More Conspiracy Theories (3.Viewing)

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"THE PACE DOMAINS CASE" :
FAKE REGISTRATIONS?
This could be one of the strangest phenomena you'll ever encounter in the domain industry...

TWO VERY STRANGE PORTFOLIOS
TOTALING 332,000 TRASH DOMAINS.
UNDER THE SAME OWNER.
"boom"

Portfolio 1 - 154,000+ domains
Portfolio 2 - 177,000+ domains

THE COST TO RENEW THIS PORTFOLIO EVERY YEAR IS MORE THAN $3 MILLION DOLLARS JUST TO RENEW WORTHLESS DOMAINS .

THE PORTFOLIOS - FULL LIST:
pace domains

Sample of domains in portfolio 1:
aaaaaa .xyz for sale at $13,666
aaac .info
aaac .online
aaac .us
aaah .info
aaamedia .us
aaamedia .xyz
aaao .xyz
aaap .xyz
aaaplus .xyz
aaar .xyz
aaart .org
aaaw .xyz
aabbcc .xyz

Sample of domains in portfolio 2:
aaaaaa .info for sale $950
aaab .xyz
aaac .info
aaac .xyz
aaaconsulting .xyz
aaagency .xyz
aaah .xyz
aaak .xyz
aaao .xyz
aaaplus .xyz
aaart .info
aaart .xyz
aaaservices .xyz
aaauto .xyz
aabaco .xyz
aabe .xyz
aabi .xyz
aabm .xyz

Some names are repeated in both portfolios, but moslty what is missing in one portfolio is in the other and viceversa.
For example in the portfolio 1
there is the domains:
aaac .info
aaac .online
aaac .us
(the xyz version is missing)
but in the portfolio 2 there is the aaac .xyz

At first glance, this portfolio doesn't make sense. Why would anyone invest in such a massive collection of trash domains? It seems highly improbable that someone would do this unless they either had a reckless disregard for money or were pursuing a hidden agenda. Even if every one of those domains were .com, it still wouldn’t amount to a profitable investment.

The Owner?
Callum Frost, Scott Baily, and others.
PaceDomains .com / Pace .domains @ PaceDomains
(Not to be confused with Stanley Pace, a savvy, top-tier domain investor known for premium and ultra-premium domains.)

The TLDs Involved:
Primarily .xyz, .info, .org, .us, .online, .shop

This anomaly came to my attention over two years ago. I decided to monitor the situation, checking whether these domains were being renewed annually. Interestingly, while some domains were dropped over the years, many .xyz ones were consistently renewed – even when their quality was objectively poor.
Here’s the burning question: Who would pay millions of dollars to keep renewing domains that have no real value?
It’s baffling when even beginners can come up with significantly better names available for hand registration.

Take, for example, the "SoNatural" domain. The owner dropped the .info and .us versions but held on to the .xyz. How often has that pattern repeated?
Is there a method to this apparet madness?
One theory is that they’re mainly keeping .xyz while dropping other extensions, hinting that the latter were just distractions. Or perhaps, there’s a single orchestrator behind this – someone strategically masking their involvement by using multiple registrant names across different U.S. states, all linked to the same Hong Kong registrar.
Could the addresses in the WHOIS database be fake?

What's the Real Game Here?
There are multiple theories, but none seem fully convincing:

If the objective is to pump registry statistics, there’s no need to list these domains for sale.
If they’re trying to manipulate the aftermarket, it’s odd that no sales have been reported.
Are they laundering money? That’s unlikely, as domains aren’t typically purchased with cash.
Is this just a case of a disastrously poor investment strategy?

More research is needed, but the deeper I dig, the stranger it gets. Why would different registrants repeatedly purchase and repurchase the same worthless domains? Why would they all use a registrar that wouldn’t be a top choice for most domain investors?
Typically, mass registrations of low-quality domains are associated with spam, phishing, torrents, or other illegal activities. Sometimes, they’re used to inflate registry stats, but it’s unusual to see such an investment in unrelated TLDs solely for obfuscation. If they were genuinely hiding something, they’d likely use privacy settings and multiple registrars, yet I’ve found no instances outside this Hong Kong-based registrar.

What About the Registrar?
dominet .net
@ Dominet has only 15 followers, rare.
The WHOIS data itself raises suspicions. There’s no way someone with an American name living in Texas would typically use a Hong Kong registrar – it just doesn’t add up.
Even more bizarre, the domains appear to have been dropped and then re-registered by someone with a UK-sounding name in California, yet still using the same Hong Kong registrar.
The registrar in question, Dominet, has a connection with Alibaba Cloud Computing, suggesting it’s legitimate. But the consistency of using this registrar, despite the registrants' apparent U.S. location, is undeniably strange.
Whois Lookup Captcha

I don't know many domainers from China who love .xyz, but I know one – @ TheDomainPunk, who goes by the name "Jimmy Sun." He seems like a big supporter of .xyz.
He owns several one-word .xyz domains, like bit .xyz (using a NamePros lander) and sun .xyz, among many others. He frequently shares .xyz registry posts, .xyz projects, and Swetha's tweets, and Swetha often shares his tweets and .xyz registry posts as well.

Red Flags Everywhere ️
Why would someone like Scott Baily from Texas or Callum Frost use a Hong Kong registrar instead of a local U.S. option?
Is this a case of a poorly managed investment portfolio, a scheme to boost registry numbers, or something more nefarious?

The most unsettling detail is the improbable coincidence of multiple U.S.-based individuals, all using the same HK registrar. The odds of this happening without some underlying connection are virtually zero – unless it was a pre-release auction through that specific registrar.

Money Laundering? Unlikely.
Money laundering typically involves turning illicit cash into seemingly legitimate income through businesses that handle cash transactions. But domains aren’t bought with cash, and transferring laundered money via domain registrations would be unnecessarily complicated and impractical. A simple consulting invoice would be far more straightforward.

A Personal Twist
One final oddity – when checking the owner's X profile, I noticed that out of only 18 accounts they follow, one of them is me.
This entire situation raises more questions than answers. Why would someone go through such elaborate, seemingly wasteful efforts? Could it be registry manipulation, a bizarre investment strategy, or something else entirely?

MY FINAL CONCLUSION AND THE BIG CLUE
What do all these 154,000 domains have in common?
Registered Through a Hong Kong Registrar:
All of these domains were registered through a Hong Kong registrar. As we know, conducting an investigation from the US in certain countries can be extremely challenging. If someone is engaging in fraudulent activities, it’s much safer for them to do so in a jurisdiction where it would be nearly impossible or very difficult for US authorities to pursue them.

.com Versions Already Taken:
Every domain I checked so far has a developed .com version, which is significant. If this were a scheme to artificially pump registry stats, it would be far more suspicious if the .com versions of these names were still available. This alignment reduces the risk of immediate exposure, as it avoids the obvious red flag of only holding the .xyz version while the .com remains unclaimed.
Potential for Cybersquatting:
There’s a small chance that some of these domains could be sold to the owners of the businesses that hold the .com versions. While the odds are slim, a large volume of attempts can improve those chances. If this massive batch of registrations was made to target existing businesses, it strongly suggests a clear case of #cybersquatting.

This enities should have a look into this...
@ICANN

@FBI

@FTC

@WIPO
@APWG_org @DNSAbuseInst
@CIA


Share your thoughts, dig a little deeper if you can, and let’s see if we can unravel the mystery.

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