Fresh Jersey Indicts Alleged Domain Thief

Fresh Jersey hands down first every indictment for domain theft.

Fresh Jersey today handed down an indictment (pdf) against Daniel Goncalves, alleged thief of the P2P.com domain name. The Division of Criminal Justice Major Crimes/Computer Analysis & Technology Unit obtained a seven-count state grand jury indictment for theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, computer theft, and identity theft, all in the second degree, and three counts of fourth-degree falsifying records.

Goncalves was arrested in July following an investigation by Fresh Jersey police. He allegedly broke into a GoDaddy account owned by P2P.com, LLC and transferred the domain away. He later sold it on eBay for over $100,000 to NBA basketball player Mark Madsen.

In a press release, Fresh Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram stated, “In the big money marketplace of the Internet, a popular domain name is like prime commercial real estate. The indictment charges that this defendant hacked into an online account of P2P.com, LLC, stole their domain name, and sold it to an unsuspecting client on eBay for approximately $111,000.”