SnapNames has just discovered that one of their employees had been bidding on auctions for the past four years.
He used an account under a false name to use it in SnapNames auctions,the bidding affecting 5% of all SnapNames domain name auctions in this four years,especially between 2005 and 2007.
SnapNames decided to give their customers an e-mail in which they tried to explain the situation.
"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."
"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."
As for the affected costumers,SnapNames decided to recoup their loss.
"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."
Therefore,SnapNames decided to fire its employee,who's name is Nelson Brady.
Moreover, SnapNames assured the customers that they doing their best to make sure this kind of problems will not occur anymore.They will enhance monitoring of bidding activity for suspect behavior and they will have different domain name registration policies for their employees.
If you have any questions, you may consult the FAQSs here, or contact the SnapNames support team .
DKD DomainNews