# ICANN suspends Brandon Gray Internet Services (AKA Domain Registry of America, DROC, etc)



## Coastercraze (Jul 24, 2014)

http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/icann-suspends-brandon-gray-internet-services-demands-stop-sending-deceptive-marketing-materials

For those who don't know (who aren't based in the US, Canada, Australia, etc), this company basically snail mail spams you via your WHOIS info in regards to your domains renewal with the hope that you transfer to them. The letters could easily be mistaken for a bill.

Example:



ICANN has suspended them from registering domains until October 17, 2014 and have questioned their marketing tactics. They're on their way to a RAA termination soon if they don't clean up their act. It's about time something was done!

Official PDF from ICANN: https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/correspondence/serad-to-patel-18jul14-en.pdf


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## Askforhost (Jul 24, 2014)

OK, that is one of the most weird tactic to gain new customers. :huh:


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## trewq (Jul 24, 2014)

This is fantastic. The amount of these I receive is stupid high, they don't even get opened anymore.


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## MannDude (Jul 24, 2014)

In before people claim spam junk mail is free speech and that Spamhaus ICANN is being a bully... oh wait.


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## William (Jul 24, 2014)

MannDude said:


> In before people claim spam junk mail is free speech


Even if, it's still a violation of ICANN terms.


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## Aldryic C'boas (Jul 24, 2014)

You're missing the point there, Will


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## DomainBop (Jul 24, 2014)

MannDude said:


> In before people claim spam junk mail is free speech and that Spamhaus ICANN is being a bully... oh wait.


Well if Ecatel can claim that malware, botnets, and warez are expressions of free speech... 

I'm surprised that it's taken ICANN over a decade to act on all of the complaints against these shitheads. Register.com sued Domain Registry of America back in 2002 over DRA's misleading marketing (old CNET article from 2002 http://news.cnet.com/Register.com-says-rival-duped-customers/2100-1024_3-955733.html) and the FTC brought action against them in federal court in 2003 (court documents: http://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/cases-proceedings/x040014/domain-registry-america-inc )


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## HalfEatenPie (Jul 24, 2014)

YES FINALLY.

I've been getting these for a while now. It's always a terrible terrible thing they're doing.


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## datarealm (Jul 24, 2014)

Alls I gotta say is ABOUT TIME!!!

We've had slews of clients through the years fill out that form without a second thought.

*sigh*


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## ChrisM (Jul 24, 2014)

I got these about every other month then I tried having the mail person send them back as undeliverable/no such person when I would get it for a domain name and surprisingly it worked until I registered another domain.


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## D. Strout (Jul 24, 2014)

I've only gotten about three of these, ever, even though I own ~25 domains, very few with privacy. Still annoying, though. Good to see them being shut down, possibly for good. I do wonder what will happen to all the domains that are under their "management" due to customer ignorance.

For that matter, @datarealm I'm curious how they get EPP codes for the transfer, or do they just take the money and run? If that's the case, how is ICANN even involved? It would be a civil suit for fraud at that point, beyond ICANN's control.


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## datarealm (Jul 24, 2014)

D. Strout said:


> For that matter, @datarealm I'm curious how they get EPP codes for the transfer, or do they just take the money and run? If that's the case, how is ICANN even involved? It would be a civil suit for fraud at that point, beyond ICANN's control.


They started this practice before the EPP system was in place and all that was required to transfer a domain was a contact approval via email (and even that got overlooked at times).

Currently I believe that DROA states you will need the EPP code and once you return the form they will send you instructions on how to obtain it from your current registrar.  Which for some is finally the wake up call that they did something stupid. Whether you can get money back or not I suppose is debatable.  Can make arguments on both sides... DROA can claim you signed a document and the terms express that you need to get the EPP code and click the final approval link.  If you don't do that, not really their fault.  For the consumer, if the dont follow through, then really DROA has not provided any service that needs to be paid for.

As for ICANN's involvement, droa (or brandon gray internet anyways) is an ICANN accredited registrar.  That means that they signed a contract with ICANN, and ICANN now says that they breached that contract (through deceptive marketing practices).  So either droa quits what they are doing, or ICANN cancels their accreditation.  In the latter, they could try to resell through another registrar but it seems at this point they'll just keep getting cancelled as a reseller should they attempt that route.


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## AMDbuilder (Jul 24, 2014)

Christmas came early!


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## concerto49 (Jul 24, 2014)

Had heaps of these in the mail.


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## drmike (Jul 24, 2014)

I've seen so many of these "bills" from sad asshat factory.

Deceptive practice, no doubt about it.

But, it has been pretty effective in  getting people to overpay and transfer to these chaps.

Now let's not leave out their proper name / website: namejuice.com

Interesting on their address:

....

*Markham, ON
L3R 0B3, CA*

Which is in the Toronto metro area or close thereto.  Sheer volume of morons, scammers, etc. coming out of Toronto is massive.

As of May 2010, Brandon Gray was managing 132k+ domain names.  See: http://www.cira.ca/assets/Documents/Legal/Brandon-Gray/Affidavit-of-Kelly-Campbell.pdf

So....

The owner of this Brandon Gray from prior incorporation records, appears to one Mr. Peter Kuryliw. Peter Kuryliw was previously found guilty (in 2002) for deceptive practices with a bogus Yellowpages ad renewal scheme.  Sounds quite a bit like the domain stuff, ehh?



> Director of Yellowbusiness.ca pleads guilty to deceiving Canadian businesses
> 
> 
> *OTTAWA, May 28, 2002 —* Peter Kuryliw, the sole Director of 1473253 Ontario Incorporated, operating as Yellowbusiness.ca, pleaded guilty today to targeting over 40,000 business and non-profit organizations with a deceptive mailout for an Internet directory. The guilty plea results from an investigation by the Competition Bureau into Mr. Kuryliw and several other parties under the misleading representations provisions of the Competition Act. The investigation into the other parties is ongoing.
> ...


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## Francisco (Jul 24, 2014)

This guys such a scam.

In Canada, federal mail usually comes in an envelope that has a similar colour/texture to cardboard. The "Domain registry of Canada" sends their papers in the *exact same envelopes* just to scam people.

A friend of mines boss almost got suckered into paying for their domains in the US to this guy.

Infact, I just got notification for some of my IRC related domains just the other day.

Francisco


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## nunim (Jul 24, 2014)

I think this is years over due.  I feel like most people are wise to their scam now but I have the occasional customer mention it still.


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## drmike (Jul 24, 2014)

This group behind the domain renewal theftjacking is worse than you can imagine.

Go Google: *benlolo brothers scams*

Nina Benlolo (she'll show up later) is related to Simon (Sy) (now deceased), Alan and Elliot Benlolo.

They are well known in Toronto and elsewhere for their scams.



> In 1993, Elliot was sentenced to nearly two years in a Canadian prison for his part in a cocaine trafficking conspiracy.





> Alan got 18 months in a U.S. jail for mail fraud in 1998
> The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is still trying to collect a US$1-million fine levied against him.





> Alan and Elliot Benlolo ...  elaborate stock swindle that stole millions of dollars from victims in Canada, the United States, Australia and more than a dozen other countries around the world.


Then in 2004:



> Alan and Elliot Benlolo received three-year sentences for running a scheme in which businesses received what appeared to be bills to pay for listings on either of two Internet business directories, YellowBusinessPages.com or YellowBusinessDirectory.com. Simon Benlolo received a nine-month conditional jail sentence, including three months house arrest, plus a $100,000 fine.


Big expose on the brothers here:

http://www.investorvoice.ca/PI/1294A.htm

You ask how it ties togther?  Simple.  Nina Benlolo was involved with Peter years back:


https://www.ic.gc.ca/app/scr/cc/CorporationsCanada/fdrlCrpDtls.html?corpId=6294511

Corporate Name
BEN-KUR INVESTMENTS LTD. 

Care of: PETER KURYLIW AND NINA BENLOLO
70 PARR PLACE
THORNHILL ON L4J 1A8
Canada 

70 Parr Place... hmmm...

Similarly named Ben-Kur, Inc. on this one...


Corporate Name
Ben-Kur Investments Inc.

Care of: PETER KURYLIW AND ELLIOT BENLOLO
70 PARR PLACE
THORNHILL ON L4J 1A8
Canada
There we have Elliot and Nina at the same infamous 70 Parr Place address...

These matching mansions owned by two of the posh brothers...

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/27799795



This latest company --- Brandon Gray --- has a Marilyn Benlolo as the public patsy.


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## drmike (Jul 24, 2014)

Funny thing is the .ca domain regulation body put most of that out there in the past when they stripped this company of being a .CA domain registry a few years back.


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## Onra Host (Jul 24, 2014)

I get tons of these stupid letters in the mail. About time someone did something about it!


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## D. Strout (Jul 24, 2014)

datarealm said:


> They started this practice before the EPP system was in place and all that was required to transfer a domain was a contact approval via email (and even that got overlooked at times).
> 
> Makes sense. How diabolical.
> 
> ...


-----------------

Thanks for outlining all that stuff @drmike - this is a group with some history to say the least. With this scam all but shut down, I wonder what it'll be next. How's the vaca going, BTW?


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## PwnyExpress (Jul 25, 2014)

Francisco said:


> In Canada, federal mail usually comes in an envelope that has a similar colour/texture to cardboard. The "Domain registry of Canada" sends their papers in the *exact same envelopes* just to scam people.


And sadly those kfraft envelopes cost substantially less when purchased in volumes. And they're aren't hard to obtain anyways.


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## drmike (Jul 25, 2014)

My guess is they move to:

1. Insurance scams and related signup scams.

2. Real estate "development"

But, very likely they collected enough cash to bankroll some "legitimate" businesses in all these years.


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## D. Strout (Jul 25, 2014)

drmike said:


> Very likely they collected enough cash to bankroll some "legitimate" businesses in all these years.


Why do that, though, when you can scam people? They have more experience in that field anyway.


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## drmike (Jul 25, 2014)

Maybe I should pair the Benlolo's up with a nice little accompany across the big lake in Buffalo


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## Shados (Jul 26, 2014)

D. Strout said:


> Why do that, though, when you can scam people? They have more experience in that field anyway.


Especially given that Kuryliw's earlier charge resulted in over $700,000 in payments being seized from mail _in transit_ and he was then only fined a paltry $30,000. Given the amount that was in the mail system at the time & that he'd been running it for a while, he made a shitton of profit.


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## Gallaeaho (Jul 26, 2014)

Francisco said:


> This guys such a scam.
> 
> 
> In Canada, federal mail usually comes in an envelope that has a similar colour/texture to cardboard. The "Domain registry of Canada" sends their papers in the *exact same envelopes* just to scam people.
> ...


I've gotten several of these over the years, and if I looked around hard enough, I'm sure I'd find a few. The forms are very similar to the picutre included in the OP, except ours are red (because Canadian, we're all about red apparently). They look exactly like a color form you'd fill out from the federal government.


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## OSTKCabal (Jul 27, 2014)

I've gotten many of these over time, but have never filled one out because I saw a different registrar on there and got suspicious. Once I had received one or two of them, I contacted my most commonly used registrar (Namecheap) to confirm this.


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## eva2000 (Jul 28, 2014)

lol a few years ago I even received such spam mail from these days and I am in Australia !

this was before I attached whois privacy to all my domains


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