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Loading ...First arrest in Domain-name scam
A 25-year-old man has been charged with stealing a company's domain name and selling it to NBA player Mark Madsen for $111,000. According to the New Jersey State Police, the arrest may mark the first time the state has charged someone with stealing a domain name.
Daniel Goncalves of Union Township was arrested July 30 on charges that he stole the domain name P2P.com three years ago. After the theft, Goncalves reportedly went on eBay and sold the domain to NBA player Mark Madsen, a forward for the Los Angeles Clippers, who was unaware that the domain name was stolen.
“The domain name industry is in some respects still like the Wild West. Many of the rules are not yet codified into state laws, let alone federal or international laws." according to Rick Fuentes, superintendent of the New Jersey State Police.
The investigation by the state police Cyber-Crimes Unit began in October 2008, after representatives from P2P complained that the company's domain name had been stolen from its Go Daddy account in May 2006. P2P began its own investigation into the theft in May 2007. "A check of the P2P ... corporate Go Daddy domain account revealed that the domain name had been transferred without their knowledge," so a New Jersey State Police news release.
Goncalves is believed to have illegally accessed P2P's “GoDaddy” account and transferred the domain name to his own personal account. "Records obtained from GoDaddy verified that the same IP address utilized to log into the [P2P] account and initiate the transfer was used to log into Goncalves' own GoDaddy account and receive the transferred domain," so the press release.
According to the state police, "attempts were made shortly thereafter to transfer the domain away from GoDaddy to a different registrar, but ICANN [Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers] rules prohibited this transfer for 60 days. Nine days after the ... transfer prohibition was concluded, it is charged that Goncalves moved the domain name to a different registrar."
Afterward Goncalves allegedly "waited the mandatory 60 days and listed the name for sale on eBay in September 2006, where it was purchased for just over $111,000."
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