hear that he managed to rip you off - but you really shouldn’t feel dumb mate… He’s done it to thousands of people!
Yeah - that dummy forum link is the one he always uses. Ourplace.com is owned by him, and he’s basically saved a live forum page to static HTML and uploaded it to make it support his scam.
I got his address already (it’s in the article), but his age is a new one. He really should know better at 47, don’t you think?
Nice one for the FTC filing.
Hey Paul, thank you for the moral support. Not giving up on this one! It’s not the money, it’s the principle! when i googled ‘Andrew Shoemaker 61 Prescott St’ many more pages came up including yours. Interesting enough is this one: http://www.webservertalk.com/archive154-2005-1-870269.html
Hope this guy ends up in jail soon! Keep up the great work for a safer community! Cheers to you! \Aris
Thnx a lot for your information.
A few days ago he email me
From: “McQueary”
with the question to buy my domainname : 123pornotube.com
But I parked it at SEDO for a price of 9.999 dollar because I have no time to work with it now.
But I know the domaimname has value.
I told him that I not sell it for a peanuts , he told his budjet 10 to 15.000 dollar.
And ask me my best price , so told him 12.000 dollar.
He aprove but then the appraise came..
So I told him if you are willing to buy you have to invest your self - and did some test at nameboy .But he offerd me to a lot of expensive appraise sites.
Then I start searching on his name , company and emailadress and found this.
Thnx
It is just very sad that this kind of people are active on the net.
Nearly identical deal for me recently too. Got all excited - started spending the $15k in my head
Thanks for doing this post - saved me some money/disappointment and from being scammed. An excellent service to the web community - great that you have such prominence on Google for the keywords I searched.
Here’s a suggestion - add a couple of ads to your site so we have something to click as a token ‘thank you’!
Cheers!
Aris,
That’s an interesting thread - thanks for that! He’s obviously a regular con merchant. I’d like to think that the authorities will catch up with him!
——
Fabian,
I’m glad you avoided getting scammed! It seems to be a case of “too good to be true really is”.
mrkookz,
I have no plans to monetize my blog for the forseeable future! Your thanks are enough though…
Paul,
Thank you for this post. I received the same from this scammer this morning. I think it’s hilarious that he uses the newborn/family angle. Adding the link to a seemingly public chat forum is a nice touch.
People like this may prosper in the short term, but it will catch up to him. What a moron. With all the effort and apparent creativity…he could actually make an HONEST profit.
Thanks again Paul…you saved me the hassle and likely some real money (even though I tend to think domain appraisals are worthless).
[quote]
I sent him a rather caustic reply.
[/quote]
Know you my friend, it was full of cold scathingness
I’ve been keeping an eye on this post and am truly glad to see that people are not being caught out by this a$$h013 and for those that unfortunately have, we know who is, where he is, and pretty soon he should be behing the upright irons
@ Eric T: I just used the FTC link you provided to file a complaint. I encourage everyone who gets spammed by this idiot to do the same. I’d love to see headline about his arrest and convinction for deceptive marketing practices.
I’m a busy person who does not have enough time for bidding wars
I need to know the lowest price you can accept.
What is your price range: $10,000 or $15,000 or even higher?
I’m sure it will take a lot of time and efforts to find someone who will
offer you more.
Please send your answer to me as soon as possible.
…………………………………………………
I copied and pasted this as a example from this ass clown..
Thank you Paul for your research and being number one on google
[…] UPDATE: More information here. […]
Michael,
I totally agree - domain appraisals are worthless. At the end of the day, and domain is worth what the person buying it wants to pay - and if that’s not the amount you’d like for a domain then you simply keep looking for another interested party!
I’m sure that if I’d got a company to appraise a domain like Flickr.com before the site was created, that they’d have told me that it was worthless. How much would it cost to buy now I wonder?
——
Chuck,
My pleasure mate!
[…] Read this great post here […]
got the same reply back from FTC. Please include this file number as well as the other one posted here. FTC Ref. No. 11900137 & 11858316 (posted above)
P.S. Says he still wants to buy my domain. I’ve initiated more investigations and have contacted authorities. I will keep on this until a) he’s caught or b) he buys my domain as so he still states he will.
I just started buying domains and already received a message from “Johnston” at toughguy.net and TNG Software Consulting Exactly as described in the posts, he offered 20k for a domain that isn’t worth nearly that much so I was immediately skeptical. I googled his toughguy.net and saw this posting. Thanks so much for making this available. Let’s get this guy.
hey Tim.. please lead this guy through (but don’t pay a cent!) and then file for misrepresentation, impersonation and fraud with the FTC and quote FTC Ref. No. 11900137 & 11858316 and when you get your file number post here! Then for everyone else, please include ALL FTC ref numbers in all complaintes to the FTC as they are collecting victim complaints!! This loser is going to go down big!!!
Oh, I also got my $100 back from Plimus (he used Plimus to get paid from my PayPal acct). Now Plimus & PayPal are investigating him LOL! Read the emails below.. amusing to say the least!!!
—————
Case # PP-352-594-417 Re: ORDER REFERENCE #22729778 (domain appraisal))
Additional information/correspondence regarding this dispute. Please note the links at the bottom of this email regarding additional information on the alleged fraud/misrepresentation & civil losses.
——————————————————————————————————
Dear Plimus Customer Service,
As per your PayPal Dispute reply, I am forwarding all communications between myself and your client to you. Please note that unless I receive a full refund for the amount paid to you, any investigations, actions and claims may involve your company and the included transaction in question. Furthermore, you may be required to produce account and personal information with respect to your client to the authorities (proper and legal notice will be served to your company accordingly)
I hope Plimus conducts its own internal investigation into your clients activities with respect to the alleged fraudulent transaction(s). Please note the links at the very bottom of this email for information about your clients activities and alleged fraud.
Please provide us with one of your representatives contact name and telephone number as well as the same for any supervisor/manager or principle of Plimus for future reference in the event that we may need to contact your company or any such individual. Also, please provide your corporate mailing address to send any legal notices pertaining to this investigation.
Sincerely,
Aris
————-
Ok. We will send a refund request right now.
Sincerely,
Shirley M. Leurquin
Customer Support
——————-
Shirley,
Fair enough. Give me your telephone number to call and discuss… as well as your solicitors numbers. You ARE a customer service rep aren’t you? So give me YOUR number so I can obtain customer service and speak with you. I’m sure a customer service rep does not get involved with legalities so give me the name of the person who will be paying/authorizing your solicitor to take action against us as I’m sure it wont be a customer service rep such as yourself, so that any authorities can contact them directly as they wont waste time communicating with a CSR, such as I’m doing. Also need your mailing address, or is that a big secret too?? You not providing this information wont make a difference; authorities can and will get that info (I’m sure they have it already).. this is now a matter of how your company conducts itself, and having a customer service rep involved in legal issues sure wont look good.. or show any credibility. Since when do CSR’s discuss legal corporate issues anyway?? I’ll be waiting for your info or alternatively, have your bosses contact me. So unless you provide me with the PROPER contact info that should be made available under these circumstances, then DO NOT CONTACT me any further as I care not to deal with an employee, or someone pretending to be one.
At 11:32 PM 20/10/2007 +0400, you wrote:
Dear Aris,
I’m not obligated to send personal information of our directors. Andrew
Gordon worked for our company in the customer support division.
Since you are going to proceed with actions againts our company I’ve resent
your letter to our lawyers. Please email us contact information of your
attorney. You’ll be responsible for all misleading and fake information
about our company you are going to post
If you wish to resolve this problem in friendly manner you should cancel
your dispute with Paypal and we’ll provide you with full refund. We are a
customer friendly company.
Sincerely,
Shirley M. Leurquin
Customer Support
>>
i already replied, and am still waiting for the refund…
At 12:50 AM 21/10/2007 +0400, you wrote:
We are not going to speak with you by phone since the refund will be given.
After all your abusing emails we are not going to have any deals with you.
We were advised that probably, you were an online cheater who used our
services for free. It’s difficult to prove and we will give you the refund
since we are customer friendly.
If you are interested in the refund just let us know. If you want to
continue to abuse us via phone etc. you’ll be in contact with our attorney.
We will only speak with you regarding teh refund issue via email.
Sincerely,
Shirley M. Leurquin
Customer Support
—–snip—– continued below ——–
— part 2 ——-\\
for some reason i cant post any more. oh well, i’ll try again later
I submitted an FTC complaint and referenced the numbers 11900137 & 11858316. When I receive a reference number I will post it.
I have played along with this joker, “Johnston”. He isn’t the brightest star in the night sky. He sent me an offer before I stated a price, then asked me to pay for an appraisal so he could be sure he wasn’t overpaying. I told him that a domain is worth exactly what someone is willing to pay for it so if he offered 20k then that was his price. He replied that this “professional and manual” appraisal was standard practice. I seriously hope this guy goes to jail.
Glad to hear that this post is proving so useful to so many!
Good luck with your FTC filings - I just wish I was in the US!
Aris T. is possible to get your mail address.
Thanks
Manuel, you mean email address??
Yes,thanks .
easyto@excite.com
I was also pwned , but then i mailed plimus , domainsecondhand and open a dispute and get money back .
The scammer used
Regards,
Shawn McElligot
President
GBW Software
Sorry to hear he conned you Manuel, but I’m glad you got your money back again!
He switches identities more often than I change my socks!
Yes, I also send him mail,that i will give him 10% discount if he will buy in next 24 hours
I would like to thank you for this post. I have not gotten far enough for him to ask for the appraisal. I was skeptical when he offered $20,000 for a $500 domain. So I started searching Yahoo for info on him and his company. I’m going to mess with him a little and file a complaint. I hope this looser goes down hard. This is the info he used on me:
Paul Camacho
President
TG Network Consulting
Thank You!
Chad
^
Same thing here. He emailed me a couple days ago.
Paul Camacho
President
TG Network Consulting
Thanks for the info., saved me from wasting my time with this douchebag.
Shirley M. Leurquin is also him! See post below:
——————-
Shirley,
Fair enough. Give me your telephone number to call and discuss… as well as your solicitors numbers. You ARE a customer service rep aren’t you? So give me YOUR number so I can obtain customer service and speak with you. I’m sure a customer service rep does not get involved with legalities so give me the name of the person who will be paying/authorizing your solicitor to take action against us as I’m sure it wont be a customer service rep such as yourself, so that any authorities can contact them directly as they wont waste time communicating with a CSR, such as I’m doing. Also need your mailing address, or is that a big secret too?? You not providing this information wont make a difference; authorities can and will get that info (I’m sure they have it already).. this is now a matter of how your company conducts itself, and having a customer service rep involved in legal issues sure wont look good.. or show any credibility. Since when do CSR’s discuss legal corporate issues anyway?? I’ll be waiting for your info or alternatively, have your bosses contact me. So unless you provide me with the PROPER contact info that should be made available under these circumstances, then DO NOT CONTACT me any further as I care not to deal with an employee, or someone pretending to be one.
———–
At 11:32 PM 20/10/2007 +0400, you wrote:
Dear Aris,
I’m not obligated to send personal information of our directors. Andrew
Gordon worked for our company in the customer support division.
Since you are going to proceed with actions againts our company I’ve resent
your letter to our lawyers. Please email us contact information of your
attorney. You’ll be responsible for all misleading and fake information
about our company you are going to post
If you wish to resolve this problem in friendly manner you should cancel
your dispute with Paypal and we’ll provide you with full refund. We are a
customer friendly company.
Sincerely,
Shirley M. Leurquin
Customer Support
Guess he has changed his name again. Thanks to you I will not be scammed by this a**hole!!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
Hello,
We are interested in smokingthoughts.com
Your name was listed in online auction. What is your price for the name?
Our company is involved in software development/support business.
Now domain invetsing/reselling is just an additional direction of our investment strategy.
Looking forward to do business with you.
Regards,
Paul Camacho
President
TG Network Consulting
Chad, Matt and Missy - I’m delighted that you managed to avoid his scamming!
Aris - Thanks for the update… So, he also plays the part of women too then!
He contacted me as well twice and his emails looks exactly the same just with different names. He always seems to be celebrating a newborn child.
Here is one of his emails to me:
QUOTE:
Hello,
Sorry for delay with answer. Our family was celebrating newborn child of my
brother.
Now let’s talk about the deal.
6,000 USD. Ok.
Do you sell domain with a web site or just name?
If just name it’s ok. Web site is not necessary.
Have you had your domains appraised already? Can you show me your valuation
certificates? As fas I know it’s a common practice to show appraisal of
domain name (even without traffic and web site) before doing business.
Without appraisal I risk to overpay. In other words I won’t be able to make
a profit on reselling this name. It’s very important for you and me to know
the current market value of your domains.
Of course, we must be sure that you are engaging an appraisal company with
REAL manual service. I heard many appraisal companies often made inaccurate
auto-generated appraisals. I will only accept appraisals from independent
sources I trust. To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable
appraisal companies in a forum
http://domaintalk.ourplace.com/Archive/782941.htm
Just check this posting.
If the appraisal comes higher you can adjust your asking price accordingly.
I also hope you can give me 10% - 15% discount of the appraised value.
After I get an appraisal from you we’ll continue our negotiations.
How do you prefer to get paid: www.escrow.com, www.PayPal.com check or
wire?
Hope we can come to an agreement fast.
Looking forward to your reply.
I got all excited the first time he contacted me. But obviously refused to pay for his appraisal service and told him to stop spamming me.
But I can see how a lot of people might get excited and pay for an appraisal service, thinking they are going to make a few grands from the deal.
Just though I post his email here:
Sorry for the delay. Members of family was celebrating newborn child of my
sister.
Now let’s talk about the deal.
Can you accept 19000 UK Pounds? Ok?
Do you sell domain with a web site or just name?
If just name it’s ok. Web site is not necessary.
Have you had your domains appraised already? Can you show me your valuation
certificates? As fas I know it’s a common practice to show appraisal of
domain name (even without traffic and web site) before doing business.
Without appraisal I risk to overpay. In other words I won’t be able to make
a profit on reselling this name. It’s very important for you and me to know
the current market value of your domains.
Of course, we must be sure that you are engaging an appraisal company with
REAL manual service. I heard many appraisal companies often made inaccurate
auto-generated appraisals. I will only accept appraisals from independent
sources I trust. To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable
appraisal companies in a forum
http://domaintalk.ourplace.com/Archive/961735.htm
Just check this posting.
If the appraisal comes higher you can adjust your asking price accordingly.
I also hope you can give me 10% - 15% discount of the appraised value.
After I get an appraisal from you we’ll continue our negotiations.
How do you prefer to get paid: www.escrow.com, www.PayPal.com check or
wire?
Hope we can come to an agreement fast.
Looking forward to your reply.
I tried to put his whole email here but it fails.
Anyway this guy has contacted too many times, and it is definitely a scam.
Not that I fell for it
p.s.
I found this through Google and am glad I did. Now I know for sure that it is a scam and I will no longer have any doubts.
So many thanks for this post.
I received the below email less than 24 hours after parking a domain at Sedo, glad I googled his name.
————-email———————–
Hello,
We are interested in (domain deleted)
Your name was listed in online auction. What is your price for the name?
Our company is involved in software development/support business.
Now domain invetsing/reselling is just an additional direction of our investment strategy.
Looking forward to do business with you.
Regards,
Paul Camacho
President
TG Network Consulting
this guy contacted me also with the same rubbish.checked his ip,messages came from russia!!!
wonder if thats where this guy really lives?
update:
this scammer shawn mcelligot or whoever he is
is from
MOSCOW , RUSSIA .
HIS ISP IS:ZAO MTU-INTEL.
IP ADDRESS:62.5.255.50 .
jt + d,
Glad to have been of use guys!
——
joey,
Don’t get too excited by that - the IP in question is part of a block assigned to a Russian proxy service, so it doesn’t help pinpoint his location. Sorry…
The November 3 arrive to me Paul Camacho’s mail, look up in google and I came upon Uds,.
Thanks Paul!!!
Seeing that I have the track record of mail that they have followed with Uds right after receiving the first one …
I know what!
I am going to respond with the mail that he has to send future to!
At least in order that you understand that not everybody are idiot!
And I will add than for but information go to: Http://paulenderson.com/2007/10/12/toughguynet domain name appraisal scam/
JA, JA …
You are welcome Edgardo - I am glad you were not scammed!
Thanks Paul for the info on this scammer! I just recieved the same letter as many of you above. And thought i had to Google the “TG Network Consulting” company and ended here. Now i know this is a scam so many thanks!
/ Peter
Message below:
————–
Hello,
We are interested in XXXXX
Your name was listed in online auction. What is your price for the name?
Our company is involved in software development/support business.
Now domain invetsing/reselling is just an additional direction of our investment strategy.
Looking forward to do business with you.
Regards,
Paul Camacho
President
TG Network Consulting
============================================================================
NOTICE - This communication may contain confidential and privileged
information that is for the sole use of the intended recipient. Any
viewing, copying or distribution of, or reliance on this message by
unintended recipients is strictly prohibited. If you have received this
message in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message
and deleting it from your computer.
Paul
Many thanks!
Paul Camacho emailed me asking to buy my domain name. I nearly replied but just checked his email address which was @toughguy.net
Thought he might be mafia, so did a quick google search and your site came up tops.
Great work I’m indebted to you.
RichardO
Unfortunately I was scammed. I may get my money back but I’m still waiting on it. It’s a bit frustrating because I should know better but it did happen.