However it is not unscrupulous. Business and making money in this way is not unscrupulous. There is nothing to guarantee also that if the domain were not taken by a registrar it would be available to purchase at a nominal registration cost. It might not be for sale at any price.
> It would be illegal if domains were a regulated market.
Why does that matter. It's not a regulated market. That's like saying 'if it was illegal it would be illegal'.
> Domain searches are not public info.
There is nothing to indicate other than someone says something on reddit that the registrar front runned (what is being implied) even happened. As typical someone says something and everyone assumes all the facts are correct (ie someone searches and registrar says 'oh I will now grab that domain someone wants it!'.)
> Domain expiry maybe, depending on how the expiry is handled (open auction where registrar bids vs registrar getting a unfair advantage and buying the domain before it becomes accessible to anyone else
Except we don't know that is what happened here.