An AFP reporter based in Cyprus seems to be responsible for registering a domain related to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 which netizens originally thought was bought before the plane went down.
According to the Whois registration data for mh370.com, the domain was registered on "2014-03-07 20:06:43" by a Paul Maroudis, a resident of Cyprus, before the flight went missing on March 8. However, this apparent prior knowledge is likely due to time zones rather than foul play. The flight lost contact with air traffic control at 02:40 local time on March 8, or 18:40 GMT on March 7. It's unclear whether the Whois data shows the registrant's time zone, GMT, or the registrar's time zone (the registrar, GoDaddy, is based in Arizona, GMT-7). In any case, it appears Maroudis had several hours to register the domain on March 7, making it appear, probably unintentionally, like he had registered it prior to the plane going missing.
Regardless of when he registered it, opportunistically grabbing a domain related to a plane crash is pretty creepy and gross. Asked about why he bought the domain by email, Maroudis responded that he "registered the domain name right after the announcement of the plane incident, for business purposes. As you know, many people may be interested in buying this name now. I have already put it for sale on ebay. [sic]" (Maroudis seems to make a habit of this, he also owns littleprinceofcambridge.com, presumably registered to coincide with the birth of Prince George of Cambridge.)
Buy this domaine today and sell it later on for thousands of dollars. Dozens of companies, families of victims, will want to buy it from you. Pay little money today and make huge profit tomorrrow.
www.mh370.com
This is the tragic moment Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 carrying 239 people 'disappeared' over the South China Sea.
The passenger jet left Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur at 12.41am local time on Saturday and was due to land in Beijing, China, at 6.05am the same day.
But communication was lost as the flight was crossing the South China Sea towards Vietnam.
The jet was being monitored by flight tracking website flightradar24.com which shows the plane's progress before it vanished.
Update: I debated whether to reveal this information, but since it's freely available and has been posted on Twitter by others: Paul Maroudis is a reporter for AFP Arabic. Maroudis broke contact with me when I asked about his employment. His address as listed on Facebook matches that in the Whois data, as does the email address:
Update: Several people have pointed out that Maroudis could be lying about being a reporter for AFP, I have contacted the agency for comment and will update if and when they do. Meanwhile, Maroudis has been claiming to be a reporter for the agency since at least 2012, as this conference document (pdf) shows.
[h/t @valentinaluo]
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