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

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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.

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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Not sure about cases other than the RICO lawsuit. The problem is that the cost of hiring a lawyer and filing a lawsuit against Epik might be more than the amount some people have in Masterbucks.

Regards...jmcc
Yeah, pretty much.

In most cases we are talking amounts in the hundreds or low thousands. In those cases the legal action would cost more than the amount owed.

In other cases like Domain Empire, Kathleen, Igor, etc. the numbers are much higher.

Even in those cases legal action is expensive, especially when there are extra barriers like being located in another country.

The big issue is the legal and regulatory authorities have not stepped in and shut this scam down yet.

ICANN is sitting on the sidelines as Epik is collecting renewal money then not applying them at the registry level, according to many reports.

Brad
 
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For domainers, it is often about pricing. While almost everyone in the domain name business would know of Epik's security issues, most people are not in the domain name business and as long as their domain name works, they will stay with the same registrar unless there is a major reason to change registrars. For most non-domainer registrants, a domain name renewal is a yearly event.

Regards...jmcc
Epik got traction with domainers by pandering to domainers, largely on NamePros.

There was a time they basically took over this forum with their fake "staff", won a flawed "registrar of the year" poll by less of a margin than the number of their "staff" voting, then they flogged this "win" in advertising.

They were involved in blatant self-promotion, against forum rules. @Rob Monster had multiple posts deleted or moved for abusing the promotion guidelines.

They also trafficked in controversy, such as their attacks on wiki editor Molly White.

I guess they viewed any press as good press. Now when the house of cards collapsed, Rob is nowhere to be seen.

Brad
 
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The big issue is the legal and regulatory authorities have not stepped in and shut this scam down yet.
Perhaps there are multiple investigations underway. The problem is that they have to build a case that will stand up in court.

ICANN is sitting on the sidelines as Epik is collecting renewal money then not applying them at the registry level, according to many reports.
ICANN really needs to do something about this but it can only act within the bounds of the registrar accreditation agreement and it also needs registrants to submit complaints. There's another thirty day redemption grace period when the domain name can be restored but at a higher cost.

If a registrant complains that their domain name was not renewed in the (0 to 45 day) auto-renew grace period and ICANN follows up the complaint in that time then Epik can simply renew the domain name within that period. It effectively gives Epik a kind of credit line that it would not have if it renewed the domain names immediately.

Even if a registrant complains when the domain name is in the redemption grace period, it can still be restored. These grace periods were intended to help registrants rather than registrars.

Regards...jmcc
 
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Any idea after the CC breech and masterbucks issue. Why in the past so many domainers migrated to epik, was it the special namepros discount on transfers Rob was giving?
It's not something people like to talk about because religion is a sticky subject for many but that played a part for many. I've seen you support people for that reason. I remember reading on Gab somebody over there say, Rob is Christian just like me, I'm moving my domains over. There is a reason he went overboard with the Christian marketing on this forum, it worked, he even spammed the prayer thread he started.

It's very simple. If you're a business and want instant support. claim Christian. Very supportive of each other, some will only do business with Christian businesses. I'm sure there are other reasons, some say price, able to talk directly to CEO, in the past they seemed to be supportive, quick replies, etc. But religion was a reason as well. Christian marketing is a huge business.
 
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Apologies to all for the delay in an update...between business issues, personal issues and health issues, time has been a scarce commodity the past several days.

Things with the .tv name(s) are getting resolved, thanks to several people that have (and are) assisting me in getting the domain in question back into my account. It is unclear who said/did what to get things moving, but I cannot thank him (them) enough for helping me.

It has been a very difficult 60 days (unrelated to domain investing) for me involving close friends and family members having to do with illness and multiple deaths. Having people reach out to me to offer assistance with the .tv extension has restored some much needed faith in my fellow human beings.

Several people reached out to me including @jberryhill , @Paul Nicks , @James Iles and I thank them profusely for taking the time to 'get the ball rolling' with the domain issues.

Soon I hope all the problems with the .tv domains are fully resolved and I will update once renewals/transfers are complete. I invite those that helped me to share whatever information he/they might feel would be appropriate.

Thank you all for your support publicly and privately!
 
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Apologies to all for the delay in an update...between business issues, personal issues and health issues, time has been a scarce commodity the past several days.

Things with the .tv name(s) are getting resolved, thanks to several people that have (and are) assisting me in getting the domain in question back into my account. It is unclear who said/did what to get things moving, but I cannot thank him (them) enough for helping me.
Thanks for sharing. I am glad things are getting resolved with your .TV domains.

It has been a very difficult 60 days (unrelated to domain investing) for me involving close friends and family members having to do with illness and multiple deaths. Having people reach out to me to offer assistance with the .tv extension has restored some much needed faith in my fellow human beings.
I am sorry to hear about those struggles, but at least there is something positive.

Most of the people in this thread have nothing to really gain. They are spending their own time and energy to try and prevent others from getting scammed.

Several people reached out to me including @jberryhill , @Paul Nicks , @James Iles and I thank them profusely for taking the time to 'get the ball rolling' with the domain issues.

Soon I hope all the problems with the .tv domains are fully resolved and I will update once renewals/transfers are complete. I invite those that helped me to share whatever information he/they might feel would be appropriate.

Thank you all for your support publicly and privately!

At least once it reached the radar of the right people there is some progress.

It would be nice if ICANN took their responsibility as seriously, when it came to the same problems in gTLD under their purview.

Brad
 
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I am sorry to hear about those struggles, but at least there is something positive.

Most of the people in this thread have nothing to really gain. They are spending their own time and energy to try and prevent others from getting scammed.
Thank you. Although illness will come to most, and death will come to all, it is still awful to experience and watch...no matter how much we might see over a lifetime.

Of course I appreciate your help as well...I know you have spent a great deal of time here and in social media helping to keep us all updated. It is a comfort to those of us that are stuck one way or another.
 
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Go to epik.com and click ”blog” on the bottom: The epik blog link is 404!
It has been that way for months I believe.
 
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Symbolic of the failures.
True, I assume the blog was deleted in relation to when one of these events happened:
Rob was removed as CEO
Epik paid the fine over their unlicensed domain insurance
When the RICO lawsuit was filed against Epik.

I think the middle one is most likely, since I seem to recall some of their blog posts being used against them in the unlicensed insurance case, but that is just a cloudy memory for me by now with everything that has happened since :(
 
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>> since I seem to recall some of their blog posts being used against them in the unlicensed insurance case
Wait, what?!? You're making things up. You must really have a cloudy memory about that.

There never ever were any mentions of DNProtect on the Epik dot com website except for the service/company being listed on the "Epik Labs" page.

Just to set the record straight, DNProtect and Epik were two separate entities. DNProtect was actually a separate LLC. Also, it was Mr. Brian Royce who decided to mysteriously name himself "CEO" of DNProtect, decided to pay the fine, and turn off (shut down) the DNProtect.com website. He didn't have any authority from the ownership of DNProtect to do any of that.

Royce and Epik, Inc. took ALL of the revenue generated by DNProtect (it was profitable mainly from to its stolen domain name recovery services), named himself CEO, and shut it down.

I've personally never ever seen a case where someone not associated with a startup step in, name themselves CEO, steal all the revenue, and then proceed to shut it down. It makes me sick just posting this and telling the truth of what actually happened.
 
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Maybe Royce will shut down Twitter also?
And this time for good reason, as he appears to be Musk's confidante.
 
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>> since I seem to recall some of their blog posts being used against them in the unlicensed insurance case
Wait, what?!? You're making things up. You must really have a cloudy memory about that.

There never ever were any mentions of DNProtect on the Epik dot com website except for the service/company being listed on the "Epik Labs" page.

Just to set the record straight, DNProtect and Epik were two separate entities. DNProtect was actually a separate LLC. Also, it was Mr. Brian Royce who decided to mysteriously name himself "CEO" of DNProtect, decided to pay the fine, and turn off (shut down) the DNProtect.com website. He didn't have any authority from the ownership of DNProtect to do any of that.

Royce and Epik, Inc. took ALL of the revenue generated by DNProtect (it was profitable mainly from to its stolen domain name recovery services), named himself CEO, and shut it down.

I've personally never ever seen a case where someone not associated with a startup step in, name themselves CEO, steal all the revenue, and then proceed to shut it down. It makes me sick just posting this and telling the truth of what actually happened.
The blog had other problematic posts, such as Rob's tax avoidance scheme -

https://web.archive.org/web/2022012...nning-for-owners-of-domains-and-websites.html

That + Masterbucks is actually why Paypal cut them off.

It had nothing to do with George Soros, the deep state, or Hunter Biden's laptop. :ROFL:

Brad
 
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I have seen many premium one words and domains worth millions of $ are still on epik, are those domains in danger ?
 
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I have seen many premium one words and domains worth millions of $ are still on epik, are those domains in danger ?
Well, I would not be comfortable holding valuable domains at a registrar that is broke and millions of dollars in debt, and is continuing to scam customers by taking money for renewals then not actually applying them.

Also, the new CEO (Brian Royce) has shown disdain for domain investors -

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I would transfer all my valuable domains out ASAP. It is not worth the risk.

The exodus has already started, and is only likely to get worse in coming months.

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Well, I would not be comfortable holding valuable domains at a registrar that is broke and millions of dollars in debt, and is continuing to scam customers by taking money for renewals then not actually applying them.

I would transfer all my valuable domains out ASAP. It is not worth the risk.

The exodus has already started, and is only likely to get worse in coming months.

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I've been away from the domain industry for the past few months, but based on the posts I've recently read, it appears that many domain owners are unable to renew their domains on epik. I would like to inquire whether epik is still facilitating domain transfers amidst this situation. Can you please confirm if domain transfers are still being permitted?
 
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I have seen many premium one words and domains worth millions of $ are still on epik, are those domains in danger ?
Yes, in my opinion, they are in danger. Epik has already taken valuable domains that didn't belong to them and sold them (an example is Patterns(.com).
 
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Yes, in my opinion, they are in danger. Epik has already taken valuable domains that didn't belong to them and sold them (an example is Patterns(.com).
Yeah, and that is outside the risk of renewals not being applied.

When it comes to DNProtect.com, Patterns.com, and other domains Epik has reportedly taken control of assets that don't belong to them.

It seems there has been some commingling of domains, just like there was commingling of escrow funds.

That is yet another potential risk.

Brad
 
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I've been away from the domain industry for the past few months, but based on the posts I've recently read, it appears that many domain owners are unable to renew their domains on epik. I would like to inquire whether epik is still facilitating domain transfers amidst this situation. Can you please confirm if domain transfers are still being permitted?
I have not really heard of many outgoing transfer issues.

I think you might have to get AUTH codes one at a time though, so it could be a pain.

But again, there is no upside to keeping domains at the Epik shitshow.

Their prices aren't great, their support sucks, they are insolvent, and their new CEO is some incompetent domain noob.

You also have the CEO (Brian Royce) who appears to be at war with the chairman & majority shareholder (Rob Monster). It is a messy situation all around.

Brad
 
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I used to have 250 domains with epik during my peak.
Now, i’m down to 50 epik domains, will be zero, soon.
Just wanted to give everyone an update on my status.
 
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The Epik Blog was deleted sometime between Jan 5, 2023 & Jan 26, 2023 according to the Wayback Machine. I was too tired last night to think of looking there and as I said in the original post: "but that is just a cloudy memory for me by now."
You are correct @bhartzer that the Epik Blog shutdown had nothing to do with the DNProtect / Epik domain insurance case.
 
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Just to set the record straight, DNProtect and Epik were two separate entities. DNProtect was actually a separate LLC. Also, it was Mr. Brian Royce who decided to mysteriously name himself "CEO" of DNProtect, decided to pay the fine, and turn off (shut down) the DNProtect.com website. He didn't have any authority from the ownership of DNProtect to do any of that.
You have brought it up in this forum multiple times, but did @bhartzer (or your lawyer) inform the WA State Insurance Commission(er) about any of the above, ie that Royce was NOT authorized to sign the Consent Order and/or NOT authorized to pay the fine???
 
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I've been away from the domain industry for the past few months, but based on the posts I've recently read, it appears that many domain owners are unable to renew their domains on epik. I would like to inquire whether epik is still facilitating domain transfers amidst this situation. Can you please confirm if domain transfers are still being permitted?
I can confirm with you that, as an outgoing Epik customer, my outgoing domains had zero issues transferring out of Epik. I transferred out current, 1-5 day expired domains and even almost a 30 day expired domain name (I decided to keep it), all with ZERO issues. So, #BeEpik and get your assets out of #Epik.
 
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