As the owner of Windows7Forums.com and Windows8Forums.com, I would like to let you all know that I was attempting to purchase windowsforums.com and was defrauded by a seller known as Sean Spurr. Guess who has it now? Please see this email to the owner of SevenForums.com: John Fairbrother
Hi John,
I am the owner of Windows7Forums.com. I am aware of your work with SevenForums.com. Please be aware that I was attempting to purchase WindowsForums.com from its previous owner before he transferred it to you. A complaint was filed against him with the FBI/IC3 for violating ICANN UDRP rules. It is not surprising to see he made this move, but I am surprised who the buyer was. This was extremely unscrupulous. I need to inform you that publicdomainregistry.com was supposed to lock the domain once they received word from ICANN regarding an arbitration dispute under UDRP. He listed his site on BuyDomains.com and I bought it with the "Buy It Now" option at the list price of $6995.00. You need to know this because I was defrauded by this man and there is a criminal complaint against him with IC3 and the FBI. This message is not to intimidate you or incite you, but it is to give you clear, concise due diligence. I cannot imagine anyone better having the domain due to the good work of sevenforums.com. However, the events leading up to you acquiring it are completely unethical. If you had knowledge in advance of what was going on, this would implicate you. Basically, I am trying to seize the domain I purchased through BuyItNow.com/Afternic and have been doing so since this happened. Around July 16-17, days after the purchase an auth codes were sent, he violated a written contract and re-privatized the domain and domain locked it. Shortly thereafter it looks like he transferred it to you. I have documents proving Sean Spurr sold the domain to me. This is a major problem.
Please be aware that this information has been relayed to multiple third parties to clarify, since $6995.00 has still not been refunded, and the domain sale was a scam perpetrated by the owner Sean Spurr at the time. It has been CC'd to the escrow agent at Namemedia, the domain salesman/client manager Mike Warburton, Alexandra R from the National Arbitration Forum, and your registrar for ICANN UDRP compliance, and my administrative team.
If you're wondering why you are a Microsoft MVP and you have been banned, that says it all. Legally, we purchased the domain, I believe somehow he found out, and compromised the seller.
What does being an MS MVP have to do with it? You say it says it all, but I don't see any relationship. How does that compromise the seller? Even if that's all true, why does the co-Admin at SF (and VF and EF) and essentially second-in-command so to speak, Shawn Brink - an MVP, still remain there unbanned when the value of doing this to anyone else or everyone else (whatever that may be) seems destroyed by that? And there are other MVPs remaining "over there" who are here not to mention others that may not be here though I didn't confirm that (but I should add I checked in VF - and Z3 tends to ban from all if banned from one so I thought that would suffice).
And to be honest, I don't even see the value or rationale in doing it unless Microsoft decided to get involved (which I doubt) and even then would expect the consequences to be an inability to use participation there for renewals or new approvals or possibly notifying the MVPs that they needed to stop activity there - something I'd find quite bizarre to say the least. And even if that were the case, why only MS MVPs and not also MS MCCs as well or even anyone holding any form of Microsoft certification as well?
In short, while I'm willing to accept that there may have been some sale issues long ago (even if I don't understand what windowsforums.com has to do with sevenforums.com or why it would be necessary to buy the first to get to use the second). Furthermore, while under arbitration if that's the case, aren't there rules concerning public disclosure of such sensitive information (as in your post) until events are settled? And whether arbitration or legal action, doesn't this disclosure harm your case and potentially subject you to a variety of legal actions in addition to possibly harming the case?
Also, some recently banned were not MS MVPs or MS MCCs - so what would this have to do with them and why would they be involved?
I at least would appreciate some clarification on how this relates to all of this. And yes, I did read your post in the link in Andrea's post, and that helped explain some of the differences and how owners interpret things, but didn't really explain this situation except that there seems to be more to it all than the letter you posted in this forum.
Thanks!
