GoDaddy gave a domain to a stranger without any documentation • Hacker News Board

Re: GoDaddy gave a domain to a stranger without any documentation

#71

Post by amluto » Sun, Apr 26, 2026, 7:34 PM UTC

tedggh wrote: post #52

Likely an inside job. I had a similar experience with AWS where my account was compromised despite the fact that I had all the proper security features enabled. It was later discovered internal contractors were responsible. But up to that point AWS blamed the issue on me with no proof. A call to the AG office in my state got the ball rolling and initiated an investigation that finally got a manager to take the case s…

If you read farther down, it’s obviously an inside job in the incompetent, not malicious, sense. Their employee did not do anything remotely resembling following procedures, misread an email to an outrageous degree, and transferred the wrong domain.

Re: GoDaddy gave a domain to a stranger without any documentation

#72

Post by dpark » Sun, Apr 26, 2026, 7:34 PM UTC

donatj wrote: post #23

Probably ten years ago with name.com I had a .at domain expire. I caught it like a day or two later, and successfully renewed it through their site but it did not take. There was somehow already someone up squatting my domain. I contacted support and they told me there's apparently no renewal window for .at but they could recover it for $140 - oof .. sure. It was nothing super important but would be annoying to lose.…

That sounds like name.com was squatting on your expired domain and extorted $140 from you to get it back.

Re: GoDaddy gave a domain to a stranger without any documentation

#73

Post by merlindru » Sun, Apr 26, 2026, 7:35 PM UTC

FlamingMoe wrote: post #26

He mentions these 3: "- Every email address that exists out in the world is now wrong. - Every piece of marketing material is now incorrect. - All of the SEO is gone." but it seems to miss even the biggest one, which is that you are effectively locked out of any online business accounts, your bank, your crm, anything that says "we noticed an unusual login, please enter the code we just sent to your email to verify th…

Also huge opportunity for scams etc if this ever was a targeted takeover type thing. Emails and other stuff go to the same domain, and an impostor could just keep answering correspondence like nothing had happened

And even worse, if I wanted to take over npmjs.com tomorrow and godaddy would kinda... just hand it over (?!?!?!) then i could probably become a crypto billionaire overnight

Re: GoDaddy gave a domain to a stranger without any documentation

#74

Post by nabbed » Sun, Apr 26, 2026, 7:36 PM UTC

8cvor6j844qw_d6 wrote: post #40

crazygringo wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's literally the largest registrar in the world, by a large margin. When you're a business and want something reliable, picking the most popular provider is usually a strategy that works decently well. They're more likely to have established processes that work for all sorts of cases. That's what makes this particular story so egregious. Domains are a very funny business. I can't think of anything so crucial to bus…

> more likely to have established processes that work for all sorts of cases Whatever their process is, it's concerning. I wonder how many sign-offs are actually involved, or if it's just a ticket handled and closed by a rep. Either way, GoDaddy is not the first choice for a new domain in 2026.

>Either way, GoDaddy is not the first choice for a new domain in 2026.

Off the top of your head, what would be a decent one?

Re: GoDaddy gave a domain to a stranger without any documentation

#75

Post by HotGarbage » Sun, Apr 26, 2026, 7:37 PM UTC

thot_experiment wrote: post #35

rrr_oh_man wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where would you host domains?

Literally anywhere else, GoDaddy is utter trash and has been for many years. Namecheap is the one I use personally.

[flagged]

Re: GoDaddy gave a domain to a stranger without any documentation

#76

Post by gpm » Sun, Apr 26, 2026, 7:37 PM UTC

yieldcrv wrote: post #54

Flagstream should still get lawyers involved

They look like a pretty small company. The damages they could recoup might not be high enough to justify the costs.

Re: GoDaddy gave a domain to a stranger without any documentation

#77

Post by elashri » Sun, Apr 26, 2026, 7:37 PM UTC

omnifischer wrote: post #24

Wait few hours. Some CTO or PR guru will post a message here. - We are totally revamping our processes. This never happened out of incompetence. Humans make mistakes. We are contacting the client for 1 year free renewal - waiving. Will mail a coupon code. We consider this issue closed.

Have we ever got any response like than from GoDaddy ever in any of these issues over years?

Re: GoDaddy gave a domain to a stranger without any documentation

#78

Post by HotGarbage » Sun, Apr 26, 2026, 7:38 PM UTC

Zak wrote: post #22

TZubiri wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the thing is that it makes sense when you are small, and it's one of the hardest and riskiest things to change, so it's a decision that stays with you. And to be completely honest, it isn't that bad, you get a phone you can call 24/7. Of course mistakes happen and staff can't always help, but it's more like a 99.9% vs 99.99% quality thing when comparing to other providers like AWS or CloudFlare.

Why does using GoDaddy as a registrar instead of one with a better reputation like Porkbun or Namecheap make sense when you're small?

Namecheap supports Palestinian genocide: https://neosmart.net/blog/namecheap-com-revokes-domain-hosti...

Re: GoDaddy gave a domain to a stranger without any documentation

#79

Post by jmward01 » Sun, Apr 26, 2026, 7:38 PM UTC

npm can give you security warnings about packages. I wonder if there is space for an external dependency warning system for sites. 'WARN: godaddy has elevated security complaints related to service XXX' and the like when you push a PR. Add it as a GH action check and it goes against a public DB of complaints. Sort of a higher level 'do you trust your provider' check.

The core problem tight now is there is very little incentive for companies to fix their support since there is no easy way to advertise how bad it is compared to other companies. There is no natural market for the value of support since consumers don't have an easy/obvious way to compare built into how they do things day to day. An infra scan of services tied to public support metrics could help plug that hole.

Re: GoDaddy gave a domain to a stranger without any documentation

#80

Post by ValentineC » Sun, Apr 26, 2026, 7:39 PM UTC

I had a similar problem with Crazy Domains: they accepted forged documentation, turned off two-factor authentication despite multiple emails from me saying never to do so, and me literally being on a call with them as it happened. The domain compromise happened as part of a plan to hijack my OG Twitter username [1].

It took getting my country's NIC and regulator involved before they restored control of my domain back to me.

I've never gotten a formal apology from them, and the incident took so much out of me that I've never gotten around to pursuing them any further.

But fuck Crazy Domains, Dreamscape Networks, and Newfold Digital (fka Endurance International Group).