My Domain Name Got Taken

No Username on 24/09/2020 - 20:04
Last edited 24/09/2020 - 20:28

HI everyone,

I accidently let my domain lapse a few months ago and now it has been registered by some Chinese company. From my research they currently hold 80,000 domains under their name. So this is probably a bot. The domain isn't that important to me but my question is, could they read my old sent messages? There's nothing that sensitive and I didn't use the domain that much. But I'm currently in the process of closing some old accounts.

Normally I just let the domain expire and move on to another register to get better pricing since the name is not unique and not common.

I suspect that got notice of my domain when my friend sent me an email from China. But since the domain was pending delete the email never went through.

Thanks

TLDR
Can someone with access to an old domain name read your sent messages?

Computing

closed Comments

  • elgrande on 24/09/2020 - 20:09
    +2

    Doubt it. Its the domain name they have purchased, not your content.

    Is it this one: http://www.staggeringbeauty.com/

    • No Username on 24/09/2020 - 20:12

      I was thinking of this. They can't do something like point an MX record to my VPS to access something like this right? I always used cloud flare so I think I should be good.

      Edit: No that is not my domain.

      Thanks

  • Hybroid on 24/09/2020 - 20:10

    What sent messages? Which platform? Domain name and hosting are not directly linked.

    There's companies out there that scrape recently expired domains and grab them to try and resell for a profit.

    • No Username on 24/09/2020 - 20:19

      Previously sent messages from email accounts. Hosting service is Host Gator and Domain provider is Go Daddy.

      There's companies out there that scrape recently expired domains and grab them to try and resell for a profit.

      I was aware of this and in the past just let domains expire so that I could register them again for $1 on other sites since the domain name were odd and not that common or provided any use for SEO.

      I'm just concerned that they could create the exact same username as my old email and then create a new password and then see old sent message. I know they will be able to receive new message. But surely they can't fetch old emails right. The old emails are still on my database and my MX for the email is now pointing to a new domain.

      Thanks

      • Hybroid on 24/09/2020 - 20:23
        +1

        They will not have access to your hosting or any content within. You're fine.

        • No Username on 24/09/2020 - 20:26

          Thanks for the quick reply.

  • RockyRaccoon on 24/09/2020 - 20:23
    +1

    If they go to the trouble of setting up a mail server with that name, they can read emails sent to that address, but not old emails before the change.

    • No Username on 24/09/2020 - 20:27

      Thanks, that's what I thought. Just wanted to make sure.

  • brendanm on 24/09/2020 - 20:29

    Holy mackerel. So much going on here. No, they can't read your email, domain and hosting are two different things. No, they didn't "got notice of my domain when my friend sent me an email from China.".

  • Peter Enis on 24/09/2020 - 20:38

    Well it depends really. If your mailbox was hosted on a cloud service such as O365 for example, once they owned your domain they could go through the password recovery process and gain access to your old mailbox. Unless you'd already shutdown said cloud mailbox beforehand.
    Or if you didn't have a hosted mailbox then nothing to worry about.

  • JimmyF on 24/09/2020 - 20:40

    Can someone with access to an old domain name read your sent messages?

    Nope, but they can read any 'new' messages that arrive assuming they have setup the mail side of things.

    So this is probably a bot

    Yes they pickup any domain name that expires in hope of the old owner buying it back at a outrageous price.

    This is all automatic.

  • thatonethere on 24/09/2020 - 20:44

    At work we no longer drop domain names once we have done with them. Just park them quietly so link farms aren't setup on them.

  • No Username on 24/09/2020 - 20:57

    Thanks for everyone's help. Could a moderator please close this thanks.

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