The old URL -- didn't take someone long to snatch it up!

[zenfrodo]

Seriously -- it turns out that there's a real Hardy Detective Agency in New Orleans, and they snatched the HDA's old domain up. Wow.

hardydetectiveagency.com

[JD]

Wow...I don't know whether to be flattered that there's a 'real' one, or sort of disappointed [humiliated?].

[Nancy]

Something is weird about that site. It seems to be a template, or fake... if you read it, it doesn't sound right LOL. I'm not sure the Hardy Detective Agency actually exists.

[alaina]

I thought the same thing, Nancy.  It's just seems a little odd. And who knew a detective agency could be "stunning"? 

[Stormwatcher]

Hmm...they have no actual links in their Media/Checkout/Support/Portfolio sections at the bottom, and the ones in the text all go to crescent investigation dot com. Maybe they're trying to boost their visibility with a sort of advice-directory page, 'cause most of what's up there is fairly basic common sense, nothing at all specific. :shrug:

[zenfrodo]

Or they're still in the process of building it and wanted something up? Or Crescent Investigation is trying to capitalize on Hardy fans searching for a "real" Hardy Agency.

[Rokia]

I was very tempted to keep paying for the domain name - but I rather thought if I didn't, I may have a harder time letting go. So... good on 'em...

[Fenlaur]

Yeah, looks pretty fake.

[Austin]

Definitely fake. They're probably domain parkers. It's an entire industry - scoop up expiring domains, put some semi coherent content there, and wait for someone to come along and pay a lot more money for the domain (like $1,000 or more) than the legit domain registry services cost.

[Scott]

I just came across this in Ronan Farrow's recent New Yorker article on Harvey Weinstein hiring former Israeli Mossad agents to investigate the women he assaulted. One of the agents used the last name "Filip" and claimed to work for "Reuben Capital Partners" in London.

The U.K. cell-phone numbers that Filip provided to Wallace and McGowan have been disconnected. Calls to Reuben Capital Partners’ number in London went unanswered. As recently as Friday, the firm had a bare-bones Web site, with stock photos and generic text passages about asset management and an initiative called Women in Focus. The site, which has now been taken down, listed an address near Piccadilly Circus, operated by a company specializing in shared office space. That company said that it had never heard of Reuben Capital Partners. Two sources with knowledge of Weinstein’s work with Black Cube said that the firm creates fictional companies to provide cover for its operatives, and that Filip’s firm was one of them. [emphasis added]

I don't know why anyone would create a fictional detective agency, but it reminded me of this thing.