alert The fund can't be withdrawal from Epik.com via Masterbucks wallet

[enamebroker]

It happened on 23rd Aug 2022 and this matter lasted almost one month without any process. Masterbucks.com declined my fund withdrawal and disabled the button of fund withdrawal. And I contacted Epik.com and got no further action even if Rob Monster got involved in it for two weeks. All the time I was told in email by management review.

What is wrong with Epik.com? Do you think it is normal to disable fund withdrawal? How can I get back my fund from Epik.com? Thanks for your suggestion.

 

[.X.]

it means nothing. maybe they just pay payment plans cause it's different.. more automatic .. etc.. it means nothing that he get paid cause no one else here is even talking bout payment plan payouts

It’s the same , the money is put into masterbucks and a request for payout must be made before monies are transferred to the payee preferred bank , PayPal and ect. No difference than any other sale .

 

[Derek Peterson]

It is quite surreal that they are still soliciting new business when they can't even pay existing debts.

Are they telling new customers about the existing issues, or just waiting until the transaction goes through to let them know their funds are now stuck in Masterbucks?

Show attachment 227896

This is totally insane and completely illegal. Taking the guys KNOWING you are going to keep it is criminal.

 

[Derek Peterson]

It sounds more like its a bunch of post-it notes that were stuck near Rob's desk but dried up and fell behind it.

Probably more secure on post-it notes than anything these morons built. It amazes how grifters never think about making good things or building anything. They always think in terms of the scam. Monster had millions of dollars. All he had to do was recruit some good devs and manage but instead they lie and steal. It is like a sickness.

 

[topdom]

Epik seems to be trying to profit from price differences. What do I mean, for example I increased price on a domain significantly, but after several hours it was "sold" for the old/lower price, how can this even happen. Pure scam, isn't it, but they have time to correct this, and if they fix it on time, they can be considered innocent. but after 1 day they remain quiet, which is a bad sign. In another case domain was sold for cheaper private price instead of bigger public price, but probably private buyer is not the current/new owner. So, maybe they were thinking "you agreed to sell for this price, so we buy it for this price (and then sell for the already sold price)", but no, only one buyer had such a right, others need to buy for the public price; or start a new negotiation.
How many parties do we need to bribe everytime: 3, one being the legitimate commission, the others are arbitrages at losing registrar, and gaining registrar.

 

[bmugford]

This is totally insane and completely illegal. Taking the guys KNOWING you are going to keep it is criminal.

A domain "sale" is basically them moving the domain to the buyer, then sticking the seller with Masterbucks that can't be withdrawn.

It is completely ludicrous that this is allowed to go on.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

Probably more secure on post-it notes than anything these morons built. It amazes how grifters never think about making good things or building anything. They always think in terms of the scam. Monster had millions of dollars. All he had to do was recruit some good devs and manage but instead they lie and steal. It is like a sickness.

It is not the first business that Rob was involved with that was a complete shitshow. Digital Town was another.

Brad

 

[Derek Peterson]

Epik seems to be trying to profit from price differences. What do I mean, for example I increased price on a domain significantly, but after several hours it was "sold" for the old/lower price, how can this even happen. Pure scam, isn't it, but they have time to correct this, and if they fix it on time, they can be considered innocent. but after 1 day they remain quiet, which is a bad sign. In another case domain was sold for cheaper private price instead of bigger public price, but probably private buyer is not the current/new owner. So, maybe they were thinking "you agreed to sell for this price, so we buy it for this price (and then sell for the already sold price)", but no, only one buyer had such a right, others need to buy for the public price; or start a new negotiation.
How many parties do we need to bribe everytime: 3, one being the legitimate commission, the others are arbitrages at losing registrar, and gaining registrar.

So you are saying that Monster is getting sellers to agree to lower price than the buyer has offered and keeping the difference? What kind of evidence do you have for this? This would be great addition to the already long list of criminal activities of Monster and Royce.

 

[Derek Peterson]

It is not the first business that Rob was involved with that was a complete shitshow, Digital Town was another.

Brad

Yeah, I have heard rumors about that but never got the whole story. I heard he got fired in ugly situation. Can you tell that story?

 

[bmugford]

Yeah, I have heard rumors about that but never got the whole story. I heard he got fired in ugly situation. Can you tell that story?

I don't really want to take the thread off-topic. I just know what I read on blog posts, comments, and forums.

Rob Monster was the CEO from 2015 - 2018 I believe.

The company had a terrible business model where they bought thousands of .city domains and were planning on doing city portals or something stupid.

They made all kinds of lofty promises, but the company ended up going bankrupt.

Brad

 

[topdom]

So you are saying that Monster is getting sellers to agree to lower price than the buyer has offered and keeping the difference? What kind of evidence do you have for this? This would be great addition to the already long list of criminal activities of Monster and Royce.

..suspecting such things at all marketplaces (not necessarrily only at Epik), but in case of Epik there is a solid example. If someting sells below its current listing price, then there is something seriously wrong even if we don't know the details. ..and also specuating on details.

 

[Lox]

In 2 mo, if there's no $ payout progress , this company will go south. Even... the 2 letter com rebrand can't help.

Nov 29 article

 

[Derek Peterson]

In 2 mo, if there's no $ payout progress , this company will go south. Even... the 2 letter com rebrand can't help.

Nov 29 article

2 letter rebrand? They are switching names? What is the new name?

 

[tonyk2000]

It is quite surreal that they are still soliciting new business when they can't even pay existing debts.

Are they telling new customers about the existing issues, or just waiting until the transaction goes through to let them know their funds are now stuck in Masterbucks?

As per the review, it was the buyer who suggested Epik escrow. It may well be that the buyer had $$$ in masterbucks already, and the buyer was well aware of all the issues. Not surprising - some masterbucks holders must be looking for ways to spend their masterbucks within Epik system, as they cannot withdraw...
Now the buyer got at least something (unnamed website), and the seller is probably the last in withdrawal "queue". The seller is from Bangladesh (BD), so he does not have an easy access to U.S. legal system...
I'd also be curious to know an exact domain/website he sold for 70K though. What if it really worth $30K, or $7K... as it would show an exchange rate (sort of) between virtual masterbucks and real $$$ applied by a particular masterbucks holder.

 

[Lox]

2 letter rebrand? They are switching names? What is the new name?

Figurative.

 

[Grilled]

Wow, shame on Brian Royce, or whomever is replying as epik to those trustpilot reviews. Almost as if Rob took an epik shit, and Brian is trying to keep the shit from hitting the registrar investment fan by labeling it a masterbucksshit.

It's one thing to try and seperate masterbucks from epik, but it's quite disturbing (putting it mildly) to see how epik escrow is trying to distance/deflect itself from masterbucks in the reviews.

The customer (@Kathleen Kalaf) expressed having not yet been paid $100k from a epik escrow transaction, yet epiks response is to gaslight her?!?! At some point, one has to wonder if these epik responses rise to the level of intentional infliction of emotional distress.

...

A quick look at Epik/Masterbucks twitter history:

The ol 2020 tweet from @jberryhill with a 2020 working link of https://epik.com/services/masterbucks ... That link (where masterbucks is listed as Epik/Services/Masterbucks) now redirects off of Epik.com and onto Masterbucks.com

https://twitter.com/x/status/1320094214433198088

....

Previous mentions of "Epik's Masterbucks" from EpikDotCom's official twitter account::

Show attachment 227808

Previous use of that epik.com/Services/masterbucks link

Show attachment 227809

..

Mention of Epiks Masterbucks from Epiks NameLiquidate twitter::

Show attachment 227810

...

Mention from @Rob Monster saying "Get paid in @EpikDotCom Masterbucks"

Show attachment 227816

...


From (current at time of posting) MasterBucks.com/home FAQ

Show attachment 227827

What marketplace could masterbucks be talking about if they are not talking about epiks marketplace? Since you can't register/renew/transfer domains on masterbucks.com, it seems by "our marketplace" the masterbucks text might be referring to epik marketplace, possibly legacy text copied over from when it may have been written on a epik.com/*masterbucks page.

It looks like as of two days ago (December 1st) is when Epik began responding to trustPilot reviews trying to seperate themselves from Masterbucks:

...

...

...

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Previous, Epiks (October 7th) responses were seemingly taking ownership to their Masterbucks qualm:

...

...

---

 

[Grilled]

It's surprising that Epik's own hatchet man, Rob Davis hasn't made an appearance either. He's historically been quite vocal about criticism of Epik.

I hear that his position paid pretty well.

in masterbucks or equity?

Allegedly in large US dollar payments prior to his departure.

It’s unfortunate because I have been wanting to ask him how the Masterbucks gift card sales were coming along and in what stores I might find them.

After seeing epiks believed former SVP of Communications (aka epiks former hatchet man) his $30k masterbucks balance screenshot tweet, I always wondered if that was generated through his domian sales, or if Davis's masterbuck acct also contained salary/wages/other. Not to say that his balance wasn't from domain sales, but seeing how other employee's were paid in masterbucks, it wouldn't surprise me to learn Davis's balance was also representative of his salary/wages/other.

Given that masterbucks seems to have involved salary/wages, and seeing how some of those wages appear frozen/gone/unable to payout, it begs the question if the labor board will also be getting involved here.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1598399336832208897

https://twitter.com/x/status/1598524926373175296

Further, when questioning how masterbucks fell in such a financial hole, the question has to be asked what else did epik issue masterbucks for .... were any of epik company acquisitions paid out in masterbucks? did epik issue masterbucks loans? ...

 

[D Haynes]

I still can't believe this isn't bigger news than it is. I mean plain as day illegal and fraudulent activities and business is happening right out in the open with hardly any real attempt to hide it and by one of the (previously) most popular regustrars in the industy. Are any other industry news outlets talking about this aside from DNW's half call out?

 

[Igor Gabrielan]

Could this woman's money have been transferred from Masterbucks wallets to newly created In-Store Credits?

 

[Derek Peterson]

I still can't believe this isn't bigger news than it is. I mean plain as day illegal and fraudulent activities and business is happening right out in the open with hardly any real attempt to hide it and by one of the (previously) most popular regustrars in the industy. Are any other industry news outlets talking about this aside from DNW's half call out?

The weak response from @DomainNameWire and others is just pathetic. I know most of the people just want their money and are happy to promise silence if they just get paid and have no real concern for anyone else but you would think these domain niche news outlets would be jumping on something like this. Not a lot of excitement in the domain industry so a story like this should be a big deal but nope, barely a word. Makes you wonder if Monster is threatening them, bribing them or these news outlets just suck at their jobs.

 

[Igor Gabrielan]

A new version of Masterbucks has been released, 4.0.3 instead of 4.0.2.

 

[Grilled]

I still can't believe this isn't bigger news than it is.

Agreed!

Are any other industry news outlets talking about this aside from DNW's half call out?

Decent point. I haven't seen any other domain blog articles written, but some domain bloggers seem to be tweeting about it::

@Acroplex of DomainGang.com

https://twitter.com/x/status/1598771927966965760

https://twitter.com/x/status/1584586824357249024

...

@EJS of DomainInvesting.com

https://twitter.com/x/status/1598470564485677056

https://twitter.com/x/status/1587859734882721792

...

I'm not sure if other domaining.com blogs are writing about this just yet. I searched through domaining.com and can't seem to find any related articles yet from @equity78 of TheDomains.com/TLDInvestors.com,, @Domain Shane of DSAD.com, @OnlineDomainCom of OnlineDomain.com, @DomainIncite of DomainIncite.com, @James Iles of JamesNames.com, @Robbie from RobbiesBlog.com, or others besides the article from @DomainNameWire and some domain blogger tweetChatter. Maybe I missed something?

 

[D Haynes]

The weak response from @DomainNameWire and others is just pathetic. I know most of the people just want their money and are happy to promise silence if they just get paid and have no real concern for anyone else but you would think these domain niche news outlets would be jumping on something like this. Not a lot of excitement in the domain industry so a story like this should be a big deal but nope, barely a word. Makes you wonder if Monster is threatening them, bribing them or these news outlets just suck at their jobs.

Most of the industry news outlets and podcasts etc are just circle jerks and people blowing smoke up eachothers arses.

Maybe thats half the problem and why there are still unsuspecting victims using Epik because despite all thats happened there just isn't enough awarness being made. Couple that with the lack of community in the industry (every man for himself as you alluded to) and Epik could potentialy keep robbing people for months.

 

[Igor Gabrielan]

If the buyer pays with money from Masterbucks wallets, then Epiл does not earn anything.

 

[Derek Peterson]

Most of the industry news outlets and podcasts etc are just circle jerks and people blowing smoke up eachothers arses.

Maybe thats half the problem and why there are still unsuspecting victims using Epik because despite all thats happened there just isn't enough awarness being made. Couple that with the lack of community in the industry (every man for himself as you alluded to) and Epik could potentialy keep robbing people for months.

Exactly, it is a similar vibe in domain world as in crypto world. Everyone wants to be all anti fud, sunny days, until FTX or others. All those youtubers and news outlets that should have been reporting on the scam that was FTX were getting paid massive bucks monthly. One guy who is notorious for breaking down scams was taking $50K/month from FTX. Even if not getting paid they still don't like to be negative because they lose readers and advertisers.

 

[D Haynes]

Exactly, it is a similar vibe in domain world as in crypto world. Everyone wants to be all anti fud, sunny days, until FTX or others. All those youtubers and news outlets that should have been reporting on the scam that was FTX were getting paid massive bucks monthly. One guy who is notorious for breaking down scams was taking $50K/month from FTX. Even if not getting paid they still don't like to be negative because they lose readers and advertisers.

That was exactly my thought. Watch from a distance and don't risk any involvement. Self preservation of your 47 followers is the main priority here after all.

Meanwhile some poor saps getting conned out of 70k!