Even if you don't know anything about domain names or what they cost, you could probably guess that the name "Google.com" was unavailable for sale - and very expensive to buy. But MBA student and ex-Google employee Sanmay Ved actually bought it on Tuesday for $12, and owned it for a full minute, he claimed.
Writing about the experience in a LinkedIn post, Ved said he had been idly browsing domain names to purchase and found that Google.com itself was showing up as available. "I clicked the add to cart icon beside the domain (which should not appear if the domain is not available for sale).
"The domain actually got added to my cart as seen by the green check-box, and the domain appeared in my cart."
When he clicked confirm, and paid, ownership of the Google.com website was actually transferred to Ved, albeit briefly.
During the time that Ved was allegedly the overlord of Google.com, he said he began to receive messages from the Google webmaster and notifications from other websites that are owned by Google.com, proving to him that he really did hold the reins. His access was revoked by Google within about a minute,
Ved wrote that he sent an entire account of what happened (including several screenshots) to Google security, which acknowledged the error to him.
Domain names have been sold in error, previously. Earlier this year a man bought a domain name worth $15,000 (£9,900) for just $10.99 (£7.25) - after a website glitch gave him the sought-after address by accident.
Ved also recalls the time in 2003 when Microsoft forgot to renew their Hotmail UK domain. As a result, hotmail.co.uk was returned to the open market for pickup by anybody who fancied it. Somebody did pick it up, and Microsoft wasn't able to cancel the order, and take it back automatically.
Google was not able to confirm or verify Ved's account at the time of publication. [1]
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