An important message from Snapnames

[David G]

Hardly true.

Firing someone for committing crimes does not absolve that person (or company) of any wrong doing.

These were crimes. These were federal crimes.

Of course it does not, but if they say they are doing restitution, etc and had no corporate knowledge, not sure it would be a criminal matter for the corporation to be charged with a crime - without evidence.

 

[Theo]

A lot of people still ask what happened - point them to the Comic synopsis

 

[Gerry]

to be charged with a crime - without evidence.

Thus, the results of an investigation.

Especially when million$$$ were involved over several years.

 

[omosquera]

I can believe what Im reading here and even at spanish domain forums , most of you are gonna take some ridiculous money from SN , instead lets CLAIM the domains we were suppost to Win if Halvarez never bid! We desserve to get those domains.

 

[Deleted member 111831]

Is there a main thread about this whole fiasco someplace? I got the email from SN and saw somebody mention halvarez once before and the thread was locked...

 

[DomainsInc]

I wonder whats going to happen to all of the domains halvarez got over the years..will they all just drop now? For most people its simply not worth the hassle of hiring lawyers to fight for a few dozen domains. It was very rare that halvarez would bid and bid on really good names and win. He would usually just bid up the proxy bids get it nice and high and then disappear.

 

[demaxxus]

Is there a main thread about this whole fiasco someplace?

http://www.dnforum.com/f205/important-message-snapnames-thread-197282.html?highlight=snapnames

 

[James]

http://web.archive.org/web/20050223053043/http://www.snapnames.com/


Gotta make you wonder....
From feb 23 '05 ..
the first day of their redesigned site...and around when this all started

Fair Price Guarantee: Shill bidding, sniping and other common abuses are all prevented by our advanced auction platform.

jim





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

I'm a DomainSponsor and/or Moniker customer too. Have my accounts there been subject to inappropriate conduct?
No. The activity was limited to SnapNames.

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.

When did you discover this conduct?
In October 2009.

How long had this been going on?
Since March 2005.

How many people at SnapNames were involved?
The account was managed by one employee, whose employment has been terminated.

What methodology did you use to determine the rebate being offered?
SnapNames retained an experienced, independent accounting forensics firm to calculate the amount on a customer-by-customer basis, the precise amounts due to each. In the communication we'll send through Rust Consulting, we can provide more detail about how figures were calculated.

What financial controls are currently in place at other Oversee companies to prevent future inappropriate activity?
SnapNames experienced a breach of internal policy and the company has taken corrective measures to deal with the situation, including the offer of a rebate. We will continue to review internal systems with the assistance of outside experts to ensure compliance and effective internal controls.

Will SnapNames auctions be impacted?
No. We continue to conduct daily online auctions and will host a live auction at DOMAINfest Global in January 2010. These auctions will continue, though with enhanced supervision and compliance measures.

Who can I contact with questions?
SnapNames support is available to you here:

By e-mail: [email protected]
Phone: +1 (866) 690-6279 (toll-free in the U.S.)
+1 (503) 241-8547 (outside the U.S.)

 

[Deleted member 111831]

I'm late to the party and sorry for the dumb question but...

What did Halvarez have to gain by bidding up the price on auctions he had no intentions of winning? Wasn't he just making more money for his employer, who claims to have fired him for doing this?

It smells to me like SnapNames was using him as a shill bidder and once it was figured out, made up this story about him being a rouge employee.

Somebody please fill in the gaps for why that isn't the case.

Thanks

 

[ilovedomains]

Hardly true.

Firing someone for committing crimes does not absolve that person (or company) of any wrong doing.

These were crimes. These were federal crimes.

What if the company knew what was going on? If they have him arrested wouldnt he just turn on them? It looks to me like they had to get rid of him, and going public about the scam before he did was the only way they could do it.

 

[DomainsInc]

I'm late to the party and sorry for the dumb question but...

What did Halvarez have to gain by bidding up the price on auctions he had no intentions of winning? Wasn't he just making more money for his employer, who claims to have fired him for doing this?

It smells to me like SnapNames was using him as a shill bidder and once it was figured out, made up this story about him being a rouge employee.

Somebody please fill in the gaps for why that isn't the case.

Thanks

basically as a founder of snapnames he stood to gain from the sale of snapnames to oversee. by inflating the prices of the 1000's of auctions he made snapnames revenue appear to be much more than it should have been and therefore was able to negociate a higher selling price to oversee.

 

[Theo]

http://web.archive.org/web/20050223053043/http://www.snapnames.com/


Gotta make you wonder....
From feb 23 '05 ..
the first day of their redesigned site...and around when this all started

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

James, thank you so much for posting this. It seems that the timeline of events is on track with The Halvarez Diaries

 

[Deleted member 111831]

Halvarez was one of the founders and owners/shareholders of SnapNames? Why does he keep getting referred to as a rogue employee?

This is high treason. SnapNames had one of their owners shill bidding in thousands of auctions over a period of four years. Wow. Just mother ****ing wow.

I don't think I'm ever going to bid in an online auction ever again. I'm certain this same thing is happening at NameJet. Absolutely certain.

It is just like online poker. A bunch of crooks. Hopefully this time (unlike online poker) people go to jail. You can't do this kind of thing on US soil and get away with it.

 

[Gerry]

What if the company knew what was going on? If they have him arrested wouldnt he just turn on them? It looks to me like they had to get rid of him, and going public about the scam before he did was the only way they could do it.

None of this makes him or the company innocent of committing crimes. Plus, there is no external investigation. How big is this issue? How many more were involved? He did all of this, on his own, for nearly 5 years?

I am really amazed at the reluctance of anyone NOT to contact the authorities.

Accepting their explanation, their resolution to the matter, and their pennies on the dollars made is simply mind-boggling.

This guy broke so many state, federal, and international laws.

The point of an investigation is to get to the bottom of this, find out who (if any more) was involved, auditors, and law agencies determine just how deep this entire mess is.

Absolving oneself of the culprit does not make everything righteous again.

 

[ilovedomains]

None of this makes him or the company innocent of committing crimes. Plus, there is no external investigation. How big is this issue? How many more were involved? He did all of this, on his own, for nearly 5 years?

I am really amazed at the reluctance of anyone NOT to contact the authorities.

Thats what Im saying. You dont expect the bad guys to turn themselves in do you? Its more likely they are paying Nelson to keep quiet than it is they will have him arrested.

 

[Gerry]

One of the biggest smoking guns here are the YEARS WORTH of blogs, forums, posts calling this whole Halverez matter to the attention of Snap.

Sure, he may have been able to hide his tracks and he was in a position of trust, but could not one other person have made the attempt to contact this Halverez person listed in the account or monitor the action? Purely incredible to think that no one, NO ONE else even gave this a second or third thought. Years of suspicion and reporting of the same thing.

 

[FormerDnForumer]

One of the biggest smoking guns here are the YEARS WORTH of blogs, forums, posts calling this whole Halverez matter to the attention of Snap.

Sure, he may have been able to hide his tracks and he was in a position of trust, but could not one other person have made the attempt to contact this Halverez person listed in the account or monitor the action? Purely incredible to think that no one, NO ONE else even gave this a second or third thought. Years of suspicion and reporting of the same thing.

As mentioned before, there is little incentive for any of the auction houses or formats to prevent shill bidding as long as the public trusts the platform enough to bid. It's really, really that simple. There is just too much money at stake. Shill bidding is by its nature almost impossible to stamp out because it only requires the collusion between two parties who have no incentive to rat each other out. You don't even need a guy to be inside your company like this guy was.

As to some of the earlier comments, there is little doubt that the FBI is already all over this, as they routinely target shill bidding on ebay and other larger scale platforms where the dollar value in question is much lower.Shill bidding comes under federal mail and wire fraud statutes and the FBI is taking this emerging online crime much more seriously.

This story will continue to evolve.

 

[fischermx]

We had our concerns about this Halvarez waaaaaay back in 2005..you can see where I said in the first page of the thread it was a bidder driving up auction prices.

http://www.dnforum.com/f31/do-you-know-pool-com-snapname-com-member-halvarez-thread-123089.html

Actually, I had it half year earlier... :veryangry:

http://www.dnforum.com/f6/who-vaxis-3-thread-102410.html#post614588

We always knew!!

 

[Fearless]

I have the perfect solution for all these high volume domain name auction houses. Total transparency. You want to bid, no aliases, your name, your proven identity. Their TM and adult name revenues would go way down but I'd be more inclined to trust them.

I'd trust that even more than the live Traffic auctions where the auctioneer would call out phantom bids.

I would be the first person to complain if I thought Snapnames was doing
something unethical.

I have never caught them doing anything underhanded or improper.

So many quotable quotes in this fiasco.

 

[Bill Roy]

I have just read Rick Schwartz's blog - I suggest everyone take a few minutes to do the same.

The link is here