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Situation: website owner didn’t update card details and website domain did not auto renew.
Chinese scammers bought it and turned it into a porn click bait site.
My WordPress and Elementor are still(?) connected to the domain. But can’t login to access either.
Any option to save the site? Or get the porn scam site taken down?
Or am I screwed and just need to buy a new domain?
Thanks.
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Either get a new domain and update nameservers with new domain which will use the old site files (might have to update wordpress files / database as well to reflect new domain).
Or go into hosting account downloads files and figure something else out.
I think that you have a couple of options. You can try to reach out to the people the bought the domain name and try to negotiate a price to get it back. They might be willing to sell it – maybe that was their plan.
If the business has a trademarks you could see try to go that route to get it back.
I am not 100% sure on this, but for example if you buy a domain name that is like Facebook. net, io or whatever, Facebook could get off you since it’s trademark infringement.
Another option is to open a dispute from your domain name register and explain the situation.
As for your website, it’s still on your server and it should be safe. You could point it to a new domain name and just update the database “siteurl” and “home” to reflect the new domain name.
It’s a tough situation. Good luck and I hope that you get it back 🙂
You get around 5 e-mail reminders that the domain is about to expire. The owner or you did not check the CC details were up to date? It is the owner’s responsibility.
Also, never rely on automatic anything. Your situation is perfect example as to why.
The only way you can do is contact the new owner.
“Wordpress is connected to the domain”. What does that mean? WordPress.com? Regardless, all major services like Elementor have ways to disconnect domains via the services account page.
If you’re just referring to your website, then you can still access it via your hosting control panel or FTP, where you’ll need to update the domain to the new one manually
I wouldn’t care.
Customer wasn’t paying me, not my problem anymore.
Reply to customer email, “oh, that sucks. Good luck!”
There is a trademark dispute process for domain names. If u own the mark, dispute it with the registrar.