a domain transfer gone bad

A fax sent to Verisign, claiming that the owner of a certain domain name was allowing the web site name to be transferred, resulted in the domain name registration company changing the ownership of the name to the sender of the fax. But, permission wasn't given. Verisign has admitted that it was duped. Their solution to the problem? None:

The facts in this case are that VeriSign received a forged fax from a Sarah at a fake address in Berlin, stating that Leslie Harpold had given permission for the domain Hoopla.com to be transferred to her. The domain was not itself due for renewal until June this year. The company did so, and Harpold was frozen out the domain. Upon complaining, she was told that she would have to personally contact the new owner to agree terms, despite the fact that VeriSign never checked the transfer was correct.

Without a doubt, the system for transferring names is flawed. There are other companies registering domain names with more secure methods for the transference of ownership. More on Verisign from Leslie Harpold, on Textism.