domainwatch.org

from: www.domains-australia.com.au

” …
There has been an error with some of our recent offers. Some letters incorrectly stated that a .com domain name was available where instead the domain should have had extension .net.au. Any incorrect orders that have been received where the customer does not want the .net.au will be fully refunded. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
… “

from: http://dotau.org/archive/2005-03/0008.html

” …
—–Original Message—–
From: Chesley Rafferty chesleyau@yahoo.com.au
Sent: Friday, 4 March 2005 1:06 PM
To: dns@dotau.org
Subject: [DNS] Copy of letter sent to Chris Disspain re Domains Australia

Chris Disspain
auDA
107 Faraday Street
Carlton VIC 3053
By Fax and Mail

4 March 2005

Chris

This letter is response to a recent mailer sent by Domains Australia headed “Domain Name Available” which offered a 5% discount for orders received before 16 March 2005.

Yesterday I became aware of a Consumer Alert on your website at www.auda.org.au which states that some of the letters sent out offered to register a domain that was not available to be registered.

After checking with our mailing company, it quickly became clear that there had been a number of letters sent out which were supposed to offer a domain which was available and instead offered a .com domain (which in many cases would not be available). This occurred as a data file was merged with the incorrect wording file.

This error was in every respect a technical one, and was in no way done to confuse the recipient of the letter.

As soon as I was aware of this problem, I placed a corrective notice at www.domains-australia.com.au and placed a corrective message at 03 9923 6505 to inform all callers of the error in the mailer.

Also for orders received, we will contact each customer to inform them directly of the error, to
explain that the offer should have been for a different domain and give them a complete refund.

Regards

Chesley Rafferty
Director
… “

auDA has emailed .au domain name owners a Consumer Alert regarding the latest Domains Australia Pty Ltd (Chesley Rafferty) mass mail out.

Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 20:15:41 +1100
From: adam.king [at] auda.org.au
To: [snip-snip]
Subject: Domains Australia Pty Ltd - Consumer Alert

You are receiving this email because you are the registrant contact for a .au domain name. .au Domain Administration Ltd (auDA) is the Australian company that operates .au.

auDA has become aware that a company called Domains Australia Pty Ltd is sending letters and/or faxes to some domain name registrants offering to arrange registration of a .com domain name for $225.

The letter is headed ‘DOMAIN NAME AVAILABLE’. auDA has received numerous complaints which indicate that some of the names being offered are either:

1. registered already to the recipient of the letter and not due to expire in the near future; or

2. registered to a different entity and is not available for registration.

auDA is concerned that the letters may:

a) mislead people into believing that their .com domain name has expired when it has not; or

b) mislead people into believing that a .com name is available for registration when it is not; and

c) in either case induce people to pay money to Domains Australia for a service that the company is unable to deliver.

Domains Australia is a company controlled by Chesley Rafferty, who is also a Director of Domain Names Australia Pty Ltd.

auDA has successfully taken legal action against Mr Rafferty and Domain Names Australia under the Trade Practices Act. For more information see http://www.auda.org.au/news/dna.

If you have received a .com letter from Domains Australia and you wish to lodge a formal complaint, auDA advises that you immediately contact the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) either by lodging an electronic complaint at http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/3634 or by faxing details to their Canberra office on (02) 6243 1199.

Adam King
auDA

Mass mail out by Domains Australia Pty Ltd
http://www.auda.org.au/news-archive/auda-03032005/

03/03/2005
auDA has become aware that Domains Australia Pty Ltd is sending letters and/or faxes to some domain name registrants offering to arrange registration of a .com domain name for $225.

The letter is headed ‘DOMAIN NAME AVAILABLE’. auDA has received numerous complaints which indicate that some of the names being offered are either;

1. registered already to the recipient of the letter and not due to expire in the near future or

2. registered to a different entity and not available for registration.

auDA is concerned that the letters may

a) mislead people into believing that their .com domain name has expired when it has not; or

b) mislead people into believing that a .com name is available for registration when it is not; and

c) in either case induce people to pay money to Domains Australia for a service that the company is unable to deliver.

Domains Australiais a company controlled by Chesley Rafferty, who is also a Director of Domain Names Australia Pty Ltd.

auDA has successfully taken legal action against Mr Rafferty and Domain Names Australia under the Trade Practices Act. For more information see http://www.auda.org.au/news/dna.

If you have received a .com letter from Domains Australia and you wish to lodge a formal complaint, auDA advises that you immediately contact the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) either by lodging an electronic complaint at http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/3634 or by faxing it to their Canberra office on (02) 6243 1199.

auDA warns registrants of new domain scam (ZDNet)
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/0,2000061791,39183162,00.htm

Warnings over new domain offer (Australian IT)
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,12431555%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html

” …

AUSTRALIAN .au domain controller auDA has posted a new warning about potentially misleading letters and faxes touting domain name services in what appears to be a re-run of the 2003 Domain Names Australia case.

auDA said it had received complaints from individuals that had received letters from reseller Domains Australia Pty Ltd offering .com domains for two years for $225.

In a warning notice posted online, auDA said complaints were centred around the fact that the .com domains being offered were “registered already to the recipient of the letter and not due to expire in the near future or registered to a different entity and not available for registration”.

A similar practice lead in 2004 to the Federal Court finding Domain Names Australia Pty Ltd and sole director Chesley Paul Rafferty in breach of the Trade Practices Act, 1974.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission filings show 35 year old Mr Rafferty is also sole director of Perth-based Domains Australia Pty Ltd, which was registered in October.

Australian IT has learned that Mr Rafferty has been charged by WA Police with two counts of possession of a prohibited drug and one count of possession of a prohibited drug with intent to sell.

Mr Rafferty will face court over the drugs charges later this month.

auDA chief executive Chris Disspain said that because the new offer from Domains Australia involved .com addresses, the matter was beyond auDA’s jurisdiction.

The organisation was recommending complaints be directed to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Mr Disspain said.

The ACCC declined to comment on whether it had received complaints on the .com domain offers, with a spokesman saying that the Commission could not comment on matters that may be the subject of complaints or investigation.

In dismissing a 2004 appeal by Domain Names Australia, Justice Finkelstein ordered that the company and Mr Rafferty refrain from engaging in similar conduct for three years.
… “

Chesley Rafferty is the director of new company called Domains Australia Pty Ltd (ACN 111 537 136) which has begun posting out marketing notices. Chesley Rafferty is also the director of another new company called Firebird Corporation Pty Ltd (ACN 111 537 109). Blair John Rafferty is the sole shareholder of Firebird
Corporation Pty Ltd which is the ultimate holding company for Domains Australia Pty Ltd.

Diverse Internet Pty Ltd is listed under the Registered Office of both Domains Australia Pty Ltd and Firebird Corporation Pty Ltd. Bradley Norrish is a Director of Diverse Internet Pty Ltd.

Bradley Norrish’s IMCO Corporation Pty Ltd seems to be the hosting provider for the Domains Australia Pty Ltd web site.

Front and back of Domains Australia Pty Ltd notice:

Extracted from ASIC’s database at 12:34:23 on 9/11/2004:

DOMAINS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

ACN: 111537136
Registered in: WA
Registration Date: 26/10/2004

Registered Office: DIVERSE INTERNET PTY LTD L 6 44 ST GEORGES TERRACE PERTH WA 6000
Start Date: 26/10/2004

Principal Place of Business: DIVERSE INTERNET PTY LTD L 6 44 ST GEORGES TERRACE PERTH WA 6000

Director: CHESLEY PAUL RAFFERTY
Appointment Date: 26/10/2004
Address: EAST PERTH

Ultimate Holding Company: FIREBIRD CORPORATION PTY LTD

Number of Shares Issued: 100

Share Holder Name: FIREBIRD CORPORATION PTY LTD
Number of Shares Held: 100
Address: PO BOX Z5439 PERTH WA 6000

Extracted from ASIC’s database at 12:38:07 on 9/11/2004:

FIREBIRD CORPORATION PTY LTD

ACN: 111537109
Registered in: WA
Registration Date: 26/10/2004

Registered Office: DIVERSE INTERNET PTY LTD L 6 44 ST GEORGES TERRACE PERTH WA 6000
Start Date: 26/10/2004

Principal Place of Business: DIVERSE INTERNET PTY LTD L 6 44 ST GEORGES TERRACE PERTH WA 6000

Director: CHESLEY PAUL RAFFERTY
Appointment Date: 26/10/2004
Address: EAST PERTH

Number of Shares Issued: 100

Share Holder Name: BLAIR JOHN RAFFERTY
Number of Shares Held: 100
Address: PO BOX Z5439 PERTH WA 6000

from: whois.ausregistry.com.au

Domain Name: domains-australia.com.au
Last Modified: Never Updated
Registrar ID: R00020-AR
Registrar Name: Explorer
Status: OK

Registrant: Domains Australia Pty Ltd
Registrant ID: ACN 111537136

Registrant ROID: C2139960-AR
Registrant Contact Name: IT Manager
Registrant Email: domainsaustralia@email.net.au

Tech ID: C2139960-AR
Tech Name: IT Manager
Tech Email: domainsaustralia@email.net.au

Name Server: ns1.domains-australia.com.au
Name Server IP: 69.9.175.202
Name Server: ns2.domains-australia.com.au
Name Server IP: 69.9.175.203

The domains-australia.com.au domain name Start of Authority (SOA) suggests that Bradley Norrish’s IMCO Corporation may host the web site. This is also the case for the email.net.au domain name.

[~] > dig SOA domains-australia.com.au

; < <>> DiG 8.2 < <>> SOA domains-australia.com.au
;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch
;; got answer:
;; ->>HEADER< <- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 6
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 2
;; QUERY SECTION:
;; domains-australia.com.au, type = SOA, class = IN

;; ANSWER SECTION:
domains-australia.com.au. 4h24s IN SOA ns1.imcoserv2.com. server6.imcoserv.com. (
2004103104 ; serial
4H ; refresh
2H ; retry
5w6d16h ; expiry
1D ) ; minimum

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
domains-australia.com.au. 56m40s IN NS ns1.domains-australia.com.au.
domains-australia.com.au. 56m40s IN NS ns2.domains-australia.com.au.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
ns1.domains-australia.com.au. 59m40s IN A 69.9.175.202
ns2.domains-australia.com.au. 59m40s IN A 69.9.175.203

;; Total query time: 1 msec
;; FROM: whim to SERVER: default -- 127.0.0.1
;; WHEN: Wed Nov 10 19:35:05 2004
;; MSG SIZE sent: 42 rcvd: 180

from: whois.ausregistry.com.au

Domain Name: email.net.au
Last Modified: 05-Aug-2004 06:47:47 UTC
Registrar ID: R00013-AR
Registrar Name: Enetica
Status: OK

Registrant: FAIRBROOK (WA) PTY LTD
Registrant ID: ACN 075148186

Registrant ROID: C1820046-AR
Registrant Contact Name: Domain Administrator
Registrant Email: domains@klimax.biz

Tech ID: C1820046-AR
Tech Name: Domain Administrator
Tech Email: domains@klimax.biz

Name Server: ns1.imcoserv.com
Name Server: ns2.imcoserv.com

[~] > dig SOA email.net.au

; < <>> DiG 8.2 < <>> SOA email.net.au
;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch
;; got answer:
;; ->>HEADER< <- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 6
;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 2
;; QUERY SECTION:
;; email.net.au, type = SOA, class = IN

;; ANSWER SECTION:
email.net.au. 4H IN SOA ns1.domainserv.net. info.imco.com. (
2004080501 ; serial
4H ; refresh
2H ; retry
5w6d16h ; expiry
1D ) ; minimum

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
email.net.au. 4H IN NS ns1.domainserv.net.
email.net.au. 4H IN NS ns2.domainserv.net.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
ns1.domainserv.net. 4H IN A 69.93.67.245
ns2.domainserv.net. 4H IN A 69.93.67.246

;; Total query time: 13595 msec
;; FROM: whim to SERVER: default -- 127.0.0.1
;; WHEN: Wed Nov 10 19:45:21 2004
;; MSG SIZE sent: 30 rcvd: 161