'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

 

[Acroplex]

I have over 850 Snapnames Auctions with a 98% Win success rate since Nov-2004 Halvarez was in roughly 40% and second highest bidder....

Your stats match mine, despite the lower volume on my part. More proof that halvarez was a script, a bot.

---------- Post added at 12:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:43 AM ----------

At least provide kudos
An important message from Snapnames - Page 8 - DNF - Domain Sales, Domain Forum, Domain Appraisals, Domain Registrars

Howard is a criminal and so is Snapnames.

I would also add the registrar that is Answerable.

Check out this whois record ...

Mysexysister.com - My Sexy Sister

It is Howard Nelson Brady's Domain. He uses the fake name domain queue for the auctions he won. Guess where it is still registered at? Answerable. I would bet Brady owns shares in Answerable.

Brady is tight with Answerable and all those Indian drop catchers (registrars) who shill bid on their own auctions.

Brady was orchestrating a massive fraud and working with registrars who caught those names to drive up the price. He might only have had one account, but those registrars had the most to gain from a high priced auction. They got most of the auction proceeds.

It was an organized crime and a district attorney who goes after them can have alot of options for prosecution. Snapnames can be prosecuted under RICO. In fact, if you have not already done it, file a police report with your local police department. That was the first thing I did. Your DA will do alot more damage to them then you can alone.

The drop catchers like Answerable got most of the auction proceeds. For those investigating, follow the trail of money and it all ends up at Answerable, 1Host Korea, 1Host Japan, 1 Host Russia, essentially Moniker.

Do your own home work. Answerable had the most to gain. Moniker is not clean either.

 

[deb]

Your stats match mine, despite the lower volume on my part. More proof that halvarez was a script, a bot.

Until Snapnames reinstate the order history these are estimates and the info i received from RUST was less than expected but it may be right i just dont know yet... some guess work involved until we can verify our own accounts.

He was in a lot of auctions but as everyone knows (now) didnt always bid....but i like the sound of treble damages.

 

[gemstar]

Some names he won 2007 as per DNF

itttech.com $28,000.00
lifeclips.com $1,383.00
mature-club.com $6,901.00
nanotorrent.com $1,551.00
only-maps.com $3,600.00
searchescorts.com $1,150.00
tvizle.com $1,650.00
alphadating.com $1,100.00
cinemagazine.com $1,660.00
curlyhair.net $2,200.00
extrawallpapers.com $1,309.00
fashionindia.net $3,450.00
hamvuiclub.com $1,717.00
hannahmontanna.com $1,675.00
simsextremos.com $1,154.00
tinhlathe.com $2,261.00




Bid history for googletrends.com
25-May-2006 12:22 PDT

Bidder Date Bid Amount Comment
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:18 PDT $2,051.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:16 PDT $2,001.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:16 PDT $2,000.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:16 PDT $1,951.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:16 PDT $1,901.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:16 PDT $1,851.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:16 PDT $1,801.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:16 PDT $1,751.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:16 PDT $1,701.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:16 PDT $1,651.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:16 PDT $1,601.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:15 PDT $1,551.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:15 PDT $1,501.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:15 PDT $1,451.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:15 PDT $1,401.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:15 PDT $1,351.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:15 PDT $1,301.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:15 PDT $1,251.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:15 PDT $1,201.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:15 PDT $1,151.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:15 PDT $1,101.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:12 PDT $1,051.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:10 PDT $1,001.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:10 PDT $1,000.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:09 PDT $976.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:09 PDT $951.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:09 PDT $926.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:09 PDT $901.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:09 PDT $876.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:09 PDT $851.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:09 PDT $826.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:09 PDT $801.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:09 PDT $776.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:09 PDT $751.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:09 PDT $726.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:09 PDT $701.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:09 PDT $676.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:09 PDT $651.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:09 PDT $626.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:09 PDT $601.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:08 PDT $576.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:08 PDT $551.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:08 PDT $526.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:08 PDT $501.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:08 PDT $461.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:08 PDT $451.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:08 PDT $411.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:08 PDT $401.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:08 PDT $361.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:08 PDT $351.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:08 PDT $311.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:08 PDT $301.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:08 PDT $211.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:08 PDT $201.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:08 PDT $161.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:08 PDT $151.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:08 PDT $106.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:08 PDT $101.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:08 PDT $96.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:08 PDT $91.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:07 PDT $86.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:07 PDT $81.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:07 PDT $72.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:07 PDT $71.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:07 PDT $63.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 25-May-2006 12:07 PDT $62.00 Bid Placed
halvarez 25-May-2006 12:04 PDT $61.00 Bid Placed
catchnames 22-May-2006 12:40 PDT $60.00 Initial Bid
avensensw 22-May-2006 12:40 PDT $60.00 Initial Bid
halvarez 22-May-2006 12:40 PDT $60.00 Initial Bid

 

[Acroplex]

Until Snapnames reinstate the order history these are estimates and the info i received from RUST was less than expected but it may be right i just dont know yet... some guess work involved until we can verify our own accounts.

He was in a lot of auctions but as everyone knows (now) didnt always bid....but i like the sound of treble damages.

Obviously, that's the prudent thing to do. And personally, I'm glad I voiced this from the first minute; Oversee should open its doors to scrutiny instead of preventing our independent research.

 

[deb]

Some names he won 2007 as per DNF

itttech.com $28,000.00
lifeclips.com $1,383.00
mature-club.com $6,901.00
nanotorrent.com $1,551.00
only-maps.com $3,600.00
searchescorts.com $1,150.00
tvizle.com $1,650.00
alphadating.com $1,100.00
cinemagazine.com $1,660.00
curlyhair.net $2,200.00
extrawallpapers.com $1,309.00
fashionindia.net $3,450.00
hamvuiclub.com $1,717.00
hannahmontanna.com $1,675.00
simsextremos.com $1,154.00
tinhlathe.com $2,261.00

tinhlathe.com $2,261.00 it just doesnt make sense for those $ maybe he gave himself a rebate?

 

[gemstar]

Quite possible.
There is a Whois Privacy Protection on that domain.

 

[deb]

Where does Moniker, Answerable and MyDomains (others) fit into all of this please?

Who are (or have been) the "Special Interests" Involved and Benefiting from this Fraud from the start?

Is there a Domain Name Industry Journalist (like Glenn Beck on FOX) that is able (and has the balls) to Expose the "alleged" Corruption in the Domain Parking industry? Just Asking?

Plea Bargain,Anyone???

Scott any thoughts?

 

[garptrader]

Anyone consider how it would be possible for a VP with high-level responsability to participate in dozens of auctions every day for years without having any assistance?

Next question - Where was internal audit? On vacation for four years? How could you miss the pattern of one of the most active bidders in Snapnames auctions almost never winning but quite frequently contributing to the price the winning bidder paid? And since he did win a few auctions, his user name details and credit card would need to match up for the credit card transaction to go through.

 

[deb]

"And since he did win a few auctions, his user name details and credit card would need to match up for the credit card transaction to go through."

There is so much more to come......

 

[Cronus]

I've been quiet before, but now I'm really pissed that Snapnames is requiring me to waive my legal rights before they will return MY MONEY that they STOLE! By Snapnames' own calculations they defrauded me by more than $7,500--they should APOLOGIZE AND GIVE MY MONEY BACK IMMEDIATELY WITH NO PRECONDITIONS!

Why should I have to give up my rights just to get back the money which even they admit that they fraudulently took from me? What if it turns out that their damage estimates are wrong/miscalculated or that the fraud went beyond what was already disclosed? Anyone who signs the liability waiver may be screwed!

In addition to removing the ridiculous truncation problem in our auction histories, Snapnames should provide the records in a bulk textual format for large-volume customers. I'm sure Rust didn't have to click on each of my thousands of auctions one by one to get the histories, so I shouldn't have to either.

 

[Ms Domainer]

Snapnames must have no common sense to release this news to its users without a probe from any legal authority. They should've let go of the employee quietly and let him keep any profits that he's made over the years. This was not a wise decision by the management.

*

Seriously?

They probably would have zipped it, but I suspect that the heat was getting too strong from somewhere, so they had to 'fess up.

I have no inside info, but I suspect that this is going to get very nasty.


*

 

[Peter]

Will you state categorically that Oversee.com will guarantee that any losses made by any companies or individuals resulting from this, or any other scam involving SnapNames or members of its staff, be compensated in full and with interest for all loses made by them, and that the Oversee.com agrees that as the parent company they will accept full reponsibility for any compensation awarded?

Never going to happen. What you are asking for is for them to compensate you for not being able to sell a name and not being able to get revenue on parking these domains. Firstly how would you expect them to compensate you for this and secondly why would that be their responsibility?

Snapnames were only responsible for selling domain names not the revenue you could potentially earn.

"Should you fail to substantially prevail in any lawsuit brought against SnapNames, SnapNames will be entitled to recover its reasonable attorneys' fees and costs from you."

And what company wouldn't do that? Any company that has to protect themselves from lawsuits are going to want to get that money back. It also wards off frivolous law suits.

Nelson if your reading this Please, Please "Spill the Beans" on the Parking/PPC Industry to at least help clean up the Domain Parking Industry and help restore some faith in the domaining business again

I very much doubt this will happen to be honest. If he publicly posts such information it would be used against him in any course case and would jeopardize his defence.

My advice top anyone. If you believe what you have been offered is too low or you think that they have not accounted for all of the auctions simply await the history being reinstated. Oversee Rob has already stated they are working on this so hopefully should not be too much longer if they have not done this so far.

Obviously, that's the prudent thing to do. And personally, I'm glad I voiced this from the first minute; Oversee should open its doors to scrutiny instead of preventing our independent research.

I should imagine data protection laws would stop them making the data public. They can of course release YOUR history to YOU but they would not be permitted to release other peoples history to you (except for the auctions you were both involved in of course)

Anyone consider how it would be possible for a VP with high-level responsability to participate in dozens of auctions every day for years without having any assistance?

He was VP of engineering, he would of had intimate knowledge of how everything worked and would have had the ability to do this himself quite easily. That is of course not to say he did not get help or others did not know about it.

I think it more likely that others knew about it than he had help to be honest.

I've been quiet before, but now I'm really pissed that Snapnames is requiring me to waive my legal rights before they will return MY MONEY that they STOLE! By Snapnames' own calculations they defrauded me by more than $7,500--they should APOLOGIZE AND GIVE MY MONEY BACK IMMEDIATELY WITH NO PRECONDITIONS!

Why should I have to give up my rights just to get back the money which even they admit that they fraudulently took from me? What if it turns out that their damage estimates are wrong/miscalculated or that the fraud went beyond what was already disclosed? Anyone who signs the liability waiver may be screwed!

This is a normal agreement in such situations. If you ran a company and had indiscretions you would probably do the same. I know I would. You have 2 choices:

1. Accept their agreement and consider the matter closed
2. Decline the offer and take proceedings yourself or as part of a large collective taking action

What benefit would the company have in refunding if the matter was closed?

 

[TheBaldOne]

Well Peter, I guess the fact that domainers are perhaps the most bloody minded group of people on this earth (including me by the way) means that this will end up in the courts - both CIVIL and CRIMINAL.

 

[Domo Sapiens]

A lot of the answers will transpire with time...
The fact that the lawyers have the historical data and we don't it's a clear case of Bad Faith, they're only making it worse , this is a nealry retarded move by Oversee..
The evidence is overwhelming.
This is an Oversee problem don't forget ... lawyers will go after the deep pockets.
Don't take the rebate yet, wait to see the historical data.

Next Bomb= Traffic/Moniker Auctions...
If they go inside Oversee hold to your hat... TM cybersquatting, Tasting , you name it..

 

[RicoShay]

Sorry.. don't mean to disturb the flow of this thread... but just noticed the "tags" at the bottom - genius.

auctions, bend over rover, conspiracy, don't drop the soap, dudewheresmylawyer?, fraud, halvarez, kjel coverup, namejet, nelson brady, oh hell no halvarez, oh snap, oops, oversee fails to over see, portland, scam, shill bidding, snap did a scamdizzle, snapnames, snapnames auctions, snapnames sucks, snapnames.com

LOL

Ok, now back to the serious stuff.

 

[ByeBye]

I googled halvarez out of curiosity this morning. First sponsored link:

Auction Tampering by SnapNames | ClassActionConnect.com

Let the festivities begin....

Rob and his crew better stock up on vaseline and pencils... Here's what the pencil's for. You figure out what the vaseline is for.

StockphotoPro: Images for Businessman > Businessman biting pencil

 

[maxeaus]

Peter, do you honestly think that the victims here would "substantially" lose a lawsuit against SnapNames?

This is just basic bluff poker strategy, the fact they are so quick to offer money after the facts came to light is a sure sign of panic.

Obviously statements such as this are a slap in the face for the victims, no matter how you dress it up.

To even think SnapNames could chase down the victims to claim attorney fees given what we know is laughable.

 

[Domo Sapiens]

exactly , they are getting as many desperate or naive people out of the way.
The evidence and negligence are beyond belief.
Lawyers salivating...
Already adsense ads.

 

[Peter]

Peter, do you honestly think that the victims here would "substantially" lose a lawsuit against SnapNames?

This is just basic bluff poker strategy, the fact they are so quick to offer money after the facts came to light is a sure sign of panic.

Obviously statements such as this are a slap in the face for the victims, no matter how you dress it up.

To even think SnapNames could chase down the victims to claim attorney fees given what we know is laughable.

Where in my post did I claim that people would lose if starting a lawsuit? I simply stated the reason they put that disclaimer on their correspondence.

 

[Jawed]

He was VP of engineering, he would of had intimate knowledge of how everything worked and would have had the ability to do this himself quite easily. That is of course not to say he did not get help or others did not know about it.

I think it more likely that others knew about it than he had help to be honest.

So you are suggesting that these mute spectators (top management apparently) who kept their mouths shut for years and let the fraudulent activities taking place in an organised and well planned way are off the hook. Amazing ideas!!

 

[homebuyer]

The Difference Being...

How is this case different from Adam Dicker's at TDNAM (undisclosed bidding in your own company's auctions)?

http://www.namepros.com/domain-name-discussion/533770-godaddy-shenanigans.html (post 7)

 

[proTrader]

Halvarez?????? He was in most of the auctions in which I had participated and that was mostly in 2008. Looks like snap owes a lot to me.
BDW, would it matter if he wasn't a second highest bidder in auctions?

 

[larryharlow]

50.000 auctions X $200 dollars if there was only one bidder besides Halvarez : $10.000.000 WOW!

 

[maxeaus]

I think Rick is right on the money in his blog, as i metioned before, how do you account for money you would of had to buy more domains, in which you would have maybe sold to end users?

The Rick Schwartz Domain and Traffic Blog RicksBlog.com...Home of the "Domain King": Domain Industry Derailed by Scandal. An Inexcusable CRIME spills on Everyone.

 

[gemstar]

This may be a full circle of historic events. Ironically the Gov't may once again take over the net due to the greed that ruined it.Imagine! no more auction houses! drops are free for all with no middle gremlin disrupting it. Everyone caught cheating for example all registrars and the like will have to forfeit there domains to the next drops! After all, all assets obtained under criminal activities are seized by the Gov't.