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.

 

[tonyk2000]

... or, too many folks started to renew with masterbucks?

 

[CraigD]

Has anyone looked into debt collection firms?


+ Lots of places you can report problems to at least protect others and maybe prompt some payouts:

https://www.ripoffreport.com/

Report international scams online: https://www.econsumer.gov/#crnt

https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker

https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/

https://payback-ltd.com - paid recovery of funds service

https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/report-scam-us

https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

Thanks, but it's really not my style to publicly out or potentially defame someone before the facts are in.

I've spoken with Rob a couple of times on this forum and he was always nice and professional to me. Admittedly I was very upset about the recent hack resulting in the release of personal info, and that will be playing out for years to come I think. Will wait for the investigations to be made public before I comment further on this matter.

I think I'm more annoyed with the shills here who promoted Epik as the best registrar in the world while badmouthing the the other registrars who have so far managed to keep their customers data secure.

Those members know who they are... they have been very quiet for a while.

Funny that.

Update: this Masterbucks thing has not affected me. Im jusy still grumpy about the release of personal data in the Epik hack.

 

[Igor Gabrielan]

Meanwhile, after fighting down negative reviews and fabricating positive reviews, Epik is great again (3.8) on Trustpilot.

 

[topdom]

Ok, so, then selling a domain at Epik is just losing your domain, and getting nothing, after this point. I was considering dropping prices a little bit more, to turn tons of (a few) pending sales into real sales. Now this wouldn't be meaningful anymore. Where else can we park, to hear from potential buyers, and we must get their contact info as well.

 

[kite26]

Update: Masterbucks is again option for payment.

 

[youaintme]

[ https://registrar.epik.com/account/verification/ ]

WTF!?! We need to submit our ID in order to withdraw our money, huh!?!

I don't think this is acceptable. You know, I didn't want to submit my detail, so I'm out of Sedo, PayPal ....
And now, Epik! I don't care, but they have to let their existing customers have a week in advance.

So those who are not interested will pack up and leave and those who are interested could verify themselves and stay.

But a company could not change their mind in the middle of the game.

A "company" with zero accountability mindset. #Dumpany

Carelessness at it's peak.

 

[Embrand]

It certainly looks like the uncertainty is beginning to have an impact:

 

[bmugford]

Come to think of it, there can't be anything more annoying than having to wonder if your domain renewals have actually been processed. Hello ICANN Registrar Agreement.

Thoughts and prayers, Nick.

Yes, paying for renewals and them not being applied is obviously a major issue.

It is quite the pain to not just be able to trust the renewals have been made, especially if you own a large portfolio.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

I think I'm more annoyed with the shills here who promoted Epik as the best registrar in the world while badmouthing the the other registrars who have so far managed to keep their customers data secure.

Those members know who they are... they have been very quiet for a while.

Yeah. It's it odd how they have all basically disappeared.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

[ https://registrar.epik.com/account/verification/ ]

WTF!?! We need to submit our ID in order to withdraw our money, huh!?!

I don't think this is acceptable. You know, I didn't want to submit my detail, so I'm out of Sedo, PayPal ....
And now, Epik! I don't care, but they have to let their existing customers have a week in advance.

So those who are not interested will pack up and leave and those who are interested could verify themselves and stay.

But a company could not change their mind in the middle of the game.

A "company" with zero accountability mindset. #Dumpany

Carelessness at it's peak.

Update: this Masterbucks thing has not affected me. Im jusy still grumpy about the release of personal data in the Epik hack.

This is likely to get in line with KYC regulations.

However, considering Masterbucks did not have a publicly available TOS (that anyone has seen), it does seem like changing the rules of the game after it started.

The only reason I purchased that domain via NameLiquidiate, that Epik later removed from my account without authorization, notification, or explanation is because I could use Paypal.

After that massive data breach, and seeing how they reportedly handled sensitive data, there is no chance I would trust Epik with my sensitive data, especially identity documents.

I am not really aware of what security changes have been made after the breach. Epik has been pretty scant with the details about the changes they have made.

Brad

 

[CraigD]

[ https://registrar.epik.com/account/verification/ ]

WTF!?! We need to submit our ID in order to withdraw our money, huh!?!

I don't think this is acceptable. You know, I didn't want to submit my detail, so I'm out of Sedo, PayPal ....
And now, Epik! I don't care, but they have to let their existing customers have a week in advance.

So those who are not interested will pack up and leave and those who are interested could verify themselves and stay.

But a company could not change their mind in the middle of the game.

A "company" with zero accountability mindset. #Dumpany

Carelessness at it's peak.

I suggest that you DO NOT give Epik your personal ID!
They have a bad track record with customer data being stolen.

 

[bmugford]

I suggest that you DO NOT give Epik your personal ID!
They have a bad track record with customer data being stolen.

I guess the problem is what choice do people with Masterbucks really have?

This entire thing is a really messed up situation.

Brad

 

[Derek Peterson]

Thanks, but it's really not my style to publicly out or potentially defame someone before the facts are in.

I've spoken with Rob a couple of times on this forum and he was always nice and professional to me. Admittedly I was very upset about the recent hack resulting in the release of personal info, and that will be playing out for years to come I think. Will wait for the investigations to be made public before I comment further on this matter.

I think I'm more annoyed with the shills here who promoted Epik as the best registrar in the world while badmouthing the the other registrars who have so far managed to keep their customers data secure.

Those members know who they are... they have been very quiet for a while.

Funny that.

Update: this Masterbucks thing has not affected me. Im jusy still grumpy about the release of personal data in the Epik hack.

It is right to be upset about release of personal data but the thing that is really bad about that is that Rob LIED to everyone for years, claiming to be the "swiss bank of domains" when in fact he didn't even have access to the code, or even own it I guess. AND that is the best case scenario, worst case is that he took a $32,000,000 pay off to leave the doors open to his servers.

 

[Derek Peterson]

This is a wild thread. I feel terrible for all the people that have their money held, some huge, life changing, amounts of money. What is going one? I think it is either:
1) Masterbucks was hacked and continues to be hacked, as we all suspected, and Epik has no idea who has how many masterbucks.
2) Monster's billionaire investor backed out of their deal and Monster is spiraling financially and about to default on all.

I hope for the sake of all those waiting on money it is the first option and you all eventually get paid but if I were you I would filing lawsuits now to get in line on collections or at least start filing complaints:

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/

https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-do-if-you-were-scammed

 

[Amansaifi812]

This is a wild thread. I feel terrible for all the people that have their money held, some huge, life changing, amounts of money. What is going one? I think it is either:
1) Masterbucks was hacked and continues to be hacked, as we all suspected, and Epik has no idea who has how many masterbucks.
2) Monster's billionaire investor backed out of their deal and Monster is spiraling financially and about to default on all.

I hope for the sake of all those waiting on money it is the first option and you all eventually get paid but if I were you I would filing lawsuits now to get in line on collections or at least start filing complaints:

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/

https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-do-if-you-were-scammed

My lawyer advised me to wait till 10/10

 

[CraigD]

It is right to be upset about release of personal data but the thing that is really bad about that is that Rob LIED to everyone for years, claiming to be the "swiss bank of domains" when in fact he didn't even have access to the code, or even own it I guess. AND that is the best case scenario, worst case is that he took a $32,000,000 pay off to leave the doors open to his servers.

No offence intended, but those sorts of statements (re: ...he took a $32,000,000 pay off to leave the doors open to his servers) are potentially defamatory and could find you in some very costly legal hot water.

Chill out mate, for your own sake

 

[bmugford]

This is a wild thread. I feel terrible for all the people that have their money held, some huge, life changing, amounts of money. What is going one? I think it is either:
1) Masterbucks was hacked and continues to be hacked, as we all suspected, and Epik has no idea who has how many masterbucks.
2) Monster's billionaire investor backed out of their deal and Monster is spiraling financially and about to default on all.

I hope for the sake of all those waiting on money it is the first option and you all eventually get paid but if I were you I would filing lawsuits now to get in line on collections or at least start filing complaints:

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/

https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-do-if-you-were-scammed

This is just speculation, but another option is the service running afoul of regulatory agencies.

When you consider some of the factors -

• CEO change that seemed to happen rather abruptly.
• No access to withdrawals for weeks.
• New Masterbucks LLC registered in Wyoming.
• What appears to be new KYC requirements.

 

[Derek Peterson]

No offence intended, but those sorts of statements (re: ...he took a $32,000,000 pay off to leave the doors open to his servers) are potentially defamatory and could find you in some very costly legal hot water.

Chill out mate, for your own sake

This is America, "mate". Here we can still speak things that are true, for now. Thanks for the legal advice. Have you heard Monster discussing receiving $32,000,000 weeks before the hack or done any research on the topic? Perhaps you should read this, mate. https://providencepost.com/a-monster-of-epik-proportions/

 

[Derek Peterson]

This is just speculation, but another option is the service running afoul of regulatory agencies.

When you consider some of the factors -

• CEO change that seemed to happen rather abruptly.
• No access to withdrawals for weeks.
• New Masterbucks LLC registered in Wyoming.
• What appears to be new KYC requirements.

Oh, right, good point. That could very well be part of it or even most of it. Feds don't like that sort of thing.

I also remember the "hackers" saying something about masterbucks being used to transfer huge amounts between monster's other companies.

 

[Derek Peterson]

My lawyer advised me to wait till 10/10

Hope you get it but would be great if your lawyer could force him to give some kind of official explanation of what the reasons are for delays, might help a lot of these others.

 

[tonyk2000]

I guess the problem is what choice do people with Masterbucks really have?

Maybe:

1) Forget about the withdrawal, if the amount is not large. Buying something, like aftermarket domain. It is extremely risky to send PII docs , 100% agree!

2) Fight with them referring to a simple fact that, even though KYC is normal nowadays for financial institutions and licensed money transmitters, Epik is neither a financial institution nor licensed money transmitter. So there is no law which requires them to collect KYC. If they disagree - why wouldn't we the buyers ask for KYC docs FROM Epik and/or their directors and shareholders before sending $$$ to Epik for routine domain registration? It is exactly the same, isn't it?

3) Send them scanned images with a watermark "for Epik only" (last resort)

 

[Crypto2020]

1) Forget about the withdrawal, if the amount is not large. Buying something, like aftermarket domain. It is extremely risky to send PII docs to this service provider, 100% agree!

Continuing this point further, if you are getting anxious about your Masterbucks balance, one good way to use them would be to buy domains at NameLiquidate.com.

Why?

1. If you spend some time and search through the lists, you can get lots of undervalued gems for a bargain (under their 'Bargain Domains' category). For example, there are many good one-word and two-word .xyz under $100 (some as cheap as $9 to $50). Likewise .org, .net, .co and other non-coms get routinely ignored there by domainers and the platform itself as they default to showing .com listing only for live auctions and these non-coms then drop to their 'Bargain Domains' category after the live auctions are over and sit there for a while at their reserve Bins.

2. As mentioned by others in previous posts, your domains might, at this point, be more safe than Masterbucks itself and thus turning your Masterbucks into domains might be a good idea.

Other options to turn your Masterbucks into domains include domain regs and renewals at Epik.

PS: I had less than $500 balance at MasterBucks and so employed this strategy, but this might not work for folks with big balances, although even they may try and find undervalued gems in the $100-and-up range or maybe search the regular Epik marketplace for deals.

 

[CraigD]

This is America, "mate". Here we can still speak things that are true, for now. Thanks for the legal advice. Have you heard Monster discussing receiving $32,000,000 weeks before the hack or done any research on the topic? Perhaps you should read this, mate. https://providencepost.com/a-monster-of-epik-proportions/

LOL

Yeah, I read your long spiels on the Epik hack thread last year.

As I said, no offence intended.

Whatever, MATE!

/ Australia

 

[carob]

It is right to be upset about release of personal data but the thing that is really bad about that is that Rob LIED to everyone for years, claiming to be the "swiss bank of domains" when in fact he didn't even have access to the code, or even own it I guess.

One thing no one has mentioned yet: Russia.

The hack revealed what seemed to be a lot of permanent backdoor access by Russians, possibly with permanent stakes in Epik, who it seemed had written and controlled the code for Epik.com - and no one has said the code has been updated, audited or replaced.

It sounds like Epik is offering Escrow and probably other services to Russia, which might lose them friends and get various authorities interested in them. Or those with backdoor access have looted the place or are holding it to ransom.

 

[carob]

on this matter.

I think I'm more annoyed with the shills here who promoted Epik as the best registrar in the world while badmouthing the the other registrars who have so far managed to keep their customers data secure.

Those members know who they are... they have been very quiet for a while.

Maybe those very quiet Epik representatives (30 or more?) on NP would like to tell us what compensation they were offered? I doubt they worked for free. Can we see their agreements with Epik? Are they on strike or negotiating for missing payments?

If they were paid Masterbucks... that could make it a Ponzi/Pyramid scheme where incoming domainer funds had to go out to cover staff costs... the representatives could be encouraged not to spend or cash out their balance with an incentive schemes for keeping a balance... such as promises of equity in Epik.com or larger payment on a future date. Then if they are talking to one another and getting restless, on the future date Epik would just need to pay one or two... then drag it out with excuses, occasionally paying one of the smaller balances to string everyone along.