Computer newbies: Domain hijacked - what options do I have?

What I would suggest

is to let that domain name die as mentioned by your host; however, rename the new one real-hello.com and send a mass email to your clients/customers notifying them ahead of time of what occurred and explain the change. You should be able to just leave all your web pages alone without making any changes to them except for the email link.

Ask the domain host if you can have a redirect for the former hello.com to real-hello.com without complications due to the hijacking so anybody you haven't reached will automatically be sent to your new site. I did that with my old domain and it worked fine for an extra $2 per month.....but I didn't have my original site hijacked so I'm not sure if this would be a good idea since I also don't know if the hijacker would then get to your new site and it would start all over again.

Also, ask the domain host if there is any way to track who took over your current site to see if there is some way they can be prosecuted for this. My domain supplier (godaddy.com) has a free feature that let me make the site name 'private' and locked which prevents it from being taken over by somebody else behind my back. It stops everybody from getting private information about me, such as my name, home address, phone number, and email address also. Perhaps your domain host can give you information about what's available regarding those features through them or if you have to go to the site where you purchased the domain name if it's not them.

TONI

NameSecure, NameSecure, THE worst customer service on earth!

My Dearest NameSecure,

I’m just a mess these days, thinking about our relationship and where we went wrong. Through all of the tough times – through the sporadic downtimes, the countless hours spent trying to make my scripts work with your overloaded servers, through the mounds of junk mail that slipped through your ever-vigilant spam filter, and yes, even through those restless days spent troubleshooting with your incompetent customer service representatives – I gave you my utmost…indeed, all my heart could give.

When you disappointed me, I turned the other cheek, reminiscing longingly about the early days of our blossoming relationship…the days when, lured by the promise of server robustness and reliability, competent and friendly customer service around the clock, and cross-platform and cross-language script compatibility, all for a modest monthly fee, I was enraptured by your commanding embrace. You promised the world to me, and I – naïve and in love – pledged my unwavering dedication to you. Through sickness and health, you would be the only hosting company for me.

It is with a heavy heart that I inform you that those days of bliss have come to an end, never to return again. My heart insists, “We can work it out!” but my brain knows that after three business days, multiple electronic service requests, and countless hours spent calling your help line, only to hear busy signals time and time again, our harmonious life together is nothing but a distant, painful memory. Empty promises do not a Web host make.

In retrospect, I suppose I should have seen the signs long ago. This was certainly not the first time you were unavailable when I needed you most. As far back as three years ago, I can remember the restless nights alone…your all-too-convenient excuses for being unreachable when I called your name…your half-hearted attempts to make me happy, except when a payment or renewal was due. Like so many others, I was blinded by a false hope…a treacherous hope that a Web host that appeared too good to be true was not.

Well you are too good to be true, NameSecure. I used to think you were different, but now I know you’re as fickle as all those other bargain hosts out there, promising anything to have your way with a kind and honest Web developer like myself. And I’ve had enough.

On behalf of Web developers everywhere, I’m taking my business elsewhere…to a host that will appreciate me for who I am, even when times are rough…to a host that will be there for me through thick and thin…to a host that truly is all of the things you claim to be, but are not.

I write this, our final communication, without even the slightest pang of regret, for I know that if this note reaches but one other developer who might otherwise have fallen victim to your treacherous ways, my heartache will not have been for naught.

So long, NameSecure. May your days be filled with cancellations and loneliness!

Your victim no longer,

Mr. Unhappy

(NT) Check the date

You've been spoofed

It sounds like you've been spoofed. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can really do about it. The creeps that did this to you did not need any access to your website. They simply took your domain name and added it as the reply to address.

I use to be an e-mail administrator, so I do understand how people do take this out on the owner of a domain name. If you don't want to give up the domain, the best you can do is place a notice on your website stating that you are not the distributor of the spams being sent out.

Unfortunately, most internet users are not savvy enough to understand how simple spoofing is. The golden rule is for users not to open spam and if they do don't reply to it. It's a heck of a lot easier for them to delete it than to reply to it anyway.

What I don't like about changing domain names is the fact that nothing is stopping the perpetrators from spoofing your new domain.

You Don't Need More Clothes

or jewelry or shoes or a new-hello.com name.

You only need to change Hosting providers. This happens to hundreds of domain owners and the Hosting company has to have filters and help with Spam.

And users such as I get spam from everywhere. We have to be resourceful enough to filter our email instead of blaming whoever we think sent the mail.

You are so pretty that I thought you were smarter than to change your domain name instead of the hosting company.

Just change the Hosting company: http://tophosts.com

Start Reporting Spoofing

In reply to: "what's to stop another spoofer"? by R. Proffitt 

Google Mail advices on report all spoof mail to:

spam@uce.gov

Hope they to get jail for spoofers

So its business as usual..

Right then, so the gist of the matter is that basically I can't do much, I may as well just keep right on using the domain name, and include a disclaimer about the spoofing on domain/in email.

I checked with domain host - there is NO spam leaving our computers. There was once before and they reacted promptly, gave us a call and alerted us etc.
And their spam filters are sorting out the junk to my domain. So they are doing their job.

Thanks for your suggestions.