An unknown number of Australian companies and consumers have lost their Web sites -- and renewal fees -- hosted by a US-based company.

Web sites hosted by US-based Web host RegisterFly have been disappearing in dribs and drabs over the past year. The domains are "parked" -- generally when they have expired, but attempts to renew the domain by paying the fee mysteriously fail.

RegisterFly has a million customers -- hosting two million domain names and 300,000 Web sites -- in 120 countries.

Kulhawick alleges that other Web hosts are doing the same thing: parking domains and creaming off the renewal fees. He said some are apparently also reselling the domain names to others to test -- falsely creating customer "churn" to make more money.

"I can tell you it's a tightly-knit group that has seen the dollar signs," he said. "If a domain name gets 10 hits a day, they can manage the traffic and do a click every couple of days, at US$6/month, and it's on the high end of Google ... two, three, five clicks and you've got a million."

Add all the customers and domains up, Kulhawick said, and many millions of dollars could easily be made. "That's a scandal. That's the size of [notorious white collar fraud case] Enron."

E Clarke Dummit is a US attorney spearheading a class action lawsuit in the US Federal Court against RegisterFly, its CEO Kevin Medina, another director John Naruszewicz and sister companies Unifiednames and Hosting Services Group as well as fellow registrar eNom and ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers).

Dummit said at least five or six Australian companies or consumers have signed up to join the lawsuit -- and more from all over the globe are joining daily.

Dummit said 75,000 customers had already lost their domains, and funds ranging from US$10 to US$100,000. But some losses were unquantifiable, because people's businesses had been shut down without warning, with no way of communicating that fact to their customers.

"We're pursuing an injunction to shut the Web site down and are also suing for damages," he said. So far there are 700 plaintiffs. Dummit expects to have a trial date within a year.

ICANN registration questioned

But he also blamed ICANN. "We consider that ICANN has completely breached its duty to protect the public," Dummit said.

He alleged that RegisterFly's ICANN accreditation was revoked on 16 March. ICANN also took out a temporary restraining order against RegisterFly a month later, on 16 April, but, according to Dummit, "they've still not done anything; RegisterFly is still operating".

"They should have shut the Web site down months ago," Dummit said.

Kulharwick agreed: "How did RegisterFly even get accreditation in the first place?"

ICANN -- which collects a fee for every domain sold through accredited registrars -- did not say it would terminate RegisterFly's accreditation until the day after being served with the class action lawsuit, according to Dummit.

ICANN was contacted for comment but had not replied at press-time. A blog comment on ICANN's Web site, aimed at helping customers transfer away from Registerfly is available here.

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PPNSteve Registered | 2007-04-23 16:29:23 and ICANN still isn't doing anything, even after getting that injunction. meanwhile we, who have had our domains illegally stolen and our businesses and livelihood ruined, are forced to wait for some action from ICANN that may or may not come.

freddieb - Still operating, still fleecin Registered | 2007-04-23 17:19:15 RF are still operating, fleecing people out of their money, selling domains that they can't supply. I'm still getting renewal notices from RF for domains long transferred away, and I bet they'd take my money. RF are still claiming to be ICANN accredited: http://registerfly.com/info/about.php "Company Information RegisterFly.com, inc. is an ICANN Accredited registrar. RegisterFly.com provides industry leading 24/7 Support via a variety of methods which includes, phone, email, ticket system. RegisterFly.com offers domain registrations as low as $2.99/ea and domain transfers for only $6.99. By adhering to our basic principals of low cost and value to our customers and excellent customer service we have grown to be one of the largest low cost registrars on the web today. In terms of number of customers and domains registered we are one of the 10th largest registrars in the world. We are not a "one man" shop (like many domain registrars and resellers) or a "here today gone tomorrow" business, we have invested substantially in positioning Registerfly.com as a global industry leader." What a stack of rubbish! Try showing that to people who've lost their domains and dollars.

crewmark - Hands are tied in Australia Registered | 2007-04-23 17:54:05 We can't do much from here but if I was in the US I'd have a lynch mob on RegisterFly and Enoms doorstep!! This is theft, pure and simple and the law just drags it's feet. Legal action can take years (and a large amount of money) by then the damage has been done. If I stole your car, you saw me do it and could give my address and details to the police AND when the police arrived they find your car and many, many others... do you think the law would just sit back and do nothing!??! This is unf--kingbelievable!!!

freddieb - re: Still operating, still fle Registered | 2007-04-23 18:25:01 "..... Please read the rest of the story on ZDNet Australia" zdnet.com.au URL can't be found, their domain must have been stolen/lost or stuck in RF!

freddieb - re: Hands are tied in Australi Registered | 2007-04-24 01:09:09 crewmark wrote: We can't do much from here but if I was in the US I'd have a lynch mob on RegisterFly and Enoms doorstep!! This is theft, pure and simple and the law just drags it's feet. Legal action can take years (and a large amount of money) by then the damage has been done. If I stole your car, you saw me do it and could give my address and details to the police AND when the police arrived they find your car and many, many others... do you think the law would just sit back and do nothing!??! This is unf--kingbelievable!!! I agree, and what's more I don't think anything like this could continue to happen in Australia. The fact that RF can still continue to operate and take people's money openly and fraudulently is just beyond my understanding! Come on Americans, stand up for your rights, don't keep on being suckers!

JeffK Registered | 2007-04-24 07:20:43 Yes, it appears the much vaunted US consumer protection has not kept up with the net. If it wasn't so serious it would be funny. If Ralph Nader was dead he would be turning in his grave! Jeff

EVENTHOLDER Registered | 2007-05-03 18:34:54 WHats the dirt on Unified names and Enom? I haven't rad any specific details.....

blakilox - Godaddy Nasty Business Registered | 2007-06-12 02:12:39 Godaddy said "you must act before June 28, 2007 to retain ownership of your domain names" Now they say "This is your last chance to renew your domain name(s)! YOU MUST RENEW BY Jun. 14, 2007 OR THE DOMAINS LISTED BELOW WILL BE CANCELLED" Anybody else experiencing this nasty change of the rules from GoDaddy? how do I write to Bob?

Maxzm - Missing Domains Registered | 2007-06-27 08:08:00 Yeah! I dont think godaddy is any more honest than registerfly. Most domains that I had stuck at RF were bulk transfered to GD but after checking on transfers, about a dozen valuable domains were not in the new account GD created for bulk transfer, that they failed to even notify me about. I only discovered this via a support ticket for a prior failed RF transfer to an existing GD account that I was recieving renewal notice for when the domain was actualy transfered to enom. Anyway the domains showed godaddy as the registrant and all contact details as well. They had no intention of contacting me and the domains whois did not show any of my details, only GD and now I have to send ID and records to get my domains back. http://www.cmyurl.com/

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