'Halvarez' at Snapnames auctions uncovered

[prague7]

Ooer - this one's going to run for a while... :O

From DomainNameNews:
SnapNames User Name “Halvarez” Was Nelson Brady, VP of Engineering Bidding on Domain Names [Updated]

[Updated] According to a statement from Oversee.net’s SnapNames, an employee was found to have bid in 5% of their auctions since 2005 and in some cases arranged for a partial refund of the sales price after winning an auction. DNN also confirmed the bidder as Nelson Brady, the VP of Engineering. He was bidding under the username “halvarez”.

From Snapnames:
SnapNames User Name “Halvarez” Was Employee Bidding on Domain Names

To avoid any question about whether the company benefited from this conduct, SnapNames will offer a rebate to impacted customers, including 5.22% interest (the highest applicable federal rate during the affected time period), of the difference between the prices they paid in winning auctions, and the prices they would have paid had the employee not bid in the auctions. Impacted customers will be notified by SnapNames or its representative with instructions for the offer of a rebate.

SnapNames also has taken further action to ensure its policies regarding auctions are followed, and the company remains committed to taking whatever action is necessary to protect the integrity of its auction platform.

SnapNames deeply regrets this situation and is committed to addressing its customers’ needs quickly and fairly.

There's also a FAQ page at Snapnames

 

[deb]

My pre-November 2007 snapnames history is gone too. I have records of my payments, but not the individual auction bidders.

Mine to and he was ripping me off then as well...they had better produce ALL records of Auctions he was in from DAY 1.

 

[bmugford]

Virtually every domain I ever backordered had this "Halvarez" in the auction. The backorder time was identical to mine. It was clearly a bot.

This has been going on for years and SnapNames.com ignored the warnings. Now they are trying to spin this like they are "coming clean" and going to make it right. This is impossible to make right.

Give me a break.

Brad

He was targeting peoples accounts with Bots as someone else pointed out he would put his initial bid on at the exact second my bid was placed...but he did not bid on every domain i bid on but when he did it was placed at the same time exactly.

 

[globegenius]

I feel bad about all the people who got shafted by this person. At least it should be a wake-up call for the other sites. I wonder about some of the auctions. Some of the names look like garbage to me and there is bidding on them, I'm no expert in this field or propose to be. I do take the time to read and learn from the people who have been in this industry a long time though.

 

[fred88]

Not the first, won't be the last.

Remember this?
Domain Name Wire » News » Expired Domain Services Let Employees Bid Against Customers - The Domain Industry's News Source

Didn't think so.

 

[kev]

90 members viewing this thread.

Possibly one of the most scandalous incidents in the history of the domain business. I guarantee this is the tip of the iceberg...

Im actually in shock!

 

[bmugford]

This is in my opinion the biggest domain news of the year. For one of the biggest players in the industry to have a VP doing this for 4 years, that is embarrassing. This is not some random employee.

I really wonder how this was not caught, or how it was allowed to go on.
What happened to all the domains Halvarez won? Who paid for those?

Brad

90 members viewing this thread.

Possibly one of the most scandalous incidents in the history of the domain business. I guarantee this is the tip of the iceberg...

Im actually in shock!

 

[deb]

"The problem with that is you can't see if and when Halvarez bid you up (if it was indeed him)"

If you go to Order History at your SN account it will give you all the info you need....to Nov 07 anyway.

 

[johname]

This biz is too boring for the media to pick up and you forumers are too busy and/or clueless to care. We'll be back to normal before you know it.

washington post covering it

Security Fix - SnapNames: Former exec. bid up domain prices

 

[GF]

This story gets worse by the hour.

 

[deb]

"The message to customers said the bulk of the bidding occurred on auctions between 2005 and 2007"

They have recently DELETED our Purchase/Order History prior to NOV 2007.....I smell a RAT!

 

[kev]

This could be the end of Snapnames...

Who actually believes it's just one user account affected?

 

[larryharlow]

This could be the end of Domaining.

 

[RJ]

"The message to customers said the bulk of the bidding occurred on auctions between 2005 and 2007"

They have recently DELETED our Purchase/Order History prior to NOV 2007.....I smell a RAT!

Hmm.. Guess we have to wait for our reports from Rust Consulting. :/

 

[GF]

This could be the end of Domaining.

LOL, a bit dramatic, don't you think?

 

[gazzip]

"The problem with that is you can't see if and when Halvarez bid you up (if it was indeed him)"

If you go to Order History at your SN account it will give you all the info you need....to Nov 07 anyway.

Uhh, I know that, what I am saying is it should (in my case) of shown back to 2005 but they were deleted at least a couple of months ago...why ?


.

 

[bmugford]

How so?

This could be the end of Domaining.

 

[GF]

Hmm.. Guess we have to wait for our reports from Rust Consulting. :/

...and we can bet Rust Consulting is going to give you just a SWEETHEART of a deal for all the sh*t that happened the last few years, right??
:sold:

 

[AlejandroGarcia]

this could be the end of domaining.

lol

 

[cmason]

Bah, I wish I was affected in some way so that I could be more involved in this whole situation, but regardless, I find this extremely fascinating and look forward to keeping up on what happens. I have already spent the afternoon looking at old threads about "halvarez"...too much time? Definitely!

 

[GF]

I just realized that NamePros has way better security against shill bidding than Snapnames does.

 

[johname]

"Oversee alleges that the employee made the bids using an auction account set up under the alias "Hank Alvarez". The company says that in certain cases where the employee won the action, he paid for the domain and then arranged to refund a portion of the winning bid amount to his account."

Thanks Hank

 

[cmason]

"Oversee alleges that the employee made the bids using an auction account set up under the alias "Hank Alvarez". The company says that in certain cases where the employee won the action, he paid for the domain and then arranged to refund a portion of the winning bid amount to his account."

Thanks Hank

That must mean that partial refunds are normal at SnapNames...how do I go about asking for one of those on a non-Halvarez infected domain?

 

[deb]

Rust Consulting Inc., the Leader in Class Action Settlement Administration

Customer FAQ page


(in the event they take that down- since mentioning the goon squad who is doing your damage control spin in an event related FAQ is a hilarious tactical blunder- I did screen-cap it)

Rust Consulting Inc., the Leader in Class Action Settlement Administration > Home

You might want to think VERY carefully before taking their "rebate offer" and signing onto all the contingencies and waivers that are surely attached to it.
This "Rust Consulting" appears to be a damage control/PR hit team that specializes in mitigating precisely this sort of thing, up to and including their own in-house "500-seat call center, staffed with customer service representatives trained on the details of your situation."

Rust Consulting Inc., the Leader in Class Action Settlement Administration > Services > Rust Response

Do You Trust Rust?

 

[kev]

I heard they had a rusty reputation...

I'll get my coat...

:hehe:

 

[RJ]

As I understand their explanation, 'halvarez' would pay for the domain at the winning bid price if they won the domain name., then SnapNames would rebate a portion of the cost to his account.

What happened to all the domains that halvarez won? Were they being parked? If so, by who?