Anyone come across these guys ?

[gazzip]

I was trawling through an expired domain list just passin time and realised that the following company seems to reg just about anything and almost everything.

It seemed like at least every other one is now parked by them - even when i checked the really really crap ones - yes - they have it.

Its weired !!

some of the terrible names IMO are as follows

gulfcoastsanddragassociation.com
HOTLOTTO2000.COM
cashforhomesincollierville.com
BETTER-HEALTH-N-MORE-MONEY.COM
MEDIA-HOTELSOLUTIONS.COM
BUY-HEALTH-N-BEAUTY-ONLINE.COM
ANDERSON-AUTOMOTIVE-GROUP.COM
BEAUTIFULCREATIONSSALON.COM
2003CAMPENGLISHTANOSHIIFOREVER.COM
MECHANICALBREAKDOWNWARRANTIES.COM
FUTUREOFTAXADMINISTRATION.COM

- and Yes – this one ?

THE-SUN-SHONE-HAVING-NO-ALTERNATIVE.COM

their website says the following -

www.kenyatech.com is an international domain name reseller portal. We offer our clients an excellent, ever-growing selection of high quality domain names - names that are not available through traditional domain name registrars.

Kentech specializes in after-market domain names, meaning Kentech has acquired the right to resell these domains to you at discounted rates from an existing domain name registrant. These domain names are exclusively brought to you by Kenyatech.com and are not for sale elsewhere on the Internet.

Any thoughts on this lot ? Do you think they get every one than is not backordered by anyone ?

 

[DomainPump]

I am sure it would -

yup thats exactly it, and they have a daily float that would blow the minds of most people here

I'm quite aware of the drop lists, thank you. The names he's registering arent on the drop lists. They arent on any searches of deleted names from any databases that provide that collect and store the droplists. I've actually baited him by making up names and having a friend in another state search them - and seeing that he's registered a few not more than days after. I had my friend use the same WHOIS at the same registrar.

Please - dont assume that the people here are clueless and would be 'blown away'. Ask first.

I read this article months ago when Kenyatech registered 200 domains that I was about to register. I was concerned they had hacked into me. The funny thing was that 9 days later the 200 Domains were available again and I managed to reg them. This lead me to the assumption that they were paying with some sort of fraudulent Credit Card.

Anyway take a read of this. http://www.kenyatechwatch.com/

Thanks for this information DOMiNIC. This is all I needed to confirm what others said wasnt happening. There is something fishy going on. ICANN is going to be notified along with local authorities and media - this will now be exposed for once and for all. :hehe:

Thanks again!

 

[DOMiNIC]

This is the Kenyatechwatch forum link.

http://www.kenyatechwatch.com/discusskt/index.php

It makes a good afternoons reading.

 

[Smith]

I'm not assuming anything in my last post, I know most people would be pretty shocked.

But, in this post I will assume something based on your replies in this thread. I think that you will end up wasting a lot of your time, and will stress out over something that is beyond you currently

Research the domain market and how things are working these days, the information is out there, on this and other sites.

 

[scrsteven]

Interesting posts on that forum about suing kenyatech..

 

[DomainPump]

Well it confirms what I had feared all along. Now, the next question is - is GoDaddy involved in this somehow?

I'm not assuming anything in my last post, I know most people would be pretty shocked.

But, in this post I will assume something based on your replies in this thread. I think that you will end up wasting a lot of your time, and will stress out over something that is beyond you currently

Research the domain market and how things are working these days, the information is out there, on this and other sites.

I feel like I've both: hit the tip of the iceberg AND found out Santa doesnt exist at the same time!!

 

[DOMiNIC]

Did anyone read my thread, 'Anybody Reg. a .BS Domain' ?

How about we all chip in and reg. Kentech.bs.

If some of you masters chip in your SEO skills we could sure upset them.

 

[gazzip]

Seems like I stumbled on a right can of worms with this lot ! :td:

 

[Chris]

The end of last week my sister called me on the phone as my brother-in-law would like to put up a more professional website for his company that he's recently taken over from his former boss. I was walking her through step-by-step to register the name, but she had to leave with the kids to go pick up my niece from school. When she got back home and called me up again so we could continue, then bam the name had just been registered. She instantly called up my brother-in-law at the office to see if he had registered it, as the whois records weren't showing up yet. He never regged it. After waiting for the whois records to update, it was none other than Kenyatech who snatched it up.

The name had previously been owned by his old boss and it had expired. Then it was picked up by Kenyatech and dropped again. It's been available for about a year now and we go to register it, then it's gone. It's available in every other extension as well.

:td:

 

[gazzip]

That SUCKS !! :td: were you trying to reg it with Godaddy aswell ?

 

[bluesman]

A Solution... for now, at least

A TEMPORARY KENTECH WORKAROUND

Well, I've finally figured out a short-term workaround to avoid what I now call the "Kentech Krumbs." (It's a long post, but it should be worthwhile. I'd advise you to print it out now and read it when you need to.)

Besides running over 150 domains off and on since the '90s (which still puts me on the level of a small-timer compared to companies who have yearly bought and sold hundreds or thousands of domains), I'm also a big detective story fan.

Now what I followed was the classic investigative rule of retracing my steps as they were taken before the moment of the "murder" happened. I also "retraced the steps" of you people posting here, according to the testimony you gave, as if you were also witnesses to such a "crime." It turns out that what will thwart this particular bad guy is not what you should do, but what you SHOULDN'T do!

So here's how to enjoy a safe, sane and 100% Kentech-free experience while buying domains. Just follow some simple steps including the 6 listed below. (Our example will be the [hopefully] ficticious domain of "dardo.net," which you already know has lapsed past it's 90 grace period):

1. When searching for a specific domain in a field set on default to ".com," type in the name "dardo" only. Do NOT specify ".net." You will be taken to the usual page showing all the TLD names available. You should see down the list that good ol' "dardo.net" is available.

2. Quickly click on it, put it in your shopping cart and finish getting whatever other names you wanted and then get ready for checkout. This "freezes" dardo.net from being grabbed by Kentech or anyone else. Before that final purchase, you might change your mind about some of the other names, so you can always click on "remove" and dump them from your cart - but of course keep that dardo.net.

3. MOST importantly: During this entire online operation, do NOT at any time allow yourself to be interrupted by ANYTHING until you click straight through to that final purchase button! (Kids need picking up? Get Aunt Bee to do it. Honeymoon due to start? Tell the spouse to wait a few minutes. Your room catches on fire? Spit on the flames. But do NOT leave that computer for one second once you've started! You get the idea.)

4. Subplots: In related goings on, some have also had the domain of their dreams snatched away by Kentech simply because they "didn't remember" when their old domain might have expired, then made the deadly error of "looking it up on Whois." Also do NOT do this!

5. And you don't have to! That's because for every domain you've ever bought, you received an online comfirmation email from your registrar (ie godaddy.com or whomever) telling you the exact date when you purchased it and for how long it was. (If you lost this info, email godaddy directly about it - because again, do NOT search whois about it, because you couldn't wait a day or two before godaddy gets back to you. Searching Whosis these days equals THROWING AWAY your domain name.)

6. Not only must you always keep an online record of these emails in a folder entitled something like "Domain Info" from day one, you must also PRINT out a hard copy of this info in case your computer crashes. You can always replace a computer, but how about the domain name your entire business might revolve around?!

RECAP: Now let's look at what we did in the above 6 moves to screw up Kentech:

1) We looked for "all" TLDs using the name we wanted, and didn't indicate a search for anything other than what was set on default. (Kentech can't monitor "all" such name searches, and has no clue yet which one you're looking for.)

2) We "froze" the name we wanted in the shopping cart. Now Kentech can see what we wanted but now it's too late for them to grab it - unless you mistakenly press "remove" from the shopping cart, that is. (Then you're screwed, and Kentech is happy.)

3) Never be interrupted. Kentech LOVES your interruptions! That's how they make their money. Whether you're doing a purchase click through (or even a dangerous forbidden Whois check) immediatelly before that click through, do NOT stop for anything. Once you've clicked to either buy (or Whois search for) that name, it appears on Kentech's screens. (You're still one step ahead of them, but do NOT stop for a second, or they will wind up one step ahead of YOU!)

4) Keep complete computer records of all domain buys. All the dates are there, so you always know exactly when your sites will (or did) expire. (Kentech HATES people that avoid very risky Whois checks by saving domain purchase records!)

5) If you somehow (heaven forbid) lost your records, check with your godaddy.com-type registrar by email - or even phone. Do NOT go running to Whois every time, just to save a day or so. Kentech LOVES impatient people who suffer from WOS ("Whois obsession syndrome"!)

6) Don't even trust your computer. Computers crash, but don't let your business crash. Take that extra step and also PRINT OUT your domain purchase records. (Kentech also loves crashing computers that force people to later run to Whois!)


# # #

(Of course, nobody can guarantee that the Kentech techies won't sometime in the future also find OTHER ways to prematurely monitor and unfairly grab domains, but the above steps will at least work for the present.)

- Thank You

 

[DomainPump]

Did anyone read my thread, 'Anybody Reg. a .BS Domain' ?

How about we all chip in and reg. Kentech.bs.

If some of you masters chip in your SEO skills we could sure upset them.

What about DumpKentech.com or ShutDownKentech.com - as well as their other identities.

A TEMPORARY KENTECH WORKAROUND

(Of course, nobody can guarantee that the Kentech techies won't sometime in the future also find OTHER ways to prematurely monitor and unfairly grab domains, but the above steps will at least work for the present.)

- Thank You

Thanks for that work-around. My only question regarding that is, when I put domain "X" in my shopping basket, are you completely SURE that it freezes the name? I tried this with a friend it the transactions were sent to the same registrar, same name, different state/ISP/credit card, etc and only one of us got the name. The other got a form-mail reply stating that there was a domain name registry issue at the time of purchase and upon further investigation the charge will be reversed and "sorry that this happened", etc...

I think that it all depends on how the IT folks coded the e-commerce functionality of the registrar. There are two ways to do it: 1) placing a product in the basket reduces visible shelf stock (but not inventory) until the basket is abandoned or is cancelled or expires -or- 2) placing a product in the basket is merely like replicating the product and leaving the original on the shelf.

With regard to these idiots we're speaking of:

These folks are located in Louisana and from their blogs I have now seen that they're migrating out of that area because of the conditions there. They're heading to Florida (Clearwater) and elsewhere around the MS, AL, LA areas... There is no doubt that they'll set up show up elsewhere. There's no doubt that they'll remain unethical pigs conducting some shady business somewhere.

The problem isnt really the workaround, in and of itself - though I did have that one question for you

The problem is in that no one follows through in shutting these people down. I dont know about anyone else but I have emailed and filed online complaints to a 1/2 dozen different places within ICANN, IANA, INTERNIC and the US Dept of Commerce and Trade. I will also be contacting an attorney and private investigator after Thanksgiving weekend is over. Finally, I know some people in the news media business who operated and have contacts in many small to mid-sized markets across the eastern seaboard and mid-west USA. They will formulate and run a story without question.

I dont know how anyone else feels but these folks will really hate the day that they took the first domain name from me. New Orleans is dying for money and business and I just might purchase advertising which floods that area with information about these people. I didnt initially investigate because I figured its just as possible for them to think of the name that I did as it is for you who I am replying to to think of the name I thought of - but its much deeper than that, we all know this. Now they have spread themselves way too thin. They operate as or have connections with the following:

DIRECTNIC.com
Intercosmos Media Group
Domain Contender
Orian Web
Spiral Matrix
kenyatech.com
kentech.com
Sigmund Solares (apparent ring leader loser moron from what I read)
The seem to run a domain name identity hiding operation as well.
http://noldc.com/altid.html

They have many dozens of complaints against their various identities in the BBB.

They are located all over the place in the form of complaints:
http://www.wipo.int/search/en/query...rdocs&col=hagdocs&qt=+kenyatech&charset=utf-8

http://www.google.com/search?num=10...n.org&q=domain+contender&sitesearch=icann.org

http://www.google.com/search?num=10...mund+Solares&btnG=Search&sitesearch=icann.org

http://www.google.com/search?num=10...ains=icann.org&q=sigmund&sitesearch=icann.org

http://www.google.com/search?num=10...ns=icann.org&q=kenyatech&sitesearch=icann.org

and SO MANY MORE sites are now discussing them with the frequency increasing as well the the dated materials being all in 2005.

They all have connections in all the investigations that I have performed.
They all have Sigmund Solares somehow inter-twined with them.
They all operate in or near New Orleans, LA, USA with connections to foreign countries (Canada, Africa, England - with potentially more to follow).
They all have been accused of taking part in wide-spread credit card fraud.

I will go further to assume they are terrorist connected. Call me paranoid but so did many others when I thought someone "stole" the name I searched on only days prior and registered it to Kenyatech.com. Also, I will go so far as saying that they have ties or connections INSIDE some major registrars. They have to in order to lift the WHOIS search database. There IS a WHOIS search database and ICANN discusses its "security" and the dissemination of its data. I have read it here: http://gnso.icann.org/council/members.shtml

I have emailed several folks on that council. I hope and pray that these Kentech/DirectNIC - whatever - scums dont have connections inside ICANN but corruption is like cancer.. Once it appears it its hard to erradicate. It gets its fingers into everything.

We can stop this is we all band together and expose it further. If anyone knows anyone else in the media business (news, print, etc) PLEASE get them to investigate and report on this. I have two friends, one at FOX and one at CNN and will, as a last resort, contact them. They are high up and will surely begin to expose these idiots. They love that. That sort of publicity will surely help gather more folks who these idiots have affected as well as governing bodies that can stop them. And lastly, I know someone in IT at the DHS and, well, if it turns out that these idiots are terrorist-related then it would be awesome for DHS to round them up and wait for the FBI to arrest them.

Who knows, more powerful investigation methods may just prove that this really IS just the tip of some huge, ugly, ice-berg related to terrorism.

I would NOT doubt it after living as long as I have, having seen the things I have.

 

[DOMiNIC]

They all have connections in all the investigations that I have performed.
They all have Sigmund Solares somehow inter-twined with them.
They all operate in or near New Orleans, LA, USA with connections to foreign countries (Canada, Africa, England - with potentially more to follow).
They all have been accused of taking part in wide-spread credit card fraud.

Who knows, more powerful investigation methods may just prove that this really IS just the tip of some huge, ugly, ice-berg related to terrorism.

I would NOT doubt it after living as long as I have, having seen the things I have.

My involment with Kenyatech was this. In May this year I checked the availability and overture of hundreds of domains containing US Cities, such as TaxiBoston.com, ItalianRestaurantDetroit.com, DaySpaLosAngeles.com etc.

They all had ovt of 10,000 plus and it took me a couple of weeks to decide to register them all. The day I went to register them I found all had been registered three days before.

Nine days later they were all free and available again.

The only explanation I can think of is that they were in bed with a Credit Card Banking Center. After realizing the domains had little natural traffic, they got the Credit Card banking center to issue a charge back.

The even stranger thing was that a week later after I registered the Domains, KenyaTech repeated the excercise by registering them all on .net. Low and Behold, nine days later all the .net versions were available.

Really Wierd.

 

[DomainPump]

...it took me a couple of weeks to decide to register them all. The day I went to register them I found all had been registered three days before.

...Nine days later they were all free and available again.
Really Wierd.

This is exactly what I do, as well as many others most likely. Somehow, they are finding out what we are searching on. Either they are scanning port 43 WHOIS at the source or they are obtaining a list from insiders or what.

I have had this same experience many times. So have friends of mine - I baited these losers by having friends of mine search for specific names. I waited and they were registered by Kenyatech - as well as some others who are no doubt probably affiliated with them.

Why do they become available shortly thereafter? Only think I've read is that they are also into stolen credit cards. They register the names with the stolen cards and then the owner sees the rouge charge and reports it - after the process is completed, the registration is voided and the name is dumped back onto the market.

This leads to DIRECTNIC.com's "expired names list" which they curiously cancelled right around the time that the Hurricane destroyed the city they're in. Hmm... In any case, the expired names provide them with an addition opportunity to get you to register the name legitamately through them.

The rabbit hole is very deep on this one folks but as well all know, even rabbits cant dig from New Orleans down into China.

I am not done with them in the least bit. Not until I see them handcuffed and thrown away - which may not happen for Internet-only offenses but could. I smell scam, tampering, fraud, abuse, deceptive practices and many others including potentially terrorism of some nature.

Keep investigating!

 

[xtremest]

Okay, i tried to register kentechsucks.com, i managed around 5 minutes at Godaddy, varying options for domain, adding more years of registration etc. But nothing happened really.

 

[Callmoney]

My involment with Kenyatech was this. In May this year I checked the availability and overture of hundreds of domains containing US Cities, such as TaxiBoston.com, ItalianRestaurantDetroit.com, DaySpaLosAngeles.com etc.

Exactly the same situation here...I thought it was normal but...
Yesterday I've checked some domains witch had an low/average ovt score, they never been registered before, so i put them on a list to decide later if I register them or not...
Today I open that list and from 10 domains i had on that list, 8 was grabbed.. And guess who grabbed them?
This is very strange, IMO registrars are with Kenyatech end of conversation!

 

[DomainPump]

...IMO registrars are with Kenyatech end of conversation!

We shall find out if that is indeed true. Right now, anything is possible and everything is probable.

I think contacting the attorney is my next task.

 

[namey]

This just happened with a name I was looking at, the next day Kenyatech registered it. I still don't know how they do it.

 

[ponyone]

I live in Clearwater, Florida... would love to drop Sigmund Solares a visit when he arrives.

I've not been burned by him, but it's clear to me he's a cyber criminal... I mean come on... his name is Sigmund Solares... that is such a comic villain's regular name

 

[Halobitt]

This happened to me, kind of, but not by Kenyatech. A name (.be) I was interested in seemed available for quite a while. When I got round to purchasing it, it said "available" and it seemed to take longer to resolve than usual.

Got a message later saying that I was unsuccessful. Checking who got it, I was surprised to learn that it was snapped up by a certain clown (golden arches).

Coincidence? Or fuel for my paranoia?

Je ne sais pas.

 

[DOMiNIC]

Exactly the same situation here...I thought it was normal but...
Yesterday I've checked some domains witch had an low/average ovt score, they never been registered before, so i put them on a list to decide later if I register them or not...
Today I open that list and from 10 domains i had on that list, 8 was grabbed.. And guess who grabbed them?
This is very strange, IMO registrars are with Kenyatech end of conversation!

Are they monitoring overture searches?

 

[Callmoney]

Maybe yes...maybe not...who knows?
Thats the problem! Nowone knows exactly how they can "hijaak" domain queries.
But if they can do it, the only thing we should do is not hesitate in domain registration.

 

[birdman5]

Because he is based in the UK, it may be worth reporting him to BBC's Watchdog They love stories like this, and would surely try and get to the bottom of this.

I can't really report it, as i've had no dealings with him, but it's worth considering for those people who have...

 

[DomainPump]

Maybe yes...maybe not...who knows?
Thats the problem! Nowone knows exactly how they can "hijaak" domain queries.
But if they can do it, the only thing we should do is not hesitate in domain registration.

What about this "port-43" WHOIS scanning that can be done by registrars? Since Kenyatech = DirectNIC then wouldnt that be a possibility?

 

[bluesman]

Thanks for that work-around. My only question regarding that is, when I put domain "X" in my shopping basket, are you completely SURE that it freezes the name? I tried this with a friend it the transactions were sent to the same registrar, same name, different state/ISP/credit card, etc and only one of us got the name...

Notes at random on this nutty yet always fascinating topic:

FROZEN DINNERS

Regarding how much a name is "frozen" while in your shopping cart, that example would have to refer to a case where you bought only one (or very few) domain names at a time. Because naturally there's always the chance that anyone (not just Kentech) might want that same name and only be trying to register that one within a few minutes, while you're off shopping for several other domains for half an hour. (Look at it like a supermarket - sure, you might get to the checkstands with your cart full of groceries quicker than another customer, but that other customer can still beat you out the door by having much less in his cart and zipping through the Express Lane line!)

"INTER-KENTECH"

Last year, Intercosmos Media Group (ie lawyer Solares' outfit) called me on at least three occasions within 48 hours after I'd registered some names. (They got back to me faster than my registrar!) They said they'd like to "handle" my use of the name on the web ("host it" - aka have me sign it over to them?) and they also wanted to know exactly why I'd wanted the name and what I'd planned to do with it. Suspecting nothing too out of the ordinary, I gave them the same answer each time - "No, I'm already hosted by Godaddy and not in need of your services, since I do all my own webmastering and site design, but thanks anyway." After getting this same answer from me every time, they eventually stopped calling and offering to "host" my sites. I had no idea until this year that in reality Intercosmos is linked to the notorious Kentech, and that last year they were no doubt peeved that I'd beaten them to the punch in registering the names they'd called about. Further proof is in the fact that this year when I lost interest in those particular domains and let them expire, sure enough Kentech/Intercosmos snapped them right up.

USED AS A FRONT

Speaking of Solares, he's just the lawyer that the honchos have running the Louisiana storefront arm of Kentech/Intercosmos. The actual boss(es) are still hiding out in England where it's much safer. So if the cyberpoop hits the fan for them someday, Solares will take the hit for them, not the real Kentech bosses. He's only the media puppet with a target painted on his back - that why he gets paid the big bucks (but of course nowhere near as big as his bosses).


BAD CHECKS/CREDIT CARDS USED BY KENTECH?

No, although it might appear that Kentech ran into payment trouble, they have no problem at all in that department (unfortunately)! The reason they buy up many names and then still often dump lots of them later (making it look like there might have been payment trouble) is because, as I mentioned on another post, after they buy them they later cherry-pick through the names to see if they can turn a big enough buck with them. If not, they can afford to drop them.


BAIT OFFERED, BAIT TAKEN

As to some others here saying that Kentech even grabbed up their own personal names used in domain titles (useless to anyone except those with that same personal name), I agree that this claim is also true. I already owned my real name's dot com, but I registered a dot net version of it and then dropped it - sure enough, Kentech soonafter swarmed right in and bought it!

 

[DomainPump]

I can't really report it, as i've had no dealings with him, but it's worth considering for those people who have...

You can bait them, its simple. They're morons with limitied forward thinking. Very linear thought processes.

All you have to do is search on some names, keep track of the names you've searched on and date them (use a text file or something). Within a week or so those names may show up as registered by these losers and listed for sale!

They may not take the bait anymore because of the heated publicity on them now. The amount of postings such as the ones in this thread have increased by an order of 100 in the past several weeks.

They're gonna get caught and they're gonna get locked up. Its a matter of time. I just hope I've got my VCR on to record it so I can laugh my butt off at them over and over and over again!