Domain transfer requests for transfers you didn’t initiate – I don’t think it’s a scam…

Every once in a while I get a domain transfer request that I have not initiated. Over 90% of the time this transfer request is from Go Daddy. I am pretty sure that Go Daddy are some of the very few registrars that allow someone to start a transfer without having an authorization code. And why would they care? They get the transfer money and leave their customers to do whatever they want. This is the subject of the request:
“Transfer of ******.INFO – Action Required”

The thing is that even if I approve the transfer using the Transaction ID and Security Code provided the transfer will not start without the auth code. (And of course all my domains are locked so even with the auth code the transfer will fail) So I don’t think that this is some scam from a domain thief. Well maybe it is if the thief is that stupid…

Sometimes I think that it might be the previous owner that thinks that he still owns the domain name. But then I look at the creation and it is 2006! That is the creation date of the domain name that I just got a transfer request to Go Daddy. And the domain was from a drop. Is it possible that someone thinks they still own a domain they last paid in 2005? Highly unlikely…

Maybe someone made a typo and requested the wrong domain name? Go Daddy keeps harassing me with these emails for many days. Wouldn’t they have found out after a week that they made a typo? I don’t know.

But I think that the answer to my questions lies with Go Daddy and a lot of it’s customers. I believe that most of the transfer requests come from people that think they are buying the domain name! It is easy to make this mistake if you are not at all familiar with domain names and what the difference of registration and transfer is. Go Daddy makes it pretty easy to do it by not asking for an auth code. I tried it and within a minute I was at checkout transferring in sex.com with a cost of just $8.17!!! (no, I didn’t pay)

Maybe Go Daddy wants to fix this problem too after fixing the expired domains privacy issue?