'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]

What I'm saying here is, that without access to the auction history NOONE has recollection of how many auctions they won with Halvarez bidding up! Unless they got burnt for a chunk of money. So Oversee needs to PROVIDE access to auction history NOW.

---------- Post added at 08:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:37 PM ----------

The few auctions I had him in as I didn't use snapnames but a few times he never outbid his initial bid so I didn't waste any money, I'm assuming this is because I always waited till the auction was almost over to bid and I never put in proxy bids just always bid the minimum and watched the auctions.

Halvarez ran a bot - software that bid on its own. It was quite sophisticated, and it probably allowed him to mark auctions that had potential and give it instructions on how to behave towards other bidders. It's almost certain he could view the proxy bids of other bidders.

 

[deb]

What I'm saying here is, that without access to the auction history NOONE has recollection of how many auctions they won with Halvarez bidding up! Unless they got burnt for a chunk of money. So Oversee needs to PROVIDE access to auction history NOW.

And they need to tell us EXACTLY what date Halvarez was registered? and was that the only name he used to bid?

 

[gazzip]

What I'm saying here is, that without access to the auction history NOONE has recollection of how many auctions they won with Halvarez bidding up! Unless they got burnt for a chunk of money. So Oversee needs to PROVIDE access to auction history NOW.

Exactly, They need to restore our bidding history back in our own accounts so we can check just what happened !

He would have had access to buyers spending habits so he likely knew when and who to screw, Luckily most of the time it was just me and him in an auction he did'nt bid me up.

....must have known I was a cheapskate


.

 

[Acroplex]

Deb, don't expect much. The "rebate" is blood money - essentially they will refund the difference amount of your last bid prior to halvarez engaging in the game, plus 5% interest. Is it fair? Not as a general action. I am sure people have lost more than money to halvarez, perhaps domains they wanted which ended up being taken and resold by halvarez. So once the rebates are cashed, you'll be giving up all rights to further compensation. This is really a lawyers' paradise.

 

[deb]

Deb, don't expect much. The "rebate" is blood money - essentially they will refund the difference amount of your last bid prior to halvarez engaging in the game, plus 5% interest. Is it fair? Not as a general action. I am sure people have lost more than money to halvarez, perhaps domains they wanted which ended up being taken and resold by halvarez. So once the rebates are cashed, you'll be giving up all rights to further compensation. This is really a lawyers' paradise.

He got me for a bundle...already in touch with lawyers and will follow up when we get the info from RUST.

 

[Jaco]

Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) | Home

Generally impotent, but if enough people start screaming, they *will* look and in this case, there is massive fraud involved, quite possibly including cover-ups after the fact. This is the type of high-profile, "look at me" sort of case that hubris driven folks who make up 99% of the "law enforcement community" love adding to their scalp portfolio.

 

[deb]

Was Frank Schilling affected? He would have a big claim?

 

[Ms Domainer]

*

Proxy bids are always problematic; perhaps an off-site sniping company could be an option for bidders.

I used to buy jewelry off ebay using a sniping service. It was sweet....

Whether to snipe or not, a bidder needs to set his/her absolute highest bid and then walk away.

That is probably the best protection.

It's sad, but we have to be vigilant and take care that we don't get ripped off.

"Love everyone, trust no one."

*

 

[El Bandolero]

Did anyone else get a email from Namejet regarding the snapname situation and how they say that they have tight security so it won't happen with them?

 

[SpareDomains]

Was Frank Schilling affected? He would have a big claim?

says his is a 5 figure refund...

"Michael. You have a very big microphone so you can say what you want here and the informed (and sometimes uninformed) masses can lap it up. But calling the entire “domain industry” dirty, is quite simply a stretch. Firstly, in this instance it seems to have policed itself. The supposed bad guy (who has not told his side of the story btw) was outed and the parent company offered refunds to all participants (5 figures in my case). Try finding an auction on this planet that doesn’t have insider bidding, primping, competitive-bid-ups etc. My wife and I collect antiques and have had executives at sterling plated auction houses concede that it’s impossible to stamp out the shill bidding which they know goes on. I suppose it just feels a little icky you dumping on everything around this biz when you were once so close to it and it so enriched you. Nobody hates you BUT everyone in America knows somebody who has sold a domain name for a profit. All those entrepreneurs constitute a part of the industry you are dumping on. So you coming out with your swagger tarring the etire space with same brush just feels yucky. Do you understand my (and other’s) view?"

in the comments section here....

Domain Industry Rocked By Shill Auction Bidding Admission

 

[Acroplex]

Oversee: Reinstate all Snapnames auction history immediately!

 

[deb]

Oversee: Reinstate all Snapnames auction history immediately!

Our Lawyers will be "Insisting" on it anyway so it makes sense for them to be Pro Active and to do it ASAP.

 

[WORDSWORTH]

Our Lawyers will be "Insisting" on it anyway so it makes sense for them to be Pro Active and to do it ASAP.

Now it just looks like they are still hiding something, even if that was not the intention.

 

[Dave_Z]

Sigh.

Good luck to all affected parties, especially if you finally decide to take legal action.

 

[telking]

It sucks that they will be only refunding for certain instances where halvarez was one of the top bidders.

As anyone in the business knows, any auction with more than one person draws eyes, and more $$$

All those times I was in a lone auction, then he shows up, then more follow, then I lose.

SUCKS

 

[deb]

If RUST is Fair im happy to accept but Frank Schilling said he was "Offered" five figures compensation....he didnt say he took it or that it was fair!

I suspect it will be better to deal directly with Jeff Kupietzky to settle.

 

[Oversee Rob]

Question for 'Oversee Rob' - Have law enforcement agencies such as the police or FBI been informed of the fraud?

If 'yes' then what agency and what are their contact details so as those affected can contact them.

If 'NO' then why not?

This whole thing stinks of the worst kind of PR cover up going! I suggest that all posters check out all domaining forums for there are things being noticed on one forum and not on another.

May I humbly suggest that this issue is so large that the owners of the different domaining forums allow cross posting from one forum to another on this specific issue. We should be able to openly point from one forum to another now. This is fraud on a massive scale against domainers as a body.

Hi,

I'm juggling a number of forums right now so I'll answer you here and on the other one in a little bit.

The answer is not going to satisfy you, I'm afraid. As this is an ongoing matter, there are just some things I either don't know or cannot discuss. The question of involvement of law enforcement is one of those topics. I also cannot discuss personnel related matters.

There are questions that I can answer and, for those, I will. For example, there's the question about the bid history stopping at November 2007. I've checked into it and SnapNames began truncating bid history years ago. It's a rolling 2 years which is why it stops in November 2007. I've read everyone's concerns and I'm talking with folks here regarding it.

I'll keep working through the forums and answer where possible. It's been a long day so I'm going to go home and get some dinner first and I'll be back online a little later.

Thank you for your understanding on all of the above.

Rob
Oversee Support

 

[Brujah]

Remember some of the huge buyers who would spend a lot but ONLY at Snapnames and nowhere else? I wonder if they were getting a special deal with Nelson.

 

[deb]

If RUST is Fair im happy to accept but Frank Schilling said he was "Offered" five figures compensation....he didnt say he took it or that it was fair!

I suspect it will be better to deal directly with Jeff Kupietzky to settle.

No One Knows Exactly when Halvarez actually Started this Fraud....Do they? Rob???

 

[Oversee Rob]

Hi Rob

Thank you for posting here. What about the other questions that remain unanswered?

What happened with the domain did he keep the?
What action is being taken to this person?
Are the rumours true on who it was?
What action is being taken to ensure the matter does not happen again?
Exactly how many auctions were involved?
How are you going to refund people who's account have been abandoned?

And I am sure if you read through the post you will find many other questions.

Hi Peter,

Yes, I'll do what I can. I do ask that everyone understand that this is an ongoing matter and that there are certain things I simply cannot discuss. I know that, in itself, may garner some negative replies but it is the reality of a situation like this.

So, I'll answer what I can now and look into what I might be able to answer but just don't know. If I can't answer, I'll be honest and tell you that.

What happened with the domain did he keep the? This is an open legal issue and we can't discuss it.
What action is being taken to this person? He has been terminated. Beyond that, I'm not at liberty to discuss what the company may or may not do.
Are the rumours true on who it was? I can't respond to rumors but there are other published reports online that may address this question.
What action is being taken to ensure the matter does not happen again? We have made immediate changes to our processes and more internal changes are likely to come. As a security issue, that's about as much as I can say.
Exactly how many auctions were involved? I don't have the exact number. It was approximately 5% of auctions since 2005 with the majority occurring between 2005 and 2007.
How are you going to refund people who's account have been abandoned? Most people included full contact information and we'll use that information to reach them. For the others, we'll make every effort we can to contact them.

Rob

 

[deb]

Hi Rob what date did Halvarez start his snapnames account and was it the only alias he used?

We would appreciate your thoughts if you can please.

And Absolute respect and thanks to you & Oversee for giving us as much information as you can in this difficult time.

The Truth will come out eventually regarding this, that is for sure.

I genuinely look forward to continuing to use snapnames.com in future.

 

[Acroplex]

Rob, I need to stress again that any refusal by Oversee to reinstate immediately the auction history in our Snapnames account will be deemed as lack of cooperation and hostile to the interests of those of us who had to deal with this individual over the years.

Especially when Kjel has been defending Halvarez as a high-volume customer and adamantly denied Snapnames was ever shill-bidding!

I can only recall of one incident with Halvarez bidding me up and it cost me $2,300 !

I need to review the bidding history for all 49 of my won domains since 2005.

 

[DN BROKER]

Rob, I need to stress again that any refusal by Oversee to reinstate immediately the auction history in our Snapnames account will be deemed as lack of cooperation and hostile to the interests of those of us who had to deal with this individual over the years.

Especially when Kjel has been defending Halvarez as a high-volume customer and adamantly denied Snapnames was ever shill-bidding!

I can only recall of one incident with Halvarez bidding me up and it cost me $2,300 !

I need to review the bidding history for all 49 of my won domains since 2005.

Well put! Agreed

 

[deb]

Still a lot of "Stuff" to come out over the next week as things develop and the Forensic Accountants get to work...

"Especially when Kjel has been defending Halvarez as a high-volume customer and adamantly denied Snapnames was ever shill-bidding!"

 

[Acroplex]

The "forensic accountants" is a company hired by Oversee to protect their interest and their assets against litigation, while minimizing financial damage: Rust Consulting Inc., the Leader in Class Action Settlement Administration > Home

So, anyone want to blindly take that 'blood money' rebate yet? It will arrive with a contract to sign. I can imagine that a class action lawsuit would really hit the spot; it will take a day or two before independent attorneys get a whiff of this manure piling up.

Oversee: reinstate the Snapanems auction history immediately!