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.

 

[Kassey Lee]

So after weeks (or longer) of withdrawals not being processed, now they need even more time?

Not bad after I have given up any hope of getting the money. I worked with my client and transferred out the last domain at Epik. Dan also does rental so we're working on it.

 

[bmugford]

Not bad after I have given up any hope of getting the money. I worked with my client and transferred out the last domain at Epik. Dan also does rental so we're working on it.

I would love to know what type of "upgrades" and "improvements" require this much time to make happen, and why the amount of system downtime was necessary.

I am also still waiting for a public statement from someone of authority @ Epik on a public venue.

Brad

 

[Martins B.]

I would love to know what type of "upgrades" and "improvements" require this much time to make happen, and why the amount of system downtime was necessary.

From an IT point of view I can imagine, but it would imply that they either have a serious vulnerability somewhere reported/hack or failed some audit.

 

[Embrand]

While we wait, it looks like we could make a few bucks (and maybe even receive them) here:

https://www.master-bucks.com/

 

[Mena]

Maybe some good news. Received this email from Epik today:

"Thank you for being a loyal customer. Currently, Masterbucks is being updated and improved. We are working diligently to get the system up and running. We currently have a target date of Monday, October 10, 2022. We will start processing cash outs in the order received at that time. Please ensure you have completed account verification so your cash out can be processed. Failing to complete account verification will result in further delays. Your current Masterbucks balance can be used within Epik, or it can remain secure in your Masterbucks account until you can cash out.

The Epik team greatly appreciates your continued patience during this time and welcomes you to reach out to our Customer Support team with any questions you may have."

This is very sad, so a marketplace can just stop payments and embark on an upgrade that can take 1 month without prior notice?

 

[bmugford]

This is very sad, so a marketplace can just stop payments and embark on an upgrade that can take 1 month without prior notice?

And that is under a best case scenario, AKA the system is actually fully operational at that time.

Brad

 

[DomainsGENERAL.com]

And that is under a best case scenario

Yes. It's assuming they aren't kicking the can down the road, hoping to resolve whatever problem they may really be having. The story would be they embarked in this "upgrade" without scheduling beforehand and warning customers? And yes, an update lasting so much time with the system down makes no sense.

But sure, let's hope it will all be resolved.

 

[jberryhill]

The footer at Masterbucks was updated sometime in 2021 to say:

"Masterbucks is a service of Amplifyx Holding Limited, an Epik company"

As was pointed out earlier in the thread Amplifyx Holding Limited is an Irish company which seems to have become associated with Epik in 2021, and is under the direction of a Justin Tabb, if his LinkedIn page is current. As Rob Monster stated in a chat session in September 2021:

It was an acquisition, it is a captive dev team, and I’ve operated with that group to a large extent on the basis of trust. They’re good people, they’re honorable people, ethical, responsible people, but their coding methods and frameworks are not up to standard, and they’ve pretty much handed over all the keys to two top guys, Justin Tabb, David Roman. And they’re they’re doing a great job diving into the code.

...

I mentioned earlier about a couple of really capable senior devs that we’ve since added. They are coming on board, they’ve already come on board because of these recent acquisitions and some new hires, and they are completely retooling the entire development workflow. We use… I think you would be impressed by the coding methods and frameworks and protocols. You can look up David Roman and Justin Tabb. Capable guys.

Taking Mr. Monster's invitation to "look up" Justin Tabb...

So, it would seem that Mr. Tabb came in with Amplifx, whose home page is amplify.io, and whose Twitter account is suspended - at least the one linked from their website is (Ampexchange). There is another Twitter account called RealAmpExchange, with 14 followers as of this posting, but that one is not linked from their apparent website. Mr. Tabb's personal Twitter account appears to have been deleted, judging from mentions of it in other tweets. Another of Mr. Tabb's business ventures appears to be Substratum.

In 2018, Mr. Tabb was involved in a lawsuit involving disputed claims about software development, and which action was ultimately settled. <https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/6630369/fntech-inc-v-tabb/>

If one searches Twitter for mentions of "Ampexchange" and "Tabb" or "Substratum" and "Tabb" one finds lively conversations about those projects and the persons involved. Of course, one can find lively conversations about all kinds of things on social media, so one is left to one's own hypotheses in the absence of any public statement from Epik clarifying why they are holding people's money and will not pay it back for several weeks.

But, oddly, the Masterbucks can be spent in-house, so it is not as if the system is frozen. Can you add money to your Masterbucks balance?

 

[bmugford]

Taking Mr. Monster's invitation to "look up" Justin Tabb...

So, it would seem that Mr. Tabb came in with Amplifx, whose home page is amplify.io, and whose Twitter account is suspended - at least the one linked from their website is (Ampexchange). There is another Twitter account called RealAmpExchange, with 14 followers as of this posting, but that one is not linked from their apparent website. Mr. Tabb's personal Twitter account appears to have been deleted, judging from mentions of it in other tweets. Another of Mr. Tabb's business ventures appears to be Substratum.

In 2018, Mr. Tabb was involved in a lawsuit involving disputed claims about software development, and which action was ultimately settled. <https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/6630369/fntech-inc-v-tabb/>

If one searches Twitter for mentions of "Ampexchange" and "Tabb" or "Substratum" and "Tabb" one finds lively conversations about those projects and the persons involved. Of course, one can find lively conversations about all kinds of things on social media, so one is left to one's own hypotheses in the absence of any public statement from Epik clarifying why they are holding people's money and will not pay it back for several weeks.

But, oddly, the Masterbucks can be spent in-house, so it is not as if the system is frozen. Can you add money to your Masterbucks balance?

Well, I will also go ahead and take Rob Monster up on his invitation to "look up" Justin Tabb.

Speaking of Justin Tabb and Substratum -

https://www.knoxnews.com/story/mone...-substratum-bitcoin-market-square/2150598002/

Amplify is a sister company to Substratum, an open-source network building a decentralized internet, founded by Justin Tabb in 2017. Substratum uses blockchain technology to allow anyone in the world to access the internet, regardless of internet regulations.

The Amplify exchange will operate on Substratum's decentralized internet, so global users can buy and sell cryptocurrencies, Weil said.

Then -

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/substratum-burns-13-million-ico-213042801.html

Substratum entered the crypto scene in 2017 with big dreams—a vision to recreate a “a free and fair Internet.” And it raised some big money to do it.

The company raked in $13.8 million in a token sale during the ICO gold rush.
Now, Substratum is broke. And some investors are crying foul.

The company announced in a Medium post yesterday that it is now entering a “transition” phase after draining its coffers of the nearly $14 million it raised in an ICO less than two years ago. So far, Substratum has laid off 40 percent of its employees in its Ohio office, and will eventually be closing it altogether, migrating those remaining onboard to their Tennessee location.

Then -

https://twitter.com/x/status/1428830274243252234

Look at all those comments...

Brad

 

[jberryhill]

"Ship" not "develop". I guess the Substratum-ready gear is going to be shipped on Monday, October 10?

No announcements followed.

 

[DomainsGENERAL.com]

Can you add money to your Masterbucks balance?

No, I don't think so. Epik makes a distinction between "in Store credit balance" and "Masterbucks balance".
When you add funds, it will fall in the "in store credit" balance. I guess that's because it's not withdrawable (at least you can't make an automatic request for withdrawal, if I'm not mistaken).

On the other hand, Masterbucks is withdrawable, and seems specifically designed for marketplace sales (the rationale being the alleged tax advantage!? Or the option to be able to maybe devalue it one day if needed? I don't see what other advantage an "alternative" currency could have over in store USD. It is stated 1 Masterbuck = 1 USD, so the devaluation would be a bit complicated).

You can pay internally directly with masterbucks. And you can fund your "in store credit" balance with masterbucks if you need to. This is useful if you have 2 small amounts in each "balance", as you can only select one funding source when paying something.

 

[LoveCatchyDomains]

Not bad after I have given up any hope of getting the money. I worked with my client and transferred out the last domain at Epik.

So they were at least responsive to rapidly processing the domain transfer out? If so, that's a good start.

 

[branding]

Justin Tabb

That name does ring a bell... Can't recall what it was about though.

https://irishtechnews.ie/developing...bb-ceo-and-co-founder-substratum-network/amp/

Is a nice read... There has to be more though.

 

[branding]

The 10th. That's pathetic. Without a detailed statement about what's going on that timeline is unacceptable.

 

[Digital Nomad]

Their chairman Rob monster asked me to remove the negative reviews just 15 minutes ago. According to him Trustpilot negative reviews are defamatory.

The company that supports free speech is flagging negative reviews against them.

It’s been two weeks. All i want is my 25k USD. Epik is giving me false hopes everyday. They told me they would make a public announcement but they did not. I scheduled a meeting with their CEO but he canceled at last moment.

Their chairman Rob said:

“As for the defamatory TrustPilot reviews, they have been disputed. If you are wise, you will remove them first.” - Rob Monster

Seems like a threat to me.

They said me contacting the customer support multiple times is harassment. What about Epik keeping my money for weeks? That’s professionalism?

I asked for a manual wire transfer and they said they need my LinkedIn for verification.

I completed my verification last week. I can provide all my IDs like Passport, Driving license, Tax ID, Government ID etc again.

Who asks for LinkedIn as verification?


I’m looking forward to finally take legal action against them because they have crossed the line now. If your money is stuck too, do not wait for them. Contact a lawfirm now.

If you want to send them a legal notice too. Please contact me.

This comment I have not seen before which may have beeen approved later by NP mods is pretty important. Rob is threatening with defamantion again just like he did with you Brad.

 

[Future Sensors]

We currently have a target date of Monday, October 10, 2022.

 

[branding]

This comment I have not seen before which may be approved later by mods is pretty important. Rob is threatening with defamantion again just like he did with you Brad.

Trust me, they're not the only ones who have been threatened by them for simply stating facts and exposing the truth. It's part of E's MO.

 

[bmugford]

This comment I have not seen before which may be approved later by mods is pretty important. Rob is threatening with defamantion again just like he did with you Brad.

Free speech warriors don't understand how free speech actually works. What a shocker!!!

Brad

 

[bmugford]

Trust me, they're not the only ones who have been threatened by them for simply stating facts and exposing the truth. It's part of E's MO.

Hey, I got accused of making "defamatory" statements by Rob Monster in the thread I created regarding their unauthorized removal of a domain from my account without notification or explanation.

Every factual statement I made was true, to the best of my knowledge.

I offered Rob Monster a chance to point out what was factually untrue, so I could correct it.
He never did. The core facts of the case were never disputed by anyone at Epik.

He slinked away, but at least I got an apology from Epik shareholder Braden Pollock for Rob's comments towards me.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

“As for the defamatory TrustPilot reviews, they have been disputed. If you are wise, you will remove them first.” - Rob Monster

WTF is that? Who does Rob think he is some mob boss?

Good to see he can take some time out of his busy schedule to try and stifle free speech and opinions.

Too bad he doesn't have time to show his face on any public venue to make a statement about what is actually happening.

Brad

 

[branding]

Hey, I got accused of making "defamatory" statements by Rob Monster in the thread I created regarding their unauthorized removal of a domain from my account without notification or explanation.

Every factual statement I made was true, to the best of my knowledge.

I offered Rob Monster a chance to point out what was factually untrue, so I could correct it.
He never did. The core facts of the case were never disputed by anyone at Epik.

He slinked away, but at least I got an apology from Epik shareholder Braden Pollock for Rob's comments towards me.

Brad

Yes. I've been following the thread. Another good example showing how disconnected from reality they have become.

Shame... E had some real potential and very skilled and motivated people. They all left and the registrar has become a shitshow.

I wouldn't be surprised if at some moment in time ICANN will pull their accreditation.

 

[Recons.Com]

Monday 10 might become a new internet meme.

It will happen on Monday 10 might become a figurative speech for "it will never happen".

I'd pay close attention to the line about people being paid out in the order of placing their requests. If your software works fine and money has not been used for something else, there shouldn't be need for something like that. So they might pay out few small balance holders just to get the feel that things are moving along. Or this could be the date when they expect that they will know if they are shutting it down or have got enough cash to keep going (from milking Epik current clients or external fundraise).

 

[bmugford]

Monday 10 might become a new internet meme.

It will happen on Monday 10 might become a figurative speech for "it will never happen".

Remember Remember the 5th of November 10th of October.

Brad

 

[jberryhill]

I wouldn't be surprised if at some moment in time ICANN will pull their accreditation.

That's an extremely slow process, and there is no indication that Epik has done anything which would implicate their obligations to ICANN. Commercial dealings with customers aside from the basic function of domain registration is not of interest to ICANN.

 

[Lox]

Source:
dailydot .com/debug/house-republicans-doj-letter-anonymous-hacks-givesend-go/