A few weeks ago, I blogged about the financial troubles afflicting ePassporte, an online payment provider whose sudden disconnection from the Visa network left many account holders without access to millions of dollars. I became interested in ePassporte because it kept popping up as I was investigating stories related to affiliate programs that reward people who peddle things like rogue anti-virus products and spam.
Since then, I’ve heard from a large number of disgruntled ePassporte account holders, most of whom were or are in the online porn industry, a market that ePassporte’s CEO Chris Mallick helped to nurture. In fact, as I noted in that original blog entry, Mallick produced “Middle Men,” a movie released by Paramount in August that is a fictionalized account of his experiences in the porn billing industry.
Many of those readers have been asking for an update on this story, and I’m afraid I don’t have a whole lot more to report. But the old adage about following the money led me to at least try to understand a bit more about how ePassporte is structured, and where its money may be.
Before I get to that, it makes sense to restate what’s been said by the parties involved. On Sept. 2, ePassporte owner Chris Mallick sent an e-mail to account holders saying the company was notified that effective immediately, Visa International had suspended the ePassporte Visa program, a card issued by St. Kitts Nevis Anguilla National Bank that ePassporte customers could use to withdraw cash at ATMs worldwide.
I contacted Visa for comment on that story, and the following Tuesday received a statement from Visa via e-mail saying that it had disconnected ePassporte at the request of St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank to “address certain program deficiencies.” Neither Visa nor SKNA Bank has been willing to discuss what those deficiencies may have been. A story in the St. Kitts Nevis Observer quotes a St. Kitts National Bank representative as saying Visa had cleared them of any wrongdoing, although that official – Patricia Wilkinson – declined to say who had accused them of wrongdoing or answer any other questions when I reached her by phone on Monday.
In checking out numerous forums and looking up bank and incorporation records online, I learned that ePassporte is incorporated in Curaçao, an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the coast of Venezuela. Indeed, the ePassporte Visa cards themselves include this information, indirectly at least, with the statement:
“This card is issued by St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank Limited” (“Bank”) pursuant to a license from Visa International and under a co-branding agreement between ePassporte N.V. and the bank.”
The Web site for the Curaçao Chamber of Commerce & Industry says ePassporte N.V. is registered at the address Kaya Richard J. Beaujon Z/N, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles. The managing director of the company is a man named Gregory E. Elias (the same information is included in a old WHOIS records search for epassporte.com).
According to multiple ePassporte users with whom I’ve corresponded, any wires or bank transfers used to deposit funds in ePassporte accounts are sent to ePassporte N.V. via an entity called United International Bank N.V., an organization founded in 2009. Interestingly, United International Bank also lists the same Curaçao address, and lists Mr. Elias as a director, among others. So, on the surface at least, it appears that ePassporte and its primary bank are owned and operated by the same entity and directors.
I was able to locate a phone number for Mr. Elias and reached him this morning at United International Trust. Elias said he had no idea ePassporte customers were having trouble withdrawing their money from the bank, but he declined to answer direct questions about the situation.
“The only thing we can tell you is if you send your inquires and questions in writing to us, we will pass them on to Mr. Mallick and his lawyers,” Elias said. “We cannot go over queries over the phone. We never do that.” Elias declined to give me his e-mail address, saying I should be able to find it if I really were an investigative reporter.
Mallick and ePassporte have yet to respond to requests for comment. Mallick issued another statement Sept. 10 via an adult Webmaster forum, urging customers who were having trouble withdrawing their funds to be patient. “Our staff is all working diligently to resolve these issues and the many moving and complicated parts of getting the funds returned,” Mallick wrote. “Therefore, please do not mistake our silence as hiding, avoiding or stringing you along. We too have funds that are stuck in the system as well as massive costs of operation without any income.”
But bereft of any hard information from ePassporte, the company’s customers have begun spinning conspiracy theories about what could have fueled the entire fiasco. Some have pointed to Mallick’s film, which according to Web site boxofficemojo.com cost an estimated $20 million but grossed less than $800,000 in a three week run at the box office that ended in late August.
In any event, I put some of the information I found into a spreadsheet (a portion of which is included below), mainly to help me understand the relationship between the various interested parties as I followed the trail of other stories I’ve been working on. It may be useful to some ePassporte customers: It includes Mr. Elias’ e-mail address and phone number.
Hey heres some more strange info I found… Again – could be something, or it might be nothing.. So please check it out..
I looked up Epass at the Gov trademark search engine and found:
http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4010:rin5vk.2.4
Notice the Abandonment Date = August 30, 2010
hmm, this was a few days before the Sept 2nd lockdown.
That link has expired. What did you find?
He went to http://tess2.uspto.gov/ (US Patent and Trademark Office) and did a search for “EPASS.”
There are numerous results for “EPASS,” most of which are listed as “dead,” including two with the same address as EPassporte. Their service marks are listed as “abandoned” August 30, 2010. That might seem to indicate they didn’t choose to spend the money to apply for a renewal or something — not a good sign.
But if you search for EPassporte, there are only three results, all with the same address as this EPassporte. They seem to have been “abandoned” in sequence, with each being supplanted by a newer service mark. But the most recent one was “abandoned” in 2008. None of the registered “EPassport” entries are pertinent.
I’m not sure what it means. Did they make a purposeful choice not to protect their trademark in the United States, perhaps to avoid having that part of their business be subject to U.S. law? Filing with USPTO isn’t required to protect your trademark at all, but for them to have applied and been accepted then later to have dropped it seems odd.
mr brian krebs,
Pls help us to make some noise about this situation, my life is getting a messy coz i cant get my money there in visa virtual account, as many people, ur call to mr elias was so sucessfull that we got a message from mr mallick in the day after, u have power and u can count of all of us for sure. Thank you.
About all those companies people are finding related in some way to epassporte.
I think those people are mistaken, if you want to stablish offshone you’ll have to hire one of those companies offering incorporation services, they also offer an address for your company and also give you directors for your company.
Mr.G Elias might be one of those directors, the man may be the director of hundreds or thousands of companies, his job may be only to appear on the papers and not much more, may be an employee from International Trust, which may be the company offering incorporation services in Curaçao.
From this point of view, he may not be related to every day’s epassporte operation, and only responsible of receiving documentation from Curaçao’s government, a local contact.
The company itself seems to be managed from USA
GREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT JOOOOOOOOOOB !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 16, 2010
Over the past few days there have been numerous blogs and posts calling into question the reputation of Mr. Gregory Elias, United International Trust and United International Bank.
We are issuing this press release to clarify Mr. Elias’ position as well as the position of United International Trust and United International Bank in regards to ePassporte.
ePassporte has utilized the services of United International Trust since 2006. United International Trust serves only to manage the corporate governance of ePassporte and has no input, or control as regards its daily management.
In 2009 United International Bank was formed to provide commercial and corporate banking services and subsequently ePassporte has moved some of its operating accounts to this bank.
United International Bank does not hold funds for ePassporte holders. United International Bank merely pays the vendors for ePassporte.
Neither Mr. Elias, United Trust nor United International Bank have any control over these funds.
All requests and inquiries should be forwarded to ePassporte at the Message Center, which you may log on to at http://www.epassporte.com if you are an active cardholder.
We apologize to Mr. Elias, United Trust and United Bank for any confusion that may have arisen these last weeks as a result of difficulties we at ePassporte, with St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank, are responsible to manage.
Christopher Mallick, for ePassporte
What? Of course it holds funds. So why are business accounts directed to wire money to their Curaçao bank:
https://www.epassporte.com/secure/documents/wireinstructions.pdf
Are the e-mails requesting documentation of account ownership legitimate? This situation looks ripe for scam artists seeking desperate people’s personal information.
(Or, if the request for documentation is posted on the website, is the website itself still secure?)
Of course the website is still secure… All requests for documentation will show up in your Messagebox on the site, then you are supposed to upload the docs via the “upload” tab from your user menu. Since Sept. 2nd I have continued to use Epass and just withdraw newly acquired funds via my own CC. There is nothing wrong with the site or their other services with the exception of the Visa program; they are still operational.
I don’t have an account with these folks. I wouldn’t trust ’em with a dime! I just heard warning bells when I saw a reference to “required documentation.” Pardon the interruption.
because of the above report, epass just sent all its members two useless messages – again. Claiming elias blah, blah, blah or whatever. instead of figuring out how to fix the trouble and make all its members happy. But i guess mr. mallick doesn’t mind at all.
Great work on this mr. krebs. I hope you continue to dig deeper into this epass’ magic tricks.
LOL I was just about to paste my ePassporte account, but I see someone has already posted their message! Looks like they got their panties all in a bunch, huh?
Mr Krebs you have Elias, and Mallick sweating like pigs right now, and I’m so glad!
Guess what Mallick? Keep on sweating! I was in the middle of taking care of important business this morning when suddenly my internet and cable were shut off. Luckily there are still decent people in this world because the customer service rep temporarily restored my service when I explained my financial burden. But I have till 11:59 pm tonight to make a payment, or it will be shut back off. So I guess I will have to borrow money AGAIN. Thanks alot for making me scramble to pay my bills!
I hope Mr Krebs stays on your tail like these bill collectors are on mine!
Good job BK!!
Good job, Brian!
I think that this rabbit hole is probably a lot deeper than it appeared at first. The more light you can shine on it, the more dirt you’ll find. Good work, Brian.
More random info that might be useful:
::: RESULTS OF 2001 WHOIS LOOKUP :::
Registrant:
PayCom International (PAYCOM3-DOM)
4215 Glencoe Ave First Floor
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
US
Domain Name: PAYCOM.NET
Administrative Contact,
Technical Contact,
Billing Contact:
Keith, Tony
Paycom.net
4215 Glencoe Ave, first floor
Marina Del Rey , CA 90292
(310) 827-5880
(310) 827-5519 (Fax)
Record last updated on 05-Sep-2000.
Record expires on 21-Nov-2009.
Record created on 21-Nov-1998.
Domain servers in listed order:
AUTH00.NS.UU.NET 198.6.1.65
AUTH61.NS.UU.NET 198.6.1.182
—
John Christopher Mallick, Chairman and CEO
Clay Andrews, President
Joel Hall, CTO
Tony Keith, Director of Information Technology
Daniel Steinberg, Business Development
Rand Pate, Director of Corporate Communications
Harmik Gharapatian, Director of Customer Service Operations
Jeffrey C. Southworth, Director of Marketing
Esther Martinez, Director of Corporate Affairs
David Bonsukan, Director of Financial Affairs
Ok, things are starting to come together… Below is the Epassporte NV. Prepaid CC. patent application from 2005…
http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?WO=2005067611
Take notice of the applicants (inventors) names…
then look at my previous KrebonSecurity post..
hmm, very similar names…
Due to all of the negative press and information circulating about Epassporte at this time I thought I should add this post…
If you are an Epassporte account holder and you have significant funds (10,000$ or more) locked on your virtual visa because of this situation you *can* have these funds wire transfered to your personal bank account (assuming you have one on file, and are willing to provide a scan of your photo ID).
At this moment I do not believe this information has been released to the public so I will not leak any personal contact that was used to accomplish this… However I can tell the users a few things
1: The dispute over the funds was started by St. Kitts (not Visa), St. Kitts does have all of the funds however Epassporte does “have” limited access to them.
2. None of the funds are lost or unaccounted for, however it just takes a lot of paperwork to access them. (This is why the option is not being offered to all Epassporte Users)
3: Email support or the given phone line will tell you that you are only able to wire xfer funds stored in your E-Wallet, this is not the case. If you look hard enough hopefully you’ll find the same person I did.
An EpasUser
I have an amount stucked there, so pls if u can help me to get my funds wire , send me one email at louloulou20@hotmail.com
thanks
Hello! We have over $270.000 there in virtual visa account, please can you give me more info about that to my email jupiter.oldrin@gmail.com ? I think it’s impossible to wire from virtual account.
We can give you 5-10% of it if we will be able to withdraw.
Thanks.
”
Due to all of the negative press and information circulating about Epassporte at this time I thought I should add this post…
If you are an Epassporte account holder and you have significant funds (10,000$ or more) locked on your virtual visa because of this situation you *can* have these funds wire transfered to your personal bank account (assuming you have one on file, and are willing to provide a scan of your photo ID).
At this moment I do not believe this information has been released to the public so I will not leak any personal contact that was used to accomplish this… However I can tell the users a few things
1: The dispute over the funds was started by St. Kitts (not Visa), St. Kitts does have all of the funds however Epassporte does “have” limited access to them.
2. None of the funds are lost or unaccounted for, however it just takes a lot of paperwork to access them. (This is why the option is not being offered to all Epassporte Users)
3: Email support or the given phone line will tell you that you are only able to wire xfer funds stored in your E-Wallet, this is not the case. If you look hard enough hopefully you’ll find the same person I did.
”
Why the do people rate something like this as bad? I would think it is quite good to know that funds from Epass aren’t lost and the only issue is negotiating proper access between Epass and St. Kitts. Maybe you are upset because you have under 10,000$ and they are ignoring your messages to support or only saying you can transfer money from your E-Wallet?
Either-way if you do have a large amount stuck on your virtual visa do not give up hope! Keep emailing and bugging the crap out of any contacts related to Epassporte you have. If you have under 1k$ well… keep praying.
Ttake the time to writeup a proper essay explaining why you need access to the funds taking care not to insult anyone and asking nicely. Once you have finished send a copy off to every email address you can find (as in anyone connected to Epass but not specifically located at an Epassporte alias–That is the only hint I can give without actually stating the address). Ask them to forward your request to who-ever will be able to help and to follow-up by CC’ing you on the response they receive.
For best chances of getting a reply send the email from the address you have registered with your Epass and be sure to state the account username in the email and note that you are willing to verify it is your account.
(Just FYI: Under any circumstances DO NOT post your username and or email here, DON’T DO IT)
So if not an actually *@epassporte.com email then what? The bank? How about someone that works at the bank? Wasn’t that persons email listed somewhere on here?
Did you actually get a confirmation of that wire or can you state your money is in your bank account at the moment? Just wondering if the help you were offered actually happened and you have your funds…
Wire transfers cannot be made on non-business days, it is sitting to be processed on someones desk for Monday morning, will know by Wednesday at the latest if it goes through properly. But considering the credentials of the person who assured me it would be sent I do not have any doubts.
Thank you for taking the time to reply, idem btw , hoping for a positive outcome this week.
AnEpassUser can you send me more info PLEASE to this email lesli.king@gmail.com
I have the same problem like you
all the best
So, is your wire processed?
Any news on the wire ?
I have an amout stuck too and need help to get my funds wired, send me some info on how to do so if you can at nicolelaurell@yahoo.com
Don’t forget that have a company registered in Canada.
http://www.ctidirectory.com/search/company.cfm?company=166156
Also Chris Mallick has a $10M loan called on his movie this week for Prints and Advertising that were advanced as part of that $20 million budget. Bazing!
“Also Chris Mallick has a $10M loan called on his movie this week for Prints and Advertising that were advanced as part of that $20 million budget.”
Gotta reference to that info?
All Epassporte CS phones are currently down..
Not Good.
…and inside my Epassporte account:
We are currently experiencing an interruption of phone service at our Customer Service Center. We apologize for any inconvenience and working to have phone service restored. Until service is fully restored, please feel free to contact us by either logging into your ePassporte account and sending us message through the ePassporte Message Center or by sending us an email at cs@epassporte.com
Not sure what you are smoking mate, but customer service phone support works just fine at the moment. Called in myself to verify this, and there is no such message in the message center inbox either.
I have a funny feeling that “AnEpassUser” is affiliated with Epassporte. Reason I say this is because if you were to surf on over to http://www.gfy.com, you’ll notice about 5 different Threads from today with multiple posts in each stating the EXACT same thing I did. Regarding the Epassporte Call Center Being Down.
So what are you smoking mate?
I know what I saw in my Epassporte account. Why are you always backing Epass up? something smells fishy with the Krebs poster, “AnEpassUser”.
I am backing them up because a very friendly lady asked me to after assisting in getting a “large” sum of previously untouchable cash that was a locked on my virtual visa wired to a bank account. The notice was not sent out to all users and at the time of my post their call center was running just fine (I called in to check).
Injteresting
http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=12360351&page=0&fpart=1&vc=1
I work for a PCI (credit card security) auditor, and think the elephant in the room that nobody’s talking about is how ePassporte stores card data.
I checked the Visa list of PCI compliant companies (http://usa.visa.com/download/merchants/cisp-list-of-pcidss-compliant-service-providers.pdf) and I can’t find ePassporte or any of these other related companies on the list.
ePassporte would need to pass an annual third party security audit since it looks like it runs the back-end for its cards and bills users’ credit cards to load accounts.
This could explain why they were shut down so suddenly.
I can’t imagine Visa would allow the cards to be re-activated until it has passed a PCI audit.
So is this list International or just US compliant companies?
Because it appears that ePassporte is not a US company.
OK I read the header of the document and it does include other countries.
The call center not working is a rumor , as i was told when i called and checked myself a few minutes ago (monday evening) . They are up and answering calls. Just thought i’d let you know..
Didn’t I say that too! *thinks* Dave over there must’ve forgotten to take his meds.
I hear ya.
AnEpassUser, i am aware you will not respond to certain requests. I do not have any I assure you, however would just like to email you about certain things. So here is my email and would appreciate just a quick email from you so i could send a reply. celandine@live.com
dude I also have same situtaion like you
any chance to help me??
here is my email bro lesli.king@gmail.com
Guys, it IS not possible to touch cash that is on VISA account. Simply that account is frozen with St Kitts bank, so ePassporte itself can’t get access to funds there.
Don’t have false hopes that you’ll be able to get the money out of there before the situation with VISA is resolved – which should be soon.
Good evening all
I understand that bad because we all put our money ePassporte has Blocked. us and we do not know where to go for help. I recommend you do not trust of anyone. do not believe people promising to recover your money. do not know do not know who they are. not give your email address. because there are bad people. Take advantage of that to you. you send documents full of viruses. and you think they want to help you. and download documents. they take your details each time you turn on your computer they steal data. . watch out! ePassporte unlocks when your money so that they jump from Goia corente empty your county.
I have also spent money like you I also blocked but I do not trust the people promising miracles.
and my only advice.
This is very good advice and I would advise people take it, as I said in the post please DO NOT under ANY circumstances post your email here! This is a do-it-yourself situation, if you take the time to do so then you might get lucky.
AnEpassUser could you tell us if you got your money today ?
Sadly no I have not, I am currently waiting for a call back with an explanation as to the status of the wire transfer (it was already initiated on Monday).
Didn’t it say 7 to 10 business days for the wire to be processed on those forms you submited ? just curious..
AnEpassUser… Are you sure it was initiated Monday, or were you just told it was by someone at ePassporte it was initiated? Did you receive any documented confirmation in the form of a fax or email stating so? If not… well…
Has anyone here been discussing class action lawsuit? I have looked in to this, and realize it could take a few years to get my money back. I don’t care if it takes 10 years. Now it is more about the principle, and not the money. I will not let these people think that I will just faid into the background, and not defend myself.
Mallick and Elias, you can run but you really can’t hide from justice and karma. I believe my money is gone for now, but not forever. I do NOT believe that my money is safe and secure as you say. You may think I am dumb enough to actually trust what you say. I am not the type of person who will move on and forget.
I know you are reading this post. I am sure you are following Krebs as much as he is researching your scandalous ways. I am a very patient person once I have calmed down, and if it will take years to get my money then so be it. For your sake I hope you fix it sooner. If not? I will wait 🙂
It’s past the time to contact a lawyer. There is a legal route you can take by calling into a super popular legal show featuring talk show host Bill Handel who broadcasts out of Los Angeles on KFI 640am.
He has a daily show from 5am-9am M-F and his main legal show “Handel On The Law” on Saturdays 6am-10am. You call in and tell him what’s up and he’ll tell you if you have a case and he might take the case himself or refer you to his two websites legalzoom.com or handelonthelaw.com
If enough Epass customers call in and bitch and complain he’ll have to address the issue and his show is national with 100s of thousands of listeners.
So go annoy Bill or even friend him on Facebook. He’s tough, irreverant, funny, but he will tell you what he feels is the truth.
Matter of fact, Krebs, you should be on his radio program discussing this issue. I’m sure it would be a hit segment.
Thanks. I will definitely try this!
Is anyone here seeing zero balance on their epassporte account? Mine now shows I have no money on there at all. I anticipated something like this happening, so I made a few print screens of my account just in case!
This is just making my blood boil all over again!
Yes, everyone’s account seems to state this :
“Due to maintenance, your Virtual/Visa Electron balance is currently not available.”
Let’s hope they are working towards a solution..
I didn’t read that part at first. I just saw zero balance, and freaked!
I certainly hope for a solution soon.
Due to maintenance my a**!!!! Wow, I can’t believe the message I just read on my epassporte account. These people are nothing but con artists. This nightmare only gets worse!
ePassporte log in is now disabled completely. No error notice. No maintenance message. Nothing… just completely disabled. Requested a new PW, same thing. This is probably it then… bye bye Mr. Mallick and my money.
Love how ePassporte minions click dislike buttons to have comments deleted. They do the same on every blog covering this potential larceny. Solution, repost… repost… repost.
is time for Interpol or FBI
…..IMPORTANT MESSAGE REGARDING YOUR EPASSPORTE ACCOUNT Dear ePassporte Account Holders, St. Kitts Nevis Anguilla National Bank, without our prior knowledge, has turned off the ability for ePassporte to access or display Account Holders’ Visa Card balances. This means that when you login to your ePassporte Account, you will only be able to see your Wallet balance. As a consequence, inquiries regarding your Visa Card balance must be directed to St. Kitts Nevis Anguilla National Bank. St Kitts Bank is responsible for all funds on Visa Cards. Their contact information is as follows: St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank Ltd. Central Street, P.O. Box 343 Basseterre, St. Kitts, West Indies Tel: (869) 465-2204 Mon – Thurs: 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. Fri: 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. Fax: (869) 465-1050 Email: webmaster@sknanb.com ePassporte will continue to provide support with regard to the funds in your Wallet. We kindly ask for your patience as we must verify Accounts and balances manually. Thank You, ePassporte Account Holder Services
DEAR MR KREBS
could u investigate what is happening for us ?!?!?
… so where is the Krebs poster, “AnEpassUser” now?
Brian, if you have not already heard – today we (Epassporte members) were met with this message below once logged in:
————————-
Dear ePassporte Account Holders
St. Kitts Nevis Anguilla National Bank, without our prior knowledge, has turned off the ability for ePassporte to access or display Account Holders’ Visa Card balances. This means that when you login to your ePassporte Account, you will only be able to see your Wallet balance. As a consequence, inquiries regarding your Visa Card balance must be directed to St. Kitts Nevis Anguilla National Bank. St Kitts Bank is responsible for all funds on Visa Cards. Their contact information is as follows:
St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank Ltd.
Central Street,
P.O. Box 343
Basseterre, St. Kitts, West Indies
Tel: (869) 465-2204 Mon – Thurs: 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. Fri: 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Fax: (869) 465-1050
Email: webmaster@sknanb.com
————————-
** ALSO – all of our account balances which were frozen, now read $0.00.
my Blood is beyond boiling right now…
Please Help Brian…