I was doing some research and thinking of buying a new domain name, for a van review website.  I did a search on Easily.co.uk  and found vanreport.com to be free.  I then searched in GoDaddy.com, the registrar I usually use.  30 mins or so later I went back to GoDaddy.com, only to find that vanreport.com had been taken!  I checked the whois data and it shoes it was registered today using details such as enomservice.com and WhoisByProxy.com, which are anonymous services. 

So it looks like someone is monitoring domain searches at GoDaddy or Easily and buying those domains.  Or it was a conincidence.  This person doesn't think so though. There's also more of it going on here and here.  Here is an article about avoiding the interception.

Anyway, I had another domain name on my short-list which is probably better.  Careful where you go searching for domain names!

Update: As soon as I posted this message I checked the vanreport.com domain and it is already parked with ads. I hate those sites.

Update2: 8th August 2008 - 1 week after this post I checked the domain and it was released and available for purchase. This backs up the claims in some of the links above that people are scanning domain search terms and buying domains that people are likely to buy. I bought the domain in the end, at the normal first-registration fee.