Over many years, Domainer has been at the forefront of highlighting “Unauthorised Business Use” (UBU) in relation to registering domain names.
This is when some “burglar” steals another entity’s business details – e.g. ABN – and uses this to register or purchase Aussie domain names.
These are not isolated incidents unfortunately. It is a bit like “whack-a-mole” for the regulator auDA. When they get rid of one perpetrator, others emerge.
If you think this is perhaps harmless, it is not.
A lot of these “burglars” create online stores and fleece people. These actions can come back to reflect on the legitimate ABN holder.
But there is another issue now. And that is having priority rights to the .au when direct registration gets introduced in March. These burglars are potentially affecting proper rights.
Example – Monster.net.au
A domain investor has informed us of what appears to be a brazen case of daylight robbery.
An alleged burglar registered Monster.net.au many years ago using what seems to be an unauthorised ABN.
Our source legitimately acquired the very valuable Monster.com.au in July 2018. This is after the cut-off date for priority rights to the .au – hence his interest and concern.
There are three reasons why this is so bad:
- The alleged “burglar” is using the Victorian Government’s DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND COMMUNITY SAFETY ABN identity as the registrant! Screenshot below.
- They seem to be planning an online store through Shopify – screenshot below.
- According to DomainTools, they have used the Dept of Justice ABN for over a decade! This means that they have priority to register the .au when direct registrations come into being in March next year. That is neither right nor fair.
But wait – there is more than just Monster!
The Dept of Justice ABN has also been used to register these domains below. Seems to me very strange that the DoJ would be the registrant for Gecko Campers or a Dining Planner – or any of the others! But maybe I’m missing something. 😀
geckocampers.com.au
joshstopper.com.au
nautilusit.com.au
nostalgiahighway.com.au
sesgk9.com.au
thediningplanner.com.au
theporch.com.au
trophyarms.com.au
vibrationsolutions.com.au
wordygurdy.com.au
Screenshots
Over to you auDA!
Hi Ned
The core assumption is flawed.
They have expressed no intention of acquiring the turd (and unrecognised) direct .au extension.
DoJ holds domains for various purposes, it may have confiscated Monster.net.au and the nameservers still point to a Shopify account.
Wouldn’t give air to petty curiosities like this as the whole direct extension thing will come and go like a fart in the wind (as occurred in UK, NZ and other places.
Cheers
David, not sure if you read the whole article properly? Please give me some credit for doing research before posting. Have a look at all the other domains that the DoJ supposedly have! GeckoCampers? DiningPlanner? etc. Yeah right!
Forgot how .au may travel in the future. That’s not the issue today. What I’m trying to point out is that potentially undeserving people can get first rights to the .au at the expense of a legitimate party (under the allocation systeam as proposed by auDA).
Ned, DoJ confiscate domains all the time, nothing unusual going on here
We shall see David!
That’s a total crock of shite about confiscation. Read auDA policy. DoJ Victoria has no power over auDA. At best, they can get domains taken down.
Tip of the iceberg. AUDA will need another 50 compliance officers to deal with problems arising from direct reg.
I agree with you Geoff. Maybe not 50 though. 🙂
I noticed WA Police ABN was used on a PD domain at the drops earlier in the year. Assumed that was why it was PD, as there were a few others that day to the same ABN.
Plenty of articles about scammers on here Roni. Entities such as the NAB and the ATO have been used!
I was even targeted. https://domainer.com.au/beware-of-unauthorised-business-use-ubu/ 🙂
The best thing to do is make a complaint to Instra (domain directors). Make sure you document all correspondence including sent emails and a copy of the data if you submit it in a form. Instra must investigate and get back to you and give reasons for or against the name being registered.
Why is this crucial Registrar information now missing from the auDA Whois to enable the making of .au domain name complaints to Registrars?
Registrar URL: BLANK
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: BLANK
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: BLANK
This information was there before even after Afilias took over the Registry for a while.
Why did auDA delete this from the auDA Whois Exactly?
Does it make it harder for people, ACCC, Police, Fair Trading, Justice Department, Consumers etc to actually contact the Registrars? Yes!
is auDA trying to hide the amount of fake registrants in the .au namespace and to work out systems to hide them by making it hard to report them? Yes
Some Registrars are listed in the whois with company names no consumers will even recognise. This makes it even harder.
Example CRAZY DOMAINS is actually WEB ADDRESS REGISTRATION.
The auDA whois doesn’t help anyone contact them at all. Its seemingly deliberately made as hard as it can be.
https://archive.auda.org.au/news/information-about-crazy-domains-pty-ltds-breach-of-registrar-agreement/
“Crazy Domains Pty Ltd (now called Web Address Registration Pty Ltd)”
Further breaches
https://archive.auda.org.au/news/further-breaches-of-registrar-agreement-by-crazy-domains/
I just looked back at some old data for wordy-gurdy.com.au and now have concerns over the accuracy whois data. Why has only the registrant eligibility data changed. If an error has occurred I would be very concerned if it was my domain name.
Perhaps someone should contact Jackey Coyle directly to see if she is aware that her name is registered to the DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND COMMUNITY SAFETY.
2018 DATA
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.auda.org.au
Registrar URL:
Last Modified:
Registrar Name: TPP Wholesale Pty Ltd
Registrar Abuse Contact Email:
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone:
Reseller Name:
Status: serverRenewProhibited https://afilias.com.au/get-au/whois-status-codes#serverRenewProhibited
Registrant Contact ID: COJA2248
Registrant Contact Name: Jackey Coyle
Tech Contact ID: Z14260570195560
Tech Contact Name: Jackey Coyle
Name Server: NSDAL01.CRUCIAL.COM.AU
Name Server IP: 128.199.123.135
Name Server: NSSYD01.CRUCIAL.COM.AU
Name Server IP: 111.118.163.5
Name Server: NSSYD02.CRUCIAL.COM.AU
Name Server IP: 182.160.129.2
DNSSEC: unsigned
Registrant: Jackey Coyle
Registrant ID: ABN 32790228959
Eligibility Type: Registered Business
Eligibility Name: Wordy-Gurdy
Eligibility ID: VIC BN B1892729P
2021 DATA
Domain Name: WORDYGURDY.COM.AU
Registry Domain ID: D407400000001593129-AU
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.auda.org.au
Registrar URL:
Last Modified: 2021-02-10T10:25:05Z
Registrar Name: Domain Directors Pty Ltd trading as Instra
Registrar Abuse Contact Email:
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone:
Reseller Name:
Status: serverRenewProhibited https://afilias.com.au/get-au/whois-status-codes#serverRenewProhibited
Status Reason: Not Currently Eligible For Renewal
Registrant Contact ID: JOC6355198070
Registrant Contact Name: Jackey Coyle
Registrant Contact Email:
Tech Contact ID: JJC6542344840
Tech Contact Name: Jackey Coyle
Tech Contact Email:
Name Server: NSDAL01.CRUCIAL.COM.AU
Name Server IP: 128.199.123.135
Name Server: NSSYD01.CRUCIAL.COM.AU
Name Server IP: 111.118.163.5
Name Server: NSSYD02.CRUCIAL.COM.AU
Name Server IP: 182.160.129.2
DNSSEC: unsigned
Registrant: DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND COMMUNITY SAFETY
Registrant ID: ABN 32790228959
Eligibility Type: Registered Business
Eligibility ID: ABN 32790228959
If it’s been up for 10 years as the same Registrant as fake eligibility why is auDA, Registry and Registrars taking the renewal fees?
This proves the auDA claimed verification process they do is not just flawed it proves it is not true at all.
http://www.GetYour.com.au
“Verification required
To be eligible for a .com.au or .net.au domain, businesses need an ABN or similar registration issued by the government. (1) Registrars validate business details upon application and auDA has a compliance team to ensure that domain names are issued to genuine local businesses.”
auDA, Registry and Registrars now trying to charge for a token conflicted names process to eligible interested parties will lead to a very large potential lawsuit auDA, Registry and Registrars will lose.
Look at the tens of thousands of these that exist which auDA, Registry and Registrars still have not policy deleted. Why? Because auDA, Registry ( Afilias) and Registrars make money from them even if the registrant is fake or unauthorised business usage.
https://domainer.com.au/beware-of-unauthorised-business-use-ubu/
When it comes to criminals or even state-based country attacks on Australian Critical Infrastructure this is a very big issue that has not gone away it has actually exploded.
Guess what auDA, Registry and Registrars also want to minimise their own knowledge of reports because after Afilias took over a few months later the auDA Whois stopped showing these key fields for reporting.
This means it is now harder than before for anyone to report fraud or fake registrant eligibility.
Why did auDA delete this previous Registrar information from their Whois?
Registrar URL:
Registrar Abuse Contact Email:
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone:
Reseller Name:
Just how can consumers and others contact the Registrars when this is all now MISSING?
auDA just passes the buck to the whois for people to contact the Registrars but most of the time their information is not even there!!
That’s a very sneaky way for auDA to officially report less .au namespace abuse isn’t it?
Yes this was discussed by auDA. Yes, this Registrar information was deleted on purpose a few months after Afilias took over and NO that was not because the privacy commissioner asked for it…. in case auDA tries to deny it!
I totally agree. It is extremely difficult to find how to make a complaint to an auDA accredited registrar about a .au domain name especially the international ones. Now that auDA has pushed the complaints process onto the registrars then they could at least provide the details on the whois data to allow consumers to make a complaint. If the registrants personal email address is provided why not the registrars. Double standards are in play with auDA protecting the industry at the expense of the Australian consumer.
The government is happy to provide their details in the whois data
Domain Name: FCA.GOV.AU
Registry Domain ID: D407400000000928073-AU
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.auda.org.au
Registrar URL: https://www.domainname.gov.au/
Last Modified: 2021-09-13T22:20:11Z
Registrar Name: Department of Finance
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: registrar@domainname.gov.au
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone:
Over 300,000 .au are ineligible and in auDA policy breach still & auDA has not resolved this before their pushed in direct .au new extension starts soon!
This is a shameful lack of proper namespace management.
They are focused on profits and not the integrity of the .au namespace or consumer protections.
Profit Profit Profit, Pay Rise, KPI Bonuses for a job well done is the auDA motivation.
Here is a blatant other example again from a previous report to auDA and still nothing has changed
https://www.whois.com/whois/loans.org.au
Domain Name: LOANS.ORG.AU
Registry Domain ID: D407400000102980957-AU
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.auda.org.au
Registrar URL:
Last Modified: 2021-06-07T13:59:28Z
Registrar Name: GoDaddy.com LLC trading as GoDaddy.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Email:
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone:
Reseller Name:
Status: clientDeleteProhibited https://afilias.com.au/get-au/whois-status-codes#clientDeleteProhibited
Status: serverRenewProhibited https://afilias.com.au/get-au/whois-status-codes#serverRenewProhibited
Status Reason: Not Currently Eligible For Renewal
Registrant Contact ID: CR475218967
Registrant Contact Name: Scott Reading
Tech Contact ID: CR475218968
Tech Contact Name: Scott Reading
Name Server: NS22.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Name Server: NS21.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
DNSSEC: unsigned
Registrant: Loans
Registrant ID: OTHER LoUnAscn3
Eligibility Type: Club
>>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2021-12-06T08:39:08Z <<<
If someone is using your business name and ABN to register a domain, so legally speaking, you’re the legal owner of that domain right? Can we claim ownership of that domain?
There’s a handful of domains that someone registered using our Business name and ABN