11-04-2009, 01:56 PM
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Confirmed User
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 708
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SnapNames Email
Quote:
Dear SnapNames customer:
I?m contacting you today to inform you of an unfortunate incident at SnapNames, and to let
you know what the company is doing to address it.
Recently, SnapNames discovered that an employee had set up an account on the SnapNames
system under a false name and, under this name, bid in SnapNames auctions. This is a
clear violation of our internal policy and was not approved by the company. We deeply
regret that this conduct has impacted our customers.
Extent of impact:
This conduct affected a small percentage of SnapNames auctions:
* Bidding affected approximately five percent of total SnapNames auctions since 2005, most
of which occurred between 2005 and 2007.
* The incremental revenue from the bidding represented approximately one percent of
SnapNames? auction revenue since 2005.
No matter the level of impact, SnapNames takes this matter extremely seriously. When the
matter was discovered, the company immediately closed the account in question and began a
thorough investigation. The employee has also been dismissed from the company.
SnapNames further discovered that, on certain recent and limited occasions, when the
employee won an auction, the employee secretly arranged to refund from SnapNames to the
fictitious account a portion of the winning bid amount.
Remedy to affected customers:
Though on some occasions the employee won the auction, in many instances the bidding
caused the ultimate auction winner to pay more for a name than had the employee not
participated in the auction.
SnapNames neither condones this conduct nor wants to be perceived as benefiting from the
conduct. Accordingly, we have decided that regardless of the circumstance, in every
auction where the employee?s fictitious account submitted a bid which resulted in a higher
price being paid by the winning bidder, SnapNames will offer a rebate, with 5.22% interest
(the highest applicable federal rate during the affected time period), to affected
customers for the difference between the prices they actually paid and the prices they
would have paid, had the employee not bid in the auctions. The rebate will be available
in cash or in credit on the SnapNames platform, at your discretion.
SnapNames has moved quickly to address this situation. The company has retained Rust
Consulting, an independent third party, who will administer the rebate offer. Within the
next week, Rust Consulting will contact affected customers to provide details regarding
the offer.
Your business and ongoing relationship are important to us and we can assure you that we
have taken all necessary steps to ensure the integrity of the platform and reinforced
controls and procedures to avoid any possibility of further breach. These include:
* Enhanced monitoring of bidding activity for suspect behavior
* Additional controls over financial transactions
* Specific domain name registration policies for employees
In the meantime, if you have any questions, you may consult the FAQs in the link below, or
contact the SnapNames support team:
* FAQs: http://www.up0.net/ct.html?rtr=on&s=...6m,gbus,bel e
* By e-mail: [email protected]
* Toll-free in the U.S.: +1 (866) 690-6279
* Outside the U.S.: +1 (503) 241-8547
SnapNames, and all in the Oversee family of companies, are deeply disappointed with this
incident. Since its founding in 2000, SnapNames has been committed to the principles of
fairness and trust; the company wants to assure customers?through both words and
actions?that it remains committed to those principles.
Thank you again for your business, and for your ongoing trust in SnapNames.
Sincerely,
Jeff Kupietzky
President and CEO
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