Internet Listing Service
The FTC alleged that Toronto-based Internet Listing Service sent small businesses fake invoices for a "website address listing", leading them to believe they would lose their domain names unless they paid. Settlement and default judgments ended the case.
Resolved. Refunded, settled, ceased operating, or the claim did not hold up. Kept for the record.
Identity
Published so you can confirm this entry refers to the party you are checking, and not to somebody who shares a name.
- Registrations
- FTC v. Data Business Solutions Inc., also d/b/a Internet Listing Service Corp., et al. (FTC case 072-3038)
- Locations
- Toronto
- Jurisdictions
- United States (federal)
An invoice for something you already own
In June 2008 the FTC charged the Toronto business Internet Listing Service with sending fake invoices to small businesses, non-profits and consumers in the United States. Each invoice listed the recipient’s existing domain name, or a near variant of it such as .org substituted for .com, and instructed them to pay for an annual “WEBSITE ADDRESS LISTING.”
The invoices appeared to come from the recipient’s existing registrar. Most people who received one understood it to mean they had to pay to keep the domain name they already had. Others paid because the invoice also offered a “Search Optimization” service promising to “direct mass traffic” to their site and produce “a substantial increase in traffic.”
According to the complaint, most who paid received no domain name registration service at all, and the search optimization service did not increase traffic.
The orders
A federal judge in Chicago halted the claims and froze the defendants’ assets pending trial. The final orders bar the defendants from misrepresenting that they have a preexisting business relationship with a recipient, that money is owed, that they will provide domain registration, and that their optimization service will substantially increase traffic.
The settlement against Isaac Benlolo, Kirk Mulveney, Pearl Keslassy and 1646153 Ontario Inc. carries a suspended judgment of $4,261,876, described as the total consumer injury caused. On the basis of inability to pay, those defendants turned over $10,000. A default judgment in the same amount of $4,261,876 was entered against Steven E. Dale.
An important correction on who was charged
The court dismissed the charges against Ari Balabanian and Data Business Solutions at the FTC’s request, even though the FTC case is filed under that company’s name. This entry is about the Internet Listing Service operation and the defendants who remained.
What is not established
Stipulated orders are for settlement purposes and do not necessarily constitute an admission of a law violation.
Sources
Every claim above rests on one of these. Open them and check.
- Enforcement action August 9, 2010
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First recorded August 9, 2010 · Last updated August 9, 2010