Stolen Domain Names Making News (Articles 2005-2012)

Below is a sampling of news stories from 2005 to present-day regarding stolen domain names. The articles are listed in descending order of dates beginning with 2012, with the exception of the first story being the 2007 article by The Wall Street Journal which stated "Web-Address Theft Is Everyday Event".

To put the articles in the context of WRTA, the initial theft of the domain name of the World Religious Travel Association took place in 2008, less than one year after the 2007 The Wall Street Journal article below was published. (Note: I've excluded news stories below about the Daniel Goncalves domain name theft case, as that's covered elsewhere in my blog posts).

A couple of the domain name theft stories below reference the FBI being involved in the investigations.


The Wall Street Journal

Web-Address Theft Is Everyday Event

Short or Memorable Domain Names Can Fetch Millions of Dollars

September 25, 2007

By Kevin J. Delaney

Article Link: http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB119068079815138145-Z_ilmlIpmb_u6F5HymtKczYVTcE_20071024.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

Thieves steal company’s Web domain name

Internet » Costly hijacking reveals common patterns in global domain thefts, weak laws.

By Tom Harvey

The Salt Lake Tribune

First Published Aug 08 2012 05:57 pm • Last Updated Aug 09 2012 01:03 pm

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/54626184-79/domain-zmehrir-com-daddy.html.csp

Company sues over stolen domains after losing UDRP

Sunday, June 24th, 2012

Austin Rare Coins asks court to hand over allegedly stolen domain names.

Note: Article states “the Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the case.”

http://domainnamewire.com/2012/06/24/company-sues-over-stolen-domains-after-losing-udrp/

The Hungry Mouse: So What the Hell Just Happened to Us

By Jesse Cross

May 23, 2012

Note: Per the article, the FBI is involved as the writer states “The FBI is actually still investigating this for me, so I can’t give you all the details. But here’s the 30,000-foot view.”

http://www.thehungrymouse.com/2012/05/23/10-tips-to-help-keep-your-blog-safe-from-hijackers/

Web Design Sites Hit by Domain Theft

CSS-Tricks and others affected by extortion scam

By Craig Grannell on December 07, 2011

http://www.netmagazine.com/news/web-design-sites-hit-domain-theft-111614

Domain Theft Hits Startup and Forces Them Into a Name Change

Michael Berkens

July 27, 2011

http://www.thedomains.com/2011/07/27/domain-theft-hits-startup-forces-them-into-a-name-change/

Domain Theft Recovery Seeks to Make Stolen Domain Recovery Simple

David Goldstein

July 28, 2011

http://www.domainpulse.com/2011/07/28/domain-theft-recovery-seeks-to-make-stolen-domain-recovery-simple/

Help! The Web Designer Stole My Domain!

By Sozo Firm · April 2, 2010

http://www.sozofirm.com/when-your-web-design-company-steals-your-domain/

Raven.com – The Case of a Stolen Domain Name

August 30th, 2007 by

Jay Westerdal

http://blog.domaintools.com/2007/08/ravencom-the-case-of-a-stolen-domain/

$200,000 Sofa.com Domain Name Stolen by Employee

$200k sale of Sofa.com in 2005 was unauthorized by employer.

Monday, August 6th, 2007

http://domainnamewire.com/2007/08/06/200000-sofacom-domain-name-stolen-by-employee/

Hot Domains (Hot as in Stolen)

December 2005

http://domainnamewire.com/2005/12/01/hot-domains-hot-as-in-stolen/