alert Fraud Alert: One person using multiple accounts - chargebacks and domains not delivered for years

[boker]

The story starts with one mistake from my side, when I forget to delist one domain sold a few days earlier. The guy post SOLD, I send him my paypal and he's paying...after half of hour when I wanted to push the domains, I notice that I don't own one of them anymore, apologize and I'm telling him to choose another name or I will refund his 2$.
After that, he starts being aggressive and say something like his in domaining for years but never happend something like this in his entire life....now, I start thinking how come a guy with an account opened a few days before can be so aggressive and can say that his domaining all his life, so I start checking what I can about him. This is the result of my investigation:

The guy has multiple namepros accounts, most of them he's using them for a few months, do some chargebacks or not paying for domains after he take's possession, closing them and opening new one's. He has also multiple paypal accounts and also multiple ebay accounts and he's doing it at least from 2009, but he's bragging on some sites that he's in domaining from 2002

His name is Randall Ford Ruben,( using alternatively Randy Ruben or Ford Ruben as well) and his using also Abbe Orteza or Mike Garey(probably others as well) also his using some companies names, like: Domain Administrators of America LLC and Domain Pawn, Domain Pawn Shop, the main address is from Van Nuys, California, 54 years old, but he uses addresses from Arizona and Tucson and Canada as well, his current username is gotchadomains, 25 days old account, buying, selling and bidding on tens of domains, so the same 'modus operandi' as the other accounts

1. He uses multiple emails and phone numbers, I have found at least 7 of them, but for sure there are more:
   [email protected] (this is the main one)
2. [email protected]
   [email protected]
   [email protected]
   [email protected]
3. [email protected]
   [email protected] ( this email used for paypal - even the description of the payment is- 'gone gone domains', so probably a sign)
   
   He owns close to 2k domains, 90% of them adult domains.
   
   These are the namepros accounts that I have found related to him:
   gotchadomains- this is his current username
   domainsupermarket- closed in 2009 after non payment of tens of domains:
   https://www.namepros.com/threads/non-payment-by-domainsupermarket.610023/#post-3666192
   This is his domain blog from 2009, you can see that both, the username and him owned the same domains: http://domainsupermarket.blogspot.ro/ and a whois check from 2009 will show exactly the same thing
   tropicaldomains- closed in 2017 after multiple bad reviews, this username and his email address [email protected] owned in the same time multiple domains https://www.namepros.com/threads/hackanyone-com.995098/
   crazydomaindeals- closed in 2010, after multiple bad reviews, the username and his email address showed that it's the same person, owning the same domains: https://www.namepros.com/threads/premiumbacklinks-org-1-start-auction.767656/
   brandxdomains- this account is still live, he's using as well the email address: [email protected] with this account, they look and act the same: multiple domains related to them in the same time, most of them adult domains and a buying and selling rush
   https://www.namepros.com/threads/cliqqo-com-dysner-bricle-clearzo-1-start-lot.847779/
   He has lots of activity on tens of forums, selling domains on adult forums as well, he has lots of ebay accounts closing them every few weeks and opening others, but keeps also one main account.
4. If you google his domains and email addresses you can find lots of complains like this one, from ripoffreport: http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports...ld-me-a-domain-name-but-did-not-transf-988444

I wonder how come nobody noticed in the last 10 years what this guy is doing and why the users who were cheated by him( I know at least 30-40 namepros users) didn't complaint enough so that he can be discovered earlier. Please share if you have any new email or name used by this guy, maybe we will find out the full extent of the story.

 

[Eric Lyon]

Confirmed account matches of member @BrandXDomains:

1. @domainauctioneers
2. @DomainSupermarket
3. @crazydomaindeals
4. @DomainAuthorities
5. @TropicalDomains
   
6. @DomainLiquidators
7. @DomainFactory
8. @DomainDisposers
9. @Mike Garey
10. @GotchaDomains

All of these accounts were closed or restricted prior to this thread. However, this member has gone to great lengths over the years to attempt to bypass our detection mechanisms, resulting in some instances where it took us longer than others to detect them.

We are still investigating but wanted to share this information as an update.

Hope this helps,

 

[Eric Lyon]

Our policy is that multiple Business Accounts are allowed as long as there aren't any serious rule violations on any of their accounts. Most of the incidents on these accounts have been due to failing to complete a deal in a timely manner, such as agreeing to buy a domain and then deciding not to go through with the deal, which results in a Bad Business infraction on their account.

Once we realize that a member is causing trouble and has multiple accounts, we shut down all of their accounts and force them to use only one (That one account might be closed too). Multiple Business Accounts are only for rule-abiding members.

We're investigating the data provided to see if anything has been missed and any further actions need to be taken.

Thanks for helping,

 

[Eric Lyon]

what do you think about this guy, who complains about not receiving the domain after he paid https://www.namepros.com/tradereviews/domainauthorities.979775/view/for

I spoke with @StrahinjaS1, and he said that the money was refunded to him.

Confirmed account matches of member @BrandXDomains:

1. @GotchaDomains
   
2. @TropicalDomains
   
3. @domainauctioneers
4. @DomainSupermarket
5. @crazydomaindeals
6. @DomainAuthorities
7. @DomainLiquidators
8. @DomainFactory
9. @DomainDisposers
10. @Mike Garey

All of these accounts were closed or restricted prior to this thread.

Just to clarify, those confirmed account matches mean that the same person used all of those accounts at least once. It's possible that the @DomainSupermarket account was used by multiple investors and @BrandXDomains happened to be one of them. If that is the case, then it's also possible that BrandXDomains was not the person behind DomainSupermarket at the time of that 2009 deal (It could have been one of their partners).

However, as far as we are concerned, everyone that has ever used those accounts is held responsible until the domains are returned or they are paid for.

Hope that helps,

 

[IMEZI]

banning certain ip might be troublesome because in some part of this worlds were one ip used for several or even hundred households :D

 

[Corey]

thank you @boker I appreciate your research and posts.

Cheers
Corey

 

[nurussadad]

Thank You @boker for your research and for the post..

 

[JB Lions]

Our policy is that multiple Business Accounts are allowed as long as there aren't any serious rule violations on any of their accounts.

Besides NP making extra money for themselves with that setup, why in the world would multiple business accounts be ok? Why would someone need more than 1 business account?

ha, I just saw this:

No limit on the number of business accounts +++

https://www.namepros.com/pages/account-levels/

How is that not just inviting problems? No limit?

 

[boker]

So let me get this straight.

You are at fault for selling a name you do not own(at the time you sold it).

The buyer gets frustrated as a result..

You are offended that the buyer is upset at something they have aright to be upset about.

You are starting a whole investigation on the buyer, because they are upset at something that's your mistake..

But who knows... in the process of your witch hunt,you may have discovered something.

At this point, I don't know if this thread is about a boy or girl. lol

You're researching game is on point lol

So, to make it clear one more time, it's my mistake and I said it from the first paragraph, but it's a mistake, like it happens with others trading with me on a weekly basis- payment after the pay limit is due, misread a domain, or didn't realize that they can't open an account at that registrar for push, or they are changing their mind right after the buy, or something unexpected is happening and they can't pay and lots of stuff like this, but it was never an issue and I will never give a negative review for something like this. If you pay after 5 weeks or change your mind after weeks, than it's an issue, because you had enough time to notice the mistake. Also, saying that I wanted to fraud him for 2$ because of a honest mistake, you would get upset as well, believe me. Also, when you are doing what are you doing and doing it for years( at least 8), be a smart crock and keep a low profile, don't go insulting and threatening peoples. Probably he got to cocky, knowing that nobody noticed for years and start acting aggressive. Mostly, he is a guy in his 50's, with a full time job of cheating peoples. When you find some of his names sold in the same time by different accounts at ebay, some from Arizona/California some from Canada, the same emails being associated with frauds on other websites and forums, when you find complaints all over internet about him, than you start realizing the scale of all this.

 

[Eric Lyon]

But if all the other accounts are closed and he will keep the one with the most positive rating

They don't get to choose which account they keep open.

for guys like @Ralph2472 , who lost 26 domains because of him and he was never paid( https://www.namepros.com/threads/non-payment-by-domainsupermarket.610023/#post-3666192 ), without knowing, he could do again business with him, [email protected] will not be punished in any way for what he did and if he did it once, he will do it again.

That incident is from 2009 and that member has been banned since 2009. Until your research, there was no evidence or reports that the account was connected to any other accounts. If there was a confirmed match, all newer accounts would have been closed. We are confirming the match ourselves in light of the new evidence you've presented and will take the appropriate actions once we complete our investigation.

Thanks for reporting,

 

[boker]

So, gotchadomains account has been closed, some of the others are closed for long time already, but for sure he has a few other accounts, so if somebody can help with any other info regarding other accounts and these emails, please let us know.

 

[Eric Lyon]

What kind of precautions taken against scammers on namePros who already get their accounts closed?

Or let me rephrase my question, is there any afford to keep scammers away from registering new accounts here?

Of course. That's why every account reported in this thread except one was already restricted or closed by us before boker did any research or ever created this thread.

Isn`t there any type of software or filtering tool to check all the banned ip addresses from re-registering new accounts, so you can keep this place scammer free?

Yes, we have that.

No what I mean is once a scammer is spotted you can reach his ip address right?

No, consumer IP addresses change. Very few consumer IP addresses are static for long.

what are the chances to find different namepros users a few blocks away?

This statement vastly underestimates the amount of users on NamePros and how IP addresses work throughout the world.

Proxy and Vpn is also no big deal since you can block all the ip addresses used by such services.

We've been doing that for years, but new proxies, new VPNs, and other tunnels are created daily.

Our technology for this is as good or better than any other industry site, but no system can catch everything 100% of the time without manual KYC verification (And even that's not perfect). That's why we're fortunate to have a community of members who can do manual investigations and alert us to suspicious activities.

Again, if you want to discuss these things or our policies, you need to create a new thread.

Please stay on topic.

 

[boker]

You sold a name that you did not own and you are whining and posted all of her/his personal information here. For Go Sake it's only a $2 transaction.

You are at fault and you need to work out with them vs trying to defend yourself here.

Give me a BREAK!

So, let me understand. You want to say that before you post anything for sale at namepros, it's not listed 'for sale' anywhere else? You're jocking. For example, the last domain sold through afternic premium network, they let me know that is was sold and removed from my registrar after 24 hours, when the domain was long gone from my account and everybody could have been posted 'SOLD' here and I could not do anything about it.

'to work it out with them' SO I should have asked them money not to divulge what they are doing or what you want to say? So, you catch a crock or a thief and you start thinking how you can 'work it out with them'? GIVE ME A BREAK

I understand that you have dealt multiple times with them, but you should be objective, a crock is a crock. He is using multiple false names, multiple false accounts and multiple usernames, specially for deceiving. If you will check all his accounts and see how many peoples complained about him, paying weeks later, or giving them other names,worse than what they were selling and other stuff like this, they could have over 100 negative feedback until now and this is just regarding namepros. You should check the 'ripoffreport' complains and others, before commenting here. He is doing the same thing all over, not just here. You want to say that we should hide this? It's a civic obligation and even you can be held responsible in some countries, if you find out about a felony and you don't say it publicly or you go to authorities. For your information, I didn't do just that, I made a complaint with paypal as well and hired a lawyer to make a proper file which will be sent to Arizona authorities when we will have all the data.

 

[boker]

There are some data talking about close to 40 emails connected to the same user, waiting to receive all the data, compare it with what I have and will update. New names used by the same user added: Lorena Aquino( Lori), Gabby, Reynaldo Reyes, Mike Garey, others will be added soon.

 

[equity78]

Thanks for the work @boker from what Eric posted it seems like something was going on here. Whether some had successful transactions @Eric Lyon said it all right here with the following, All of these accounts were closed or restricted prior to this thread. However, this member has gone to great lengths over the years to attempt to bypass our detection mechanisms, resulting in some instances where it took us longer than others to detect them.

 

[Eric Lyon]

I should emphasize this again:

Most of the incidents on these accounts have been due to failing to complete a deal in a timely manner, such as agreeing to buy a domain and then deciding not to go through with the deal

While we do take those failed agreements seriously and remove access to our marketplace if it keeps happening, those rule violations are not as bad as theft or shill bidding.

The only instance of an unforgivable-until-made-right violation on NamePros (that we know about) is from 2009: https://www.namepros.com/threads/non-payment-by-domainsupermarket.610023/

Until the money from 2009 is refunded, this member will not be allowed to use our marketplace.

I hope that helps,

 

[boker]

Besides NP making extra money for themselves with that setup, why in the world would multiple business accounts be ok? Why would someone need more than 1 business account?

ha, I just saw this:

No limit on the number of business accounts +++

https://www.namepros.com/pages/account-levels/

How is that not just inviting problems?

Let's say it's not such a big deal, but if one guy has 10 accounts and 2k positive feedback and 40 negative feedback for all of them together, should be stated in each of his accounts all his rating, so that it doesn't happen like in this case, where you close an account from which you didn't paid one guy for 25 domains or that you have another account with 8 negative feedbacks, you just close it and open another one. You should inherit all the negative feedback from one account to another and all accounts should be connected between them, like this we can decide for ourselves if we want to deal with him or not.

 

[Eric Lyon]

Besides NP making extra money for themselves with that setup, why in the world would multiple business accounts be ok? Why would someone need more than 1 business account?

ha, I just saw this:

No limit on the number of business accounts +++

https://www.namepros.com/pages/account-levels/

How is that not just inviting problems? No limit?

Individuals and companies are distinct entities, and therefore, they deserve distinct accounts. For example, we have multiple users with personal accounts who work for GoDaddy, and there is also a company account for GoDaddy. Logically, this makes sense. If any of those personal accounts who work for GoDaddy want to login to the company GoDaddy account to provide support, that is a reasonable thing to do and allowed.

Some members also have multiple businesses and/or work with multiple companies, and it makes sense for each business to have its own identity on NamePros for the same reason. Distinct identities are especially important if those companies have more than one person who work for them, but it's also sensible to have a distinction when it's only a single person behind each company.

With that in mind, it would be impractical for us to enforce that every Business Account be a separate business, so in order to allow the scenarios that I described before, the rules are simple: everyone is allowed one personal account and an unlimited number of Business Accounts, if all of their accounts are in good standing.

If anyone would like to discuss our policies further, please create a new thread.

Thanks for understanding,

 

[Eric Lyon]

you close an account from which you didn't paid one guy for 25 domains or that you have another account with 8 negative feedbacks, you just close it and open another one. You should inherit all the negative feedback from one account to another and all accounts should be connected between them, like this we can decide for ourselves if we want to deal with him or not.

As I explained, if the accounts are not in good standing, then they're only allowed to use one account and all other accounts of theirs are closed.

Edit: To clarify, "Bad Business" infractions on an account mean they are not in good standing. As soon as we find out that an account holder with that infraction has created new accounts, those new accounts are closed.

 

[boker]

They don't get to choose which account they keep open.


That incident is from 2009 and that member has been banned since 2009. Until your research, there was no evidence or reports that the account was connected to any other accounts. If there was a confirmed match, all newer accounts would have been closed. We are confirming the match ourselves in light of the new evidence you've presented and will take the appropriate actions once we complete our investigation.

Thanks for reporting,

It's a perfect match with gotchadomains, brandxdomains and the others. You can see here some of domainsupermarket domains, trying to sell them: https://www.namepros.com/threads/hot-keyword-domain-names-for-sale-submit-your-offers.596222/, and here at his blog you can see the same email address rford62gmail.com and some of the same domains from the thread, like knottshairyfarm.com: http://domainsupermarket.blogspot.ro/, and the same email address [email protected] you will find it if you check some of domains for sale of gotchadomains whois, where he doesn't have privacy. From what I can see, the connection is complete.

 

[johnn]

You sold a name that you did not own and you are whining and posted all of her/his personal information here. For Go Sake it's only a $2 transaction.

You are at fault and you need to work out with them vs trying to defend yourself here.

Give me a BREAK!

 

[IMEZI]

There are some data talking about close to 40 emails connected to the same user, waiting to receive all the data, compare it with what I have and will update. New names used by the same user added: Lorena Aquino( Lori), Gabby, Reynaldo Reyes, Mike Garey, others will be added soon.

AWESOME so we could easily removed this freaking scammer out of our community

 

[Eric Lyon]

What about if he uses at least two of his accounts to bid on the same auction? Is that allowed? From only one search on one page only, domainauthorities and brandxdomains, has bid with both his accounts on 14 different auctions: https://www.namepros.com/search/15507851/?page=2&q=domainauthorities&o=relevance
So, if you do an average of auctions where he was active, probably he has hundreds of auctions where he was bidding with two accounts in the same time.

Due to the issue in 2009, the member wasn't allowed to use the marketplace at that time, so it was not allowed.

If you're asking a more general question about whether two perfectly legitimate accounts, both run by the same business person, are both allowed to bid in an unrelated third-party's auction, then the answer is yes. I don't know of any reason that would ever be a problem. It would simply be a matter of convenience for the bidder based on whichever account they were currently using. If you disagree, then you may create a new thread in our feedback forum, and we'll be happy to consider your opinion.

Thanks,

 

[IMEZI]

@Jv1999

The domains were never returned to the seller. All of those domains are technically stolen.

I'm curious is the same person still have another id perhaps he got inactive namepros id specially used only for stalking and reading LOL or even worst he did have another id and use it for agitating right on this thread....

 

[boker]

Umm, no idea where you jumped from Brandx (and associated account) and connected them to DomainSupermarket? Eric gave an unrelated but relevant example of the only person who's banned from the marketplace. Quoting his post:



I don't see it mentioned or even hinted anywhere that DomainSupermarket is/was related to Brandx or any of the other banned accounts related to Brandx...

This is from Eric a few posts ago:

Confirmed account matches of member @BrandXDomains:

1. @domainauctioneers
2. @DomainSupermarket
3. @crazydomaindeals
4. @DomainAuthorities
5. @TropicalDomains
   
6. @DomainLiquidators
7. @DomainFactory
8. @DomainDisposers
9. @Mike Garey
10. @GotchaDomains

As you can see domainsupermarket is at number 2. I've sent Eric all the screenshots connecting them.

This is a quote from what I was saying on the second page of this thread, check it yourself:

It's a perfect match with gotchadomains, brandxdomains and the others. You can see here some of domainsupermarket domains, trying to sell them: https://www.namepros.com/threads/hot-keyword-domain-names-for-sale-submit-your-offers.596222/, and here at his blog you can see the same email address rford62gmail.com and some of the same domains from the thread, like knottshairyfarm.com: http://domainsupermarket.blogspot.ro/, and the same email address [email protected] you will find it if you check some of domains for sale of gotchadomains whois, where he doesn't have privacy. From what I can see, the connection is complete.