Late today, we received a notice from NameJet.com, basically saying that what happened at Snapnames.com could not happen at NameJet.com
“””At NameJet we have the necessary security protocols in place to prevent this kind of incident.”””
“”We have security procedures and policies in place that monitor all activities to ensure that “shill” bidding does not occur. “”
All of the domain community hopes so.
However, its a little disconcerting to me that NameJet.com is taking the position; what happened there can never happen here.
I’m sure if you asked SnapNames.com a few months ago, they would have said the situation they find themselves in today could never happen to them, could never even be imagined.
An employee engaging in shill bidding is just one of the many games and scams that can victimize bidders in an auction. There are tons more.
I would hope that today’s news from Snapnames.com would cause everyone in the space to open their eyes to all the possibilities that exist and be vigilant to find issues, rather than close their eyes and say it can’t happen to us.
Here is the full announcement from NameJet.com:
“””Dear Valued NameJet Customer,
As you may have already heard, another company in our same line of business, SnapNames, was the victim of an internal security breach. We wanted to address any concerns you may have and assure you that at NameJet we have the necessary security protocols in place to prevent this kind of incident.
What Happened at SnapNames:
According to SnapNames, an employee set up an account on SnapNames under a false name. Under this account, the employee bid in SnapNames auctions. In many instances the bidding by this employee caused the ultimate auction winner to pay more for a name than had the employee not participated in the auction. In addition, on certain occasions, when the employee won an auction, the employee secretly arranged for a refund from SnapNames. This was in violation of SnapNames internal policy, and once discovered the company immediately closed the account in question and the employee was dismissed.
We commend SnapNames for taking quick and decisive action once it discovered its security breach.
NameJet has Strict Security to Prevent Anything Similar:
You should have full confidence nothing similar has occurred on NameJet. We have security procedures and policies in place that monitor all activities to ensure that “shill” bidding does not occur. Further, employees are strictly barred from bidding on auctions and NameJet has both internal and external monitoring to ensure all security procedures are enforced. These procedures were developed and are maintained by two of the world’s largest and most trusted registrars.
Thank you for your business and for your ongoing trust in NameJet.
If you have any questions regarding this issue, please contact us at customers@namejet.com.
Sincerely,
Steve Brown
General Manager
NameJet.com””
Agree. I was surprised to get that email especially since the corpse isn’t even cold yet.
They must have started writing it as soon as they heard the news since they probably had to run it by legal and marketing first.
The immediate release makes me ask silly questions like were they prepared for this news?
Did they see the Snapnames problem coming?
If so, aren’t they obligated to report a crime?
Yeah, dumb questions like that.
Nice faux pas Namejet.
I couldn’t believe it when I received that! He is more concerned about writing and releasing a press release than taking the appropriate amount of time in duing a proper internal investigation. The value added to Namejet is so minimal other than exposing the ignorance among senior management. If I was on the board, I would fire this guy immediately for putting the company in such a vulnerable position. Any minor scandal in Namejet will prove not to be so minor now. Moron of the year award has to be given to these guys..
Dear Mr. Steve Brown,
Congratulations – you just won “biggest idiot of the year” award in my book.
Never say never
General Manager ?? please … maybe you should outsource your PR beyond the scope of your cubicle.
Dumb PR Release.
Even with all the news today – Snap and Oversee have shown class in dealing with this.
Namejet – you sound like a blood sucking ambulance chasing lawyer here.
I think you guys are off base saying what namejet.com did was dumb in coming out with a press release saying thier system would not allow it. They wanted to instill confidence in their marketplace in a time of concern. The PR could have had more specifics in it to say how they would never allow it but it is not off base. When a bank goes under, other CEO’s come out and say that are bank is safe….same reason, to instill confidence in the system. We all know nothing is 100%, but they are saying they do their checks and balances and feel confident this would not happen.
Additionally, how many message boards questioned the user name Halvarez over the years? There were several threads on each message board. Do you really think not one person from snapnames never read those threads?
Domain buyers know people at Snapnames and over the years you do not think they expressed concern over this bidding ID to those people? How hard would it have been for snapnames to look at the person’s IP address where he is logging in from, how he was paying and find a pattern to his backorders. With as many people questioning this, it should not have taken until October 2009 to identify this.
Does snapnames not keep internal metrics of their customers like who backorders the most names, who spends the most, percentage of successful bids vs losses? I am sure there are many metrics that they were using to track and monitor their business. If not, they are dummies and then the question comes why would oversee.enet buy a company with no internal data on their customers and NO signed contract with Network Solutions .
Again…. How hard would it have been for snapnames to look at the person’s IP address where he is logging in from, how he was paying and find a pattern to his backorders. With as many people questioning this, it should not have taken until October 2009 to identify this.
As someone said, why is it coming out today?
I think more info will continue to come out. Keep digging deeper into those former employees and see who else was recently terminated. I get the feeling someone was going to drop a bomb on them and they are covering themselves.
NO way they “just” found out. I am not buying it!
They should keep quiet.
“He who smelled it, dealt it”
Do as I do, install WordPress extension on you blog and auction all your domains there. From now on trust no body!
😉
“NameJet has Strict Security to Prevent Anything Similar.”
Which joins the trash heap of other worthless slogans:
“Don’t be evil.”
“I am not a crook.”
“This ship is unsinkable.”
Steve,
Don’t forget “I love you” 🙂
I just blog this as well.
http://www.king.net/2009/11/shill-bidding-at-snapnamescom-broke-out.html
I prefer to see Audit report from the 3rd party. It would be nice for them to bring this to the public.
Next it will be pool.com coming out with something similar, then we’ll really know we are being taken for a ride. For some of these companies I think people just assumed there was dummy bidders.
Anybody ever find themselves being notified they are in an auction for a name they never ordered in the first place?… and then end up “winning” it at minimum bid, even though there are supposedly 4 other bidders?
I actually think that, although he obviously would have preferred not to have sent this letter, that it was a necessary evil. Ron Jackson’s article explains it well: the entire market is going to feel this and if a company doesn’t respond immediately to the situation, then its customers are going to feel left in the dark. Every day that goes by, confidence will erode. At the same time, the way he put this does seem a bit haphazard.
Anyway, I checked out this article because I was hoping for some answers as to WHY Nelson would shill bid. Did he have stock or options in Snapnames/Oversee? What possible incentive would he have to do this unless he had ownership or unless he was directed by his superiors?
I have a good idea! Let it be on the ones who hired and fired him!
That way they will be responsible for illegally abuse of the United States of America all Small Business men! Nelson Brady should be shot to death by the american government as a spi or selling are goverment out to the best bidder, in his own realm! Not every bodys trying like hell to bid there and if they do and is no response then they should be investagated, to whom did Neslon Brady contact or his line of gang did he contact. Stolen off to a bidder on line, on some other web! The ones who hired him should be responsible for the half of every thing he sold! The ones who got the Federal Bids should be given a warning of $15,000.00 to be payed the the Federal Government and the will be taken off the list for five years! What do you think! This should be another black and blue mark for the Federal Government! But
at least we can show the others, what happens if you dabble with are government! What do you think! Should we execute him (Nelson Brady)
or do you want him to live on are hard earned money (send him to jail).
NOT, KILL THE AUCTIONER he is A Shill Bidding, money grubbing man!
WTF?
NameJet better be prepped. They have much higher ticket names dropping than Snap. Interesting to note that many of the names sold and bid on at Snap where he was involved were TM names. Wonder if that will play a role in the settlement at all. Just curious.
“This Can’t Happen To Us”…written to you by the same people who can change the “policies in place.” We wouldn’t do it isn’t a valid line of defense, sorry.