Thread: Domains Being Hijacked Pre-Registraion

Hello,

I am furious here and I will no doubt get people saying that I am paranoid.

Last week I drew up a list of .ie domain names that I wanted to check to see if they were available. I cam across two excellent domain domains that I couldn't believe were registered.

I then checked to see if I could do something with them from a set-up and business point of few. So that took a few hours and I went down to the CRO and registered the business name that I intended to use.

Now the two domains are totally different and have zero to with each other. One is 'child' related and the other 'wedding' related.

I waited all week and then as soon as the business name became 'live' I went straight to register it and low and behold the first one was gone.

I was, and still am fuming - but that's life and these things happen. It meant phoning the dropship company as I had placed a memmbership and brochere pack I was sure I'd be okay. Live and learn I guess.

Then I typed in the second domain name and it is registered also! Major fuming now and throw my Sky Plus remote across the room - I missed out on two of them in just less than a week.

Again, I thought - these things happen - until I looked at who registered them. It was the SAME woman! that registered the two domains on the very next day that I had serached a WhoIs for.

Now, as far as I'm concered there is no doubt that something is going on here. There is just no way that someone would register these two domain names on the same day.

Some of you will say 'well, you were going to register the two of them'. Well, yes I was but the odds of someone else wanting these to register that same unrelated domain names on the same day is just impossible.

I believe that it is something to do with the particular WhoIs that I used. I'll say no more as I simply do not have the proof and so don't want to cause myself or the board any unnessecery hassle.

I'm curious as to what people think. Has anyone else had anything similar like this happen?

Declan

I've seen it happen with .com but not with .ie.
Did you use the same Whois site to check both domains?

The .ie domains need proof of entitlement. Did you search CRO to see if there was already a business or company name with the same one you wanted?

Can you name the site where you checked the whois?

Is there a connection between the registrant and the site where you checked the whois?

Regards...jmcc

Too late now but you could just have registered the domains and provided the RBN details later. While I havent come across this type of behaviour myself with .ie domains, once you start punching your domain into a search box it more than likely is being recorded.

Can you establish any link between the registrar and this person? Im not sure what good would come of it but it might lessen your rage by contacting the registrar and voicing your concerns.

What can I say dec....
I register the domains before i register the business name and it gets put on hold for 30 days while i get by BRN than it's all OK.

Next time you know. Learn from mistake.

Originally Posted by louie

What can I say dec....
I register the domains before i register the business name and it gets put on hold for 30 days while i get by BRN than it's all OK.

Just thought it would be less messy to get the business name first. In future I won't.

Goes to show you, in future make sure you use a reliable source to check domain names like www.blacknight.ie, www.iedr.ie as it seems others are monitored and domains are just getting registered before you get a chance to say "hi".

Originally Posted by wheres me jumpa

Can you establish any link between the registrar and this person? Im not sure what good would come of it but it might lessen your rage by contacting the registrar and voicing your concerns.

No, I Google'd her name but couldn't find her on any related web content.


I'm even more furious today if anything. If it was two different people I would just take it on the chin. I have been registering .com's for years and so I am used to missing domains - that's the nature of the whole thing. I can even get to grips with it if the domains were related but what I just cannot except is that this woman just happened to register the exact two unrelated .ie domain names 24 hours after I checked their availability.

There is only three places that I search for .ie domain names and they are one WhoIS and the top two registrars for .ie domain names.

I have heard of software that one WhoIS was running on their system that would highlight domains searched for and available that also had top 'keyword content' but can't remember where I read the article. Might have even been some Net magazine a few years back.

I have never been so sure about anything in my life though. This woman became aware of the availability of these domains through my actions - no question. I didn't speak to anyone nor did I write them down on paper. I kept a Gmail draft of them but nobody else has access to my Gmail.

Look, let's say if you today find that YellowCars.ie & BlueBikes.ie are available and set your mind to register them in three to four days and then when you go to register them you find that they are both registered 24 hours after you searched for them? An not only that but the same person has registered the two unrelated .ie domains.

It's just impossible. YellowCars.ie & BlueCars.ie or YellowBikes.ie & BlueBikes.ie I'd except but YellowCars.ie and BlueBikes.ie - no way, it's just far far too coincendental.

I wish the domains were bloody YellowCars.ie and BlueBikes.ie by the way but they aren't -- they were so damn good that I have zero doubt that each will be very very successful ventures.

Declan

Originally Posted by louie

Goes to show you, in future make sure you use a reliable source to check domain names like www.blacknight.ie, www.iedr.ie as it seems others are monitored and domains are just getting registered before you get a chance to say "hi".

I have only ever registered two .ie domain names. One was a mess and they sent me the rudest emails unhelpful emails when I requested a DNS change. I picked them as they were the cheapest. When I complained and sent emails for ten days without reply I received an email from the CEO pointing out their awards and how implying that the registrar I told them I would use from now on were not as good as his company.

The other was seamless and a complete pleasure to use and they were blacknight.ie who were about 15% more expensive for domain registration alone but well worth it as they actually reply to your emails. Think I'll use them for checking availibility in future also.

Declan

Originally Posted by louie

Goes to show you, in future make sure you use a reliable source to check domain names like www.blacknight.ie, www.iedr.ie .

I just remembered where I read about this type of thing happening. They call it 'Domain Tasting' ..

Domain Tasting Article

Declan

(oops sorry) I forgot there was a Declan already on the boards, make that ..

Dec

Tasting is slightly different

With "tasting" a registrar (or other company) grabs thousands of domains and sees if they have any traffic or not. If they don't they get released back

What you are probably thinking about is "front running", which is a bit different

See: Netsol Take Evil To A New Level