'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

 

[prague7]

Michael Berkens has an interesting post on his blog, TheDomains.com, about how all this might have an impact on the original purchase of SnapNames by Oversee, given that the majority of the fraudulent action allegedly took place before the acquisition and that the perpertrator was a shareholder of the selling company. Looks like this story is about more than just auction refunds!

Can Oversee Get Some Of The Money They Paid For Snapnames.com Back?

---------- Post added at 09:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:57 PM ----------

This is just the domain auction business. It took you 4 years to finally paint someone relevant into a corner. Nelson Brady will be the goat this time for an entire industry built on corruption and secrets. (Wait until dirt about the parking biz comes to light!!)

Interesting first post after 4 years of membership! Care to share your thoughts/background further...?

 

[deb]

It is going to be Interesting to see which lawyers Snapnames and Oversee use.

Ron James should have valuable insight in a day or two.

My damages alone are around US$40,000 so i can image the compensation figure all up is going to be HUGE $$$$ when people check their Auction History. HALVAREZ was a Busy Boy!!

 

[cmason]

It is going to be Interesting to see which lawyers Snapnames and Oversee use.

Ron James should have valuable insight in a day or two.

My damages alone are around US$40,000 so i can image the compensation figure all up is going to be HUGE $$$$ when people check their Auction History. HALVAREZ was a Busy Boy!!

Not to mention possible lawsuits against the individual for using inside information/methods to acquire domains of interest - this is in regards to the domains that Halvarez successfully acquired.

 

[deb]

Not to mention possible lawsuits against the individual for using inside information/methods to acquire domains of interest - this is in regards to the domains that Halvarez successfully acquired.

I would certainly join a class action!

 

[FreshAvails.com]

Looks like the rebates will only be made where Halvarez was the #2 bidder in the auction.

 

[cmason]

I would certainly join a class action!

Depending on the level of insider integration/information used in the shill bidding, such an offense could definitely result in jail time. If this is indeed the VP of engineering, he was surely involved in the design/backend of the system. Please note that I am purely speculating based on assumptions.

 

[Ms Domainer]

Documenting Halvarez's Bidding History

*

I thought I'd start a thread that would begin documenting the domains that Halvarez bid on.

My list is small, but I noticed this:

Apparently, he bid only on dotcoms (at least on my auction list). He ignored some really good domains in other TLDs, including my Poets [.] net.

Also, I noticed that when bidding got hot, he didn't bid beyond his initial bid. It would be interesting to discover what others find on their completed auctions lists.

Here's my list, all .coms (I won none of these domains):

Lurk
Raspberry
Typically
FinanceBroker
Meets
Mesos
AdultNovelty
Cognate
Prompted
​

*

 

[jollyroaders]

So this VP gets away with tons of money and domain names...
So he may or may not be sued for some of the names...
Will they even press criminal charges?
I'm sure he's taking it easy in his mansion right about now.

I also wonder if it will be all hush after this for a while.....

 

[Jaco]

http://www.snapnames.com/faq.html

How can I go about getting my rebate?
If you were a bidder in an impacted auction, you will be contacted by Rust Consulting with details regarding the rebate offer.

(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."

http://www.rustconsulting.com/Services/Rust_Response.aspx

 

[MicroGuy]

This is just the domain auction business. It took you 4 years to finally paint someone relevant into a corner. Nelson Brady will be the goat this time for an entire industry built on corruption and secrets. (Wait until dirt about the parking biz comes to light!!)

A first time poster with 4 years under his belt at Namepros. That has to be a record.

 

[Ms Domainer]

*

I started a Halvarez documentation list here:

http://www.namepros.com/domain-name-discussion/621116-documenting-halvarezs-bidding-history.html

You're welcome to join in!

*

 

[deb]

Snapnames is going into Major Damage control just got another email from Jeff Kupietzky.

I like snapnames and will continue to use them but im going to Make Sure im compensated fairly for this Fraud.

---------- Post added at 01:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:20 PM ----------

This is just the domain auction business. It took you 4 years to finally paint someone relevant into a corner. Nelson Brady will be the goat this time for an entire industry built on corruption and secrets. (Wait until dirt about the parking biz comes to light!!)

Cmon fred88.... i bet HALVAREZ has a lot of "Secrets" to spill about the parking biz!!:lala:

 

[Ms Domainer]

*

Just got a monitor notice for Ruin.us, registered yesterday.

Guess who has it?

Yep, Snapnames:

Ruin.us - Ruin

Seems apt.

*

---------- Post added at 05:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:26 PM ----------

*

Hey, fred88.

Are you sure you're not Halvarez, somewhere offshore, sipping Mai Tai's?



*

 

[has2hands]

Who registered any domain names resulting from this scandal?

HalvarezScandal.com?

They will be for sale in a a week or so on the boards

 

[prague7]

*

Just got a monitor notice for Ruin.us, registered yesterday.

Guess who has it?

Yep, Snapnames:

Ruin.us - Ruin

Seems apt.

*

:lol: Nice one - what with that and the back-to-back Dongsman/Microguy posts and their mutual avatar-appreciation going on :tri: , this thread is keeping me entertained as well as informed...! :tu:

 

[Ms Domainer]

*

There are so many twists and turns to this story, and Ruin.us is just the icing on the cake.



I don't believe in coincidences, by the way.

*

 

[Jaco]

Oops.

LMAO!
That does just go to show how little 'good faith' is going on here and what a cynical and coordinated damage control effort this is (under the illusion of and on the pretext of 'good faith', obviously)

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.

---------- Post added at 01:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:36 PM ----------

A first time poster with 4 years under his belt at Namepros. That has to be a record.

You're a 4000+ poster with 2 years at namepros and have yet to say a single thing that isn't completely incorrect or meaningless drivel in the form of a sentence fragment. Another (albeit more unfortunate) record.

 

[gazzip]

HALVEREZ aka:

Nelson Brady, VP of Operations
SnapNames.com, Inc.
1600 SW 4th Ave
Suite 400
Portland,�* OR�* 97201
tel:�*�*�* 503-219-9990 x223
direct: 503-459-5723
cell: 360-903-8844
fax:�* 503-274-9749
[email protected]
Domain name auctions to purchase quality expired and deleting names

Ahhh, so finally the real and ever present Mr mysterious "Halvarez" pops his head up at last, if you are right and Halvarez was the VP of operations then WOW, that is a pretty serious mess and far worse than I had expected. :td:

I hope snapnames restores our Order History back to when we first started using snapnames - all my auction history before Nov-2007 has recently been deleted


NOT GOOD


.

 

[deb]

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.

 

[Jaco]

I hope snapnames restores our Order History back to when we first started using snapnames - all my auction history before Nov-2007 has recently been deleted


NOT GOOD


.

Man. So shady...

 

[Alan Glennon]

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

I hope snapnames restores our Order History back to when we first started using snapnames - all my auction history before Nov-2007 has recently been deleted

 

[prague7]

...and what a great PR effect this is having on the domain industry in general. This from TechCrunch (take a look at the first paragraph - from the guy who used to run Pool!):

Domain Industry Rocked By Shill Auction Bidding Admission

I can't wait to read the readers' comments...

 

[fred88]

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.

 

[Alan Glennon]

Too boring for media, but I suspect not too boring for attorneys.

This biz is too boring for the media to pick up...

 

[gazzip]

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

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

ps - DudeRanch.c o m just sold at snap for $17,949.00 ... and Halvarez was'nt in it...unless he changed his name !


.