'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

 

[DomainTalker]

actually i was not thinking on that case but on the Société Générale case.

Ahh, yes....you're right about Société Générale, tonecas.....They're still in business, allright.


.

 

[dumbluck]

As the leader of Snapnames, Nelson and that Indian dude brought this shit storm upon themselves, their staff, and their families. They brought this upon themselves and I have no sympathy for them.

If they were man enough, they would turn themselves in and confess to the fraud at the entire company, rather than wait to be hunted down. As far as I am concerned, every day that they are free, they are on the run. They are criminals and they need to be taken down and apprehended.

Of course, given what they have done and have shown us, they will not turn themselves in and they will not admit to the fraud and tell us the whole story. Oversee is helping them cover things up, and the only reason I can see why Oversee has come out with the admission of fraud is that Oversee and Nelson have come to an agreement on the acquisition - whereby they return a portion of the purchase price to the buyer. Oversee as far as I am concerned already got what they wanted.

The problem is that all of us who were customers of Snapnames bought domain names under the assumption that the pricing on Snapnames reflected market prices and market values for domain names. The fraud is that they distorted market pricing and defrauded customers into thinking the domains were worth much more than they actually are. In the stock market, this is called market manipulation. That is what Snapnames is guilty of.

Snapnames oversaw one of the largest manipulations of domain names in history. That is why I would not be satisfied without a refund of the full value of every single auction I participated in - since the start of this fraud - and neither should any other customer of snapnames.

As a market manipulator, Snapnames must disgorge all profits and suffer a treble (3x) penalty under federal law for willful neglect and systemic manipulation of the domain name market. Michael Arrington has done alot for us victims by publicizing the Snapnames fraud and we need to support him. I urge you to contact Michael Arrington at Techcrunch ( [email protected] ). The only way this issue will see the light of day is if a powerful media organization takes this issue to the top.

 

[maxeaus]

As the leader of Snapnames, Nelson and that Indian dude brought this shit storm upon themselves, their staff, and their families. They brought this upon themselves and I have no sympathy for them.

If they were man enough, they would turn themselves in and confess to the fraud at the entire company, rather than wait to be hunted down. As far as I am concerned, every day that they are free, they are on the run. They are criminals and they need to be taken down and apprehended.

Of course, given what they have done and have shown us, they will not turn themselves in and they will not admit to the fraud and tell us the whole story. Oversee is helping them cover things up, and the only reason I can see why Oversee has come out with the admission of fraud is that Oversee and Nelson have come to an agreement on the acquisition - whereby they return a portion of the purchase price to the buyer. Oversee as far as I am concerned already got what they wanted.

The problem is that all of us who were customers of Snapnames bought domain names under the assumption that the pricing on Snapnames reflected market prices and market values for domain names. The fraud is that they distorted market pricing and defrauded customers into thinking the domains were worth much more than they actually are. In the stock market, this is called market manipulation. That is what Snapnames is guilty of.

Snapnames oversaw one of the largest manipulations of domain names in history. That is why I would not be satisfied without a refund of the full value of every single auction I participated in - since the start of this fraud - and neither should any other customer of snapnames.

As a market manipulator, Snapnames must disgorge all profits and suffer a treble (3x) penalty under federal law for willful neglect and systemic manipulation of the domain name market. Michael Arrington has done alot for us victims by publicizing the Snapnames fraud and we need to support him. I urge you to contact Michael Arrington at Techcrunch ( [email protected] ). The only way this issue will see the light of day is if a powerful media organization takes this issue to the top.

You may want to add "insider trading" to your analogy as well.

 

[deb]

As the leader of Snapnames, Nelson and that Indian dude brought this shit storm upon themselves, their staff, and their families. They brought this upon themselves and I have no sympathy for them.

If they were man enough, they would turn themselves in and confess to the fraud at the entire company, rather than wait to be hunted down. As far as I am concerned, every day that they are free, they are on the run. They are criminals and they need to be taken down and apprehended.

Of course, given what they have done and have shown us, they will not turn themselves in and they will not admit to the fraud and tell us the whole story. Oversee is helping them cover things up, and the only reason I can see why Oversee has come out with the admission of fraud is that Oversee and Nelson have come to an agreement on the acquisition - whereby they return a portion of the purchase price to the buyer. Oversee as far as I am concerned already got what they wanted.

The problem is that all of us who were customers of Snapnames bought domain names under the assumption that the pricing on Snapnames reflected market prices and market values for domain names. The fraud is that they distorted market pricing and defrauded customers into thinking the domains were worth much more than they actually are. In the stock market, this is called market manipulation. That is what Snapnames is guilty of.

Snapnames oversaw one of the largest manipulations of domain names in history. That is why I would not be satisfied without a refund of the full value of every single auction I participated in - since the start of this fraud - and neither should any other customer of snapnames.

As a market manipulator, Snapnames must disgorge all profits and suffer a treble (3x) penalty under federal law for willful neglect and systemic manipulation of the domain name market. Michael Arrington has done alot for us victims by publicizing the Snapnames fraud and we need to support him. I urge you to contact Michael Arrington at Techcrunch ( [email protected] ). The only way this issue will see the light of day is if a powerful media organization takes this issue to the top.

I like their services and would hate to see it shut down....but you make good sense and im not settling until the big players are satisfied with their deals.

Why the big movement of domains out of Moniker?

It might be worthwhile asking for 3 x what i was offered now as they may not be here in 12months???

 

[canswift]

A question for Oversee Rob. We appreciate you coming on this forum and trying to keep us updated. As you must be aware now, Snapnames was warned and questioned about Halvarez for some years by concerned Snapnames customers. Emails and forum posts from various Snapnames employees indicated all was fine and there were no bidding improprieties. Could you clarify if these employees are the same ones who are now helping to investigate the admitted irregularities?

 

[deb]

I dont know anything about the American Legal system are "Anti Trust" laws applicable as well?

 

[DN BROKER]

Rob is here only to fool us. Don't ask questions, they are pointless.. the entire company is involved in this scam. All of them will face the LAW and will realize the mistake they have made! Justice will be served for this matter. Their is no way, your company is going to blame this on one man!

 

[Peter]

Rob is here only to fool us. Don't ask questions, they are pointless.. the entire company is involved in this scam. All of them will face the LAW and will realize the mistake they have made! Justice will be served for this matter. Their is no way, your company is going to blame this on one man!

A paranoid attitude is really not going to help you in this. You are assuming that Oversee Rob and all other staff at Snap were involved. This is very unlikely.

Accept what oversee Rob's posts for what they are. Limited information. Over the coming weeks and months you will find a lot more 'official' information being released. Evaluate each piece of information on its own merits.

You seem to be willing to accept information that has been posted by others in this thread as gospel however you have no idea who the majority of the people are or what their agenda is. They could just be as annoyed as you and compiling anything they come across without checking sources. Anything you read either take with a pinch of salt or investigate where that information came from yourself to ascertain how accurate it is.

 

[Domo Sapiens]

Things to Ponder:
Collateral Damage.
IF somebody was able to bid recently 14000 or so for dle.com (now erased) at the Traffic/Moniker/SNapnames Auction?
(joke or Not...the auction is not a joke)
How secure is their system?
How many more auctions have been inflated?
(Sedo style)

I smell a stinkier problem for Oversee here...
Historically ....some big sales and some big fish involved.

 

[MicroGuy]

We appreciate you coming on this forum and trying to keep us updated.

You might have missed the part of Rob's original post that was not intended for our eyes and was later removed. He's not here to keep us updated, he's hear for damage control and information gathering.

 

[Domo Sapiens]

Anybody that expects Oversee et al or its reps to talk , discuss, give details and/or argue in the middle of a potential lawsuit needs to have his head examine.

 

[FreshAvails.com]

Snapnames is in the wrong and should pay the price for their misdeeds but they may be being more generous than that have to be. They could have dragged their feet until after a complete investigation and all crimial proceedings, resulting in lower settlements. Can we give them a touch of credit? Not trying to spark a huge backlash, just think we need to slow down and think for a few secs.
SnapNames Settlements

Thoughts?

 

[Peter]

You might have missed the part of Rob's original post that was not intended for our eyes and was later removed. He's not here to keep us updated, he's hear for damage control and information gathering.

The bit he forgot to remove was :

Below the double line is the customer communication for use in proactive disclosure on industry message boards. A statement needs to be published on each of the boards copied in the attached e-mail from this morning. Disclosure time is 9:30 a.m. PT, concurrent with all other disclosures.

Please monitor the boards going forward and let me know what the feedback is like. If you need help on this, Corinne is available.

My understanding is you will primarily speak for the company in these forums. To that end, let’s coordinate closely on what’s being said and how to reply.

Let me know if you have questions from here. Thanks.

Where in this does it purely state that it is for damage control? It is quite natural for Snapnames senior management to want to know what the feedback is like.

All it basically states is that they should monitor the situation and coordinate with each other to ensure mixed messages are not being given out.

 

[Domo Sapiens]

Oversee....
Rob = Oversee.

 

[TheDomains]

The First Class Action suit Against Oversee was Filed Today

First Class Action Filed Against OverSee Today | The Domains

 

[daj]

^Nice!

I hope everyone who was screwed by them puts them out of business. I have a feeling they won't be around in 6 months.

 

[Jawed]

There are still some possibilities for snapnames to survive. For that they need to do the following:

Get the police involved at the earliest opportunity. This is a criminal case and no matter how best they try to conceal it, they simply cannot do, as this is now in public domain.

In every single auction where halvarez was involved, the winning bidder must get full refund less registration and backorder fees. It is simply nonsense that where halvarez was the second highest bidder, people would get some sort of compensation.

If there are other shill bidders, they must be exposed and the above treatment of compensation needs to be applied in those cases too.

I do not know if they are financially sound enough to pay such compensations. GD or similar organisations might bail them out by acquiring the whole group for a dollar or so and honouring all the above liabilities. It is in the interest of the domaining industry that snapnames et al survive.

 

[Domo Sapiens]

Lawsuit is against Oversee.

 

[gazzip]

...its coming, one of many

Domain Name Wire » News » First Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against SnapNames - The Domain Industry's News Source


.

 

[dag]

A paranoid attitude is really not going to help you in this. You are assuming that Oversee Rob and all other staff at Snap were involved. This is very unlikely.

Accept what oversee Rob's posts for what they are. Limited information. Over the coming weeks and months you will find a lot more 'official' information being released. Evaluate each piece of information on its own merits.

You seem to be willing to accept information that has been posted by others in this thread as gospel however you have no idea who the majority of the people are or what their agenda is. They could just be as annoyed as you and compiling anything they come across without checking sources. Anything you read either take with a pinch of salt or investigate where that information came from yourself to ascertain how accurate it is.

Gotta love the mob mentality...brings out all the conspiracy theorists. Not that I know the full story either, but some of the stuff being tossed around here as fact is amusing, to say the least.

 

[Smith]

Gotta love the mob mentality...brings out all the conspiracy theorists. Not that I know the full story either, but some of the stuff being tossed around here as fact is amusing, to say the least.

Seriously, my productivity has gone to hell this week keeping up with the nutjobs :hehe:

Sad thing is that I think a lot of people are going to get wrapped up into the hysteria; get involved in one of these class action suits, and end up getting screwed (again) by lawyers who without question won't be offering rebates.

 

[HappyBunny]

Below the double line is the customer communication for use in proactive disclosure on industry message boards. A statement needs to be published on each of the boards copied in the attached e-mail from this morning. Disclosure time is 9:30 a.m. PT, concurrent with all other disclosures.

Please monitor the boards going forward and let me know what the feedback is like. If you need help on this, Corinne is available.

My understanding is you will primarily speak for the company in these forums. To that end, let’s coordinate closely on what’s being said and how to reply.

Let me know if you have questions from here. Thanks.

I wonder why they need to "coordinate closely on what’s being said and how to reply."

There is only one Fact. If you tell the Fact as-is, there's no need to coordinate anything..

 

[Peter]

I wonder why they need to "coordinate closely on what’s being said and how to reply."

There is only one Fact. If you tell the Fact as-is, there's no need to coordinate anything..

Perfectly normal for them or any company to coordinate. Last thing they need at the moment is 1 agent saying 1 thing and another saying something else both could be correct but could appear they are saying different things. They need to ensure that they are being consistent with what they are saying.

 

[Cronus]

I believe Snapnames should refund the money they admit to stealing from us without preconditions. But even if a limited release was acceptable, this one is completely outrageous! You can read it here. If Snapnames is telling the truth that this was the work of one rogue employee and they have new policies to prevent this from ever happening again, why are they requiring us to sign a form which:

• Releases claims for "any matter whatsoever relating to the auctions for and acquisition of the Domains, including without limitation, any Claims related in whole or in part to the bidding activity of [halvarez]". If Snapnames is sure that Halvarez is the only bad actor, why did Snapnames explicitly write in that the release covers any other frauds which may come to light? They specifically decided to make this "without limitation" to the Halvarez fraud.
• The release includes several paragraphs to say that, despite California law to the contrary (Civil Code Section 1542), this releases Oversee from "all claims of whatsoever kind of character, known or unknown". In other words, if you take the Halvarez settlement and then find that the fraud was much more widespread and included other shill accounts, you're out of luck!
• The release even explicitly includes a promise against "suits of every kind and nature whatsoever, whether known or unknown, suspected or unsuspected, previously existing, or now existing, or hereafter arising". WTF? If they have fixed their systems to prevent frauds like this from happening again, why do we need to absolve them now for any frauds they may commit in the future?!

I was giving Snapnames/Oversee the benefit of the doubt at first, but this is completely unacceptable! I don't approve of any release, but if they are going to have one, it needs to be specifically tailored to the Halvarez fraud, not covering other frauds and shill accounts they haven't admitted to yet, and certainly not frauds they may commit in the future!

 

[MicroGuy]

They need to ensure that they are being consistent with what they are saying.

True. Anytime an organization is spinning a tale great strides should be made in keeping the story straight. IMO.