An important message from Snapnames

[dvdrip]

TheLegendaryJP I didn't understand why he didn't bid on non-dropping domains.
Do you a link for the blog?

[TheLegendaryJP]

Bunch of things on techcrunch, may find link to other comments within the comments.

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:...&ct=clnk&gl=ca

[CureCancer]

when we get to 100 pages, wake me up please.

[ydnaemsti]

"I didn't understand why he didn't bid on non-dropping domains."

Can someone explain me as well this part. Were they really happy with pending delete only? lol

[CureCancer]

"I didn't understand why he didn't bid on non-dropping domains."

Can someone explain me as well this part. Were they really happy with pending delete only? lol

anything that made sense to make extra money is what made the decisions!

[ydnaemsti]

Yes, but money was in both. How come pending delete only?

[denny007]

Yes, but money was in both. How come pending delete only?

Simple - pendingdelete = 100% goes to Snapnames, big profit for Snapnames and can do a large refund. Partner auctions = 15-20% goes to Snapnames, small profit for Snapnames and can not do large refund

[JuniperPark]

I checked all of my auctions at Snap. I was in 502 during the period from 4/10/05 through 12/31/05. Oversee.net has offered me $2836 + $701 in interest for 28 domains that I won where halverez affected the outcome. I could find no auctions that there consultant/forensic accountants missed where I should have been compensated. Based on this, I am going to send in my acceptance agreement to the settlement. The scandal is terrible news for Oversee and I want no part of a class action lawsuit. Class action lawsuits mainly benefit lawyers.

Howard --

How could you (or Snapnames) possibly compute the amount owed to you without knowing which other accounts were shill bidders? Or are you trusting the word of Kjel, the person who assured us right here on DNForum that 'halvarez' was a legit bidder for years, even when I pointed out that he was using the address of a Kentucky Fried Chicken store?

Did you sign the agreement that explicitly allows Snapnames to commit auction fraud against you at any time in the future without recourse?

Are you aware that I personally questioned Victor Pitts, as he was pitching Snapnames last week at Pubcon, and he couldn't refused to assure anyone that the fraud and cover-up wasn't larger than previously revealed?

[CureCancer]

Howard --

How could you (or Snapnames) possibly compute the amount owed to you without knowing which other accounts were shill bidders? Or are you trusting the word of Kjel, the person who assured us right here on DNForum that 'halvarez' was a legit bidder for years, even when I pointed out that he was using the address of a Kentucky Fried Chicken store?

Did you sign the agreement that explicitly allows Snapnames to commit auction fraud against you at any time in the future without recourse?

Are you aware that I personally questioned Victor Pitts, as he was pitching Snapnames last week at Pubcon, and he couldn't refused to assure anyone that the fraud and cover-up wasn't larger than previously revealed?

Well Said, Thank You

[stewie]

LMAO @ KFC address...

[hiOsilver]

Howard --

How could you (or Snapnames) possibly compute the amount owed to you without knowing which other accounts were shill bidders? Or are you trusting the word of Kjel, the person who assured us right here on DNForum that 'halvarez' was a legit bidder for years, even when I pointed out that he was using the address of a Kentucky Fried Chicken store?

Did you sign the agreement that explicitly allows Snapnames to commit auction fraud against you at any time in the future without recourse?

Are you aware that I personally questioned Victor Pitts, as he was pitching Snapnames last week at Pubcon, and he couldn't refused to assure anyone that the fraud and cover-up wasn't larger than previously revealed?

I suggest you go to TheDomains.com blog and see the research that Michael Berkins did and his findings (November 12). He was involved in 6x the number of auctions that I was in, approximately 1.5% (a statistically significant sample, for those that understand statistics) of all the Snap auctions. He looked at every other bidder in all of his 12,000 auctions. He concluded that there was no other bidder with a pattern similar to that of halverez: involved in lots of auctions, often the #2 bidder, rarely the winning bidder.

I have not yet signed the agreement, although I would like to resolve this and get paid. Towards that end, I posted on TheDomains.com and I contacted one of the highest level people at Oversee.net and recommended that their lawyers review the agreement to see if it would not be in everyone's interest, including Oversee's, to narrow the scope of the release.

And, no, I have no knowledge of your contact with Victor Pitts, other than what you have posted here. Victor Pitts is not the right guy to contact anyway. If you have a DS account, you can start with your DS account rep. Or you can address your concerns all the way to the top, to Jeff Kupietsky.

[stewie]

Why not address it will the Feds? Is this guy walking away with no charges?

Shill Bidding and inside crap like this is one of the biggest concerns or threats to this domain industry. Now they have a long time running crime and finally somehow someone has been caught (which I would love to know in detail how this all came to light), and they are going to let it slide????

*This guy needs to be charged, anything less is just a Red Flag.

JMO

[Bill Roy]

HiOsilver, I have read michael Berkins findings, indeed, and his findings are that there was 'no similar' bidding pattern, but he sums up by listing a number of possibilities whereby they would not be found or noticed. Indeed on another forum I have debated this and it is agreed that if there were more than one shill bidding account it would be unlikely to be similar, indeed fraudsters normally complement their systems rather than duplicate them. This point is agreed.

There are other questionable accounts, indeed as I write this there is one being investigated whereby a certain bidder never renewed domains that the account won (the odd domain is understandable but never to renew when one has bid so much higher in an auction is highly unlikely). The fact that charges have still not been laid against Nelson Brady, the fact that answers to simple questions remain as going unanswered, the over the top waiver, the fact that senior management and/or executives have been noticable by their lack of public statements, and now the analysing of bidding patterns is starting to suggest that there is definately more to this than just one shill bidding account.

[FormerDnForumer]

Michael's findings are interesting and helpful, but ultimately meaningless. People can shill in many different ways and guises, as mentioned.

But again, to beat the same point home, when senior management turns a blind eye to constant chatter on the boards by real, live customers which point the finger to one bidder FOR YEARS, well, it's all you need to know. If I were a senior guy at SnapNames, I would make it my business to prove to people, to my customers, and for the integrity of my company, that this guy was not a shill.

They never did that. To me this is not the same as colluding to shill bid, but it's about half as bad--and telling. So while the need to know whether Nelson acted alone is worthwhile, in the end it doesn't absolve the company from serious irresponsibility, and if you're in a really bad mood, outright contempt for its customers. Add to that the current stonewalling by Oversee, the silly settlement agreement and hiding behind the damage control company, well, it just ain't pretty from any angle you look at it.

Trust, once lost, cannot be won back easily, and especially if you jettison transparency from the get go. It appears Oversee's strategy is to just let it all blow over, minimize the damages and run the business as usual.

Wrong wrong wrong.

[JuniperPark]

Michael's findings are interesting and helpful, but ultimately meaningless. People can shill in many different ways and guises, as mentioned.

But again, to beat the same point home, when senior management turns a blind eye to constant chatter on the boards by real, live customers which point the finger to one bidder FOR YEARS, well, it's all you need to know. If I were a senior guy at SnapNames, I would make it my business to prove to people, to my customers, and for the integrity of my company, that this guy was not a shill.

They never did that. To me this is not the same as colluding to shill bid, but it's about half as bad--and telling. So while the need to know whether Nelson acted alone is worthwhile, in the end it doesn't absolve the company from serious irresponsibility, and if you're in a really bad mood, outright contempt for its customers. Add to that the current stonewalling by Oversee, the silly settlement agreement and hiding behind the damage control company, well, it just ain't pretty from any angle you look at it.

Trust, once lost, cannot be won back easily, and especially if you jettison transparency from the get go. It appears Oversee's strategy is to just let it all blow over, minimize the damages and run the business as usual.

Wrong wrong wrong.

This sums it up well, but I would add:

1) Without criminal charges, we have to conclude that Snapnames doesn't feel that this is a serious issue, which means it would happen again.

2) Without explaining Kjel's participation and obvious cover-up of Brady's actions, we have to assume that he is going to get away without punishment, and may possibly still have employment with the company.

3) I have yet to see any interest by the company to make an effort to see that this doesn't happen again. None whatsoever.

4) Transparency, at a minimum, would be an explanation of exactly what happened. How was it discovered? How did Snap NOT notice that someone with no identity was in 50,000 auctions? Where is the money from the domain sales and parking revenue which belongs to domainers -- is Oversee simply keeping the proceeds of the fraud to themselves? This STILL, by any description, a cover-up of a crime.

5) The over-reaching agreement offered domains seems to indicate that the extent of the crime has still not been disclosed. Why would that be?

6) What happened to Oversee's due diligence process when they purchased Snapnames? The concept that the tech guy (Nelson Brady) was also acting as their accountant and did his own book-cooking is just plain stupid. Nobody involved with a real business is going to believe that explaination.

7) Massive tax fraud occurred here, both in the acquisition of domains won, their sale, and the parking income sent to a ficticous person.. Has this been reported to the IRS? Could the domains be seized in an IRS tax lien?

8) Everything Snapnames has put up says 'halverez' stopped over a year ago, but as many of us noted he was still operational as recently as September 2009. If the very few facts released are so easily proven false, why would anyone in their right mind blindly accept that everything else they say is true?

9) I've found SEVERAL suspicious accounts which bid against me and won domains, then either never bid again or dropped names they so aggressively fought for. Why is there no complaint system to handle this?

Signing the Snapnames agreement with all of this cover-up still in progress would be like the airlines allowing a pilot previously caught drunk in the cockpit to once again command a plane full of passengers based on his promise that it was just that one time -- while he's still staggering drunk, reeking of alcohol, and holding a bottle.

[FormerDnForumer]

Excellent post Juniper.

"How did Snap NOT notice that someone with no identity was in 50,000 auctions?"

...And people on this board and others were constantly bringing it to the company's attention via the countless threads.

Hmmmmmmmmmm.

[CureCancer]

I for one have moved forward with getting the law enforcement involved. I'm disgusted by the scam/fraud and will not accept a bunch of THIEVES as executives to let their VP walk away. EVERYONE must be hold accountable. This scam did not operate for 1 week, it operated for years and millions of dollars have been raised by shill bidding. If any country in this world can press charges is USA and CANADA. I also like our friends in Britain to also contact their federal police to investigate this matter.

Rest assured my dear friends, no one can outrun the LAW. They may be free for now, but their days, hours, seconds are counting down!

Your complaint has been confirmed and is currently being sent to the agencies you selected. Complaint ID:XXXXX

American and Canadian Agencies are now notified. I ask all from all countries who have lost $1+ from shill bidding to contact their Federal Police Agencies. The more agencies from around the globe recieve a complaint, the more files and information will be exchanged by the world police agencies! Together as a community we will stand strong and set the rules and laws of our industry. Failure is not an option!

Below is information that will help you answer questions quickly with your complaint. I ask the Moderators and Admins of DNF to allow this one time policy for us to paste another forums web address to help with questions and answers that the Police will receive. They will need all 3 links that I will paste below to help them investigate this matter. I appreciate it very much if you agree. Cheers

Name HOWARD N BRADY
Date of Birth 1956
Address 13311 RIVERCREST DR, VANCOUVER, WA 98683
Phone Number 360-254-5211

Howard Nelson Brady (Snapnames)
Oversee.net, VP Operations
13311 SE Rivercrest Drive
Vancouver, WA 96683

http://www.dnforum.com/f17/nelson-br...ad-396077.html

http://www.dnforum.com/f557/importan...ad-197282.html

http://www.namepros.com/621078-halva...ml#post3655033

[Cartoonz]

Dude, chill with the home address BS...

Only a moron would go to the Feds and point fingers at an employee of the COMPANY that ripped off their money... clue in.

Sure, maybe in the end it will turn out to be exactly what OverSnap has spoon fed you, Nelson acted alone... I doubt it, but let the cops come up with thier own conclusion to the investigation.

Jeesh... I get it that you have venom... just be smart and think about how to use the tools available to get this completely resolved. Marching after Nelson as if he were Frankenstein's monster will surely obscure the bigger issues.... not the way to go.

[Acro]

This thread has now more pageviews than the number of domain auctions Hank Alvarez participated in

[JuniperPark]

Dude, chill with the home address BS...

Only a moron would go to the Feds and point fingers at an employee of the COMPANY that ripped off their money... clue in.

Sure, maybe in the end it will turn out to be exactly what OverSnap has spoon fed you, Nelson acted alone... I doubt it, but let the cops come up with thier own conclusion to the investigation.

Jeesh... I get it that you have venom... just be smart and think about how to use the tools available to get this completely resolved. Marching after Nelson as if he were Frankenstein's monster will surely obscure the bigger issues.... not the way to go.

I gather that you haven't read the thread.

Snap Oversee is leaving it to customers to take action. That means customers are going to help customers locate and go after Brady.

If they didn't want this, they would have gotten involved on behalf of the CUSTOMERS, instead of hiding under their desks as they have done since October.

We also need to locate and post the home addresses of the other Snap exec so they can be served as well.