Updates - 8th January 2006
Well a big bunch of updates today, many pertaining to the current conversation/"constructive criticism" circulating on the web about E-Gold.
First up, we'll stick with news on the big gun...
12 Daily Pro
Well there's a lot of 12 Daily Pro info for you to wrap your heads around so I'll just paste the news items here and get straight to the point:
It started with the 6th being a surfing holiday, followed up with an update about EMO being their new payment processor. I'll keep that update out of here, you can read it over on the site. BTW, Emo has now of course been added to my blogroll of payment processors. They have a pretty stringent verification system, so I'm probably going to be converting to Stormpay with 12DP.
Then came the E-Gold announcement (sans news article that is usually attached to the bottom of this update - it's an easy to find article that just tries to slander E-Gold):
"E-Gold Investigation / 12dp Decision - by Charis - 12DP Admin at 2006-01-06 23:09:03
Recently we announced that due to mounting issues with one of our payment processors, E-Gold, we would be extending our payment period for that processor from 7 business days to 10 business days. This decision was made due to a number of disturbing factors including:
1. The extreme increase in hacked E-Gold accounts and the amount of time staff has to dedicate to correcting member accounts and payouts due to this issue.
2. The continual downtime the site experienced during the month of December, severely affecting the functioning and slowing our ability to make and receive payments.
3. The lack of communication and member support from the staff of E-Gold during downtime
4. The large amount of E-Gold funds we had lost to cheaters using this payment method to conduct fraudulent activities and remain untouched.
It was because of these reasons and many others that we encouraged members to seek Stormpay as a better alternative, particularly given their new lowered rate option. One thing we did not count on when we made the recommendation was the huge response from our members evidenced by a large migration to Stormpay. Because we don’t keep a large amount of reserves in E-Gold for security purposes and so that the money can be utilized for various investments, when this happened, it created a decline in our E-Gold reserves and a huge increase in our StormPay reserves.
Extending the payment terms for E-Gold to 10 business days was designed to allow us the time to move necessary funds to E-Gold through an exchange as needed to help balance the reserves. We were in the process of planning for such transfers earlier this week when we became aware of some very disturbing news regarding E-Gold, that made us stop in our tracks.
In the most recent issue of Business Week magazine, one of the most highly respected business journals in the US, a detailed expose was published about E-Gold and its founder, Douglas L. Jackson. The article entitled, “Gold Rush”, stated that E-Gold has become the currency of choice for ‘cyber crooks’. The article, which is reprinted in its entirety below this message, also stated that the E-Gold offices and the home of its founder were raided on Dec. 19 (the same time frame which the E-Gold site was down with no explanation.). No charges have been filed to date, but there are also over a dozen FBI probes into online criminal rings involving terrorism, child porn, etc. all with one thing in common, E-Gold.
We are not presuming any guilt on their part and would never do so. However, we are very disturbed the the criminal element that is using E-Gold and are very concerned that future government action or sanctions against the company might lead to freezes of all accounts, including ours and those of our members. We also have prided ourselves on building and maintaining a business built on moral values, ethics, and a professional reputation. We will not but our members funds at risk and we will not continue to associate with a payment processor that is clearly at risk for legal sanctions.
We have been weighing all week, our options on how to handle this situation. We have been very wary of moving any more funds into E-Gold because of this situation. This is why you have noticed E-Gold payments slowing this week. We finally arrived at a very difficult, but necessary decision today. We apologize for the short notice, but given the additional due diligence we conducted after learning of the raid and the expose, we believe that immediate action was necessary for the protection of our funds and of yours, as well as our business reputation.
As of this evening, 12daily Pro will no longer be accepting upgrades or making withdrawal payments via E-Gold.com. We will honor all current pending withdrawals and upgrades purchased using E-Gold with a payment of full earnings and referral commissions. This evening, we will make the last of our E-Gold payments, which will be for all upgrades expired on Dec. 23. For all E-Gold upgrades expiring on Dec. 24 - January 18, payments will be made by Jan 31, with the timing of payment somewhat dependent on which payment option is chosen. We will be offering a number of payment options to all members will pending E-Gold withdrawals and active upgrades. Beginning Monday, January 9, members will be able to submit a customized support ticket for each affected upgrade which will allow you to select from the following options:
1. Payment via Storm pay (fastest option, 1% fee). We have had hundreds of requests for such transfers in the
2. Payment via EMO (no fee)
3. Payment via EMO money order (must be US citizen and have withdrawal amount $1000 or over)(fee tbd)
4. One time only compounding of withdrawal into new upgrades package(s) to allow time to setup/verify a StormPay or EMO account. (fee will be any amount under $6 left over after all withdrawal funds are applied to new upgrade package)
These options will generally all prove faster than recent E-Gold withdrawal times and all E-Gold withdrawals will be completely paid by Jan 31.
For more information on EMO, our new payment processor, please read the news item entitled, “Our New Payment Processor”. We will begin accepting upgrades via EMO sometime next week. The good news for E-Gold users is that EMO accepts E-Gold funding, so your transition should be an easy one. And international users will find a great benefit in their debit card option.
Please do not submit help tickets or phone calls regarding this matter this weekend. We will be opening a new dept. just for these customized requests on Monday and will expedite requests in order of expiration.
We know there will be a lot of questions regarding this and we will be providing more clarifications on Monday along with the opening on the new dept.
Know that this action will also allow us to feel secure that 12dp itself is not being utilized by criminals for the same illegal purposes as some are doing with E-Gold, as members who are NOT involved in any illegal activity will have no problem or issue with creating verified accounts with one of our two other processors.
We thank you for your patience and support during this time. We have made this decision for the safety and security of our program funds and yours.
Charis
12daily Pro Admin"
And then, some clarification came:
"Quick update on some issues...
1. We are working with Stormpay to resend notices to our system of upgrades purchased on Jan 5-6 and this should correct all outstanding missing Stormpay upgrades.
2. Note that the new payment schedule for all remaining E-gold withdrawals will be posted on Moday. Keep in mind that the news item said BY Jan 31, NOT on Jan 31. Likely most will be paid in under 10 biz days, some even sooner depending on the chosen payment option and in order of expiration.
3. We have completed 70% of the payments for Egold accounts expired on Dec. 23, as we posted about in the recent news item. As soon as we receive our list in-exchange of e-gold, we will be able to complete the rest of Dec. 23 and mark them all processed. We anticipate this should be sometime before the end of the weekend."
So, that's it in the world of 12DailyPro for now, they're still kicking it and going strong, and lets hope this transition is smooth and we get many more happy returns.
PrivateOpps
Well, PrivateOpps has had a round of updates as well. Key points were:
"(1) A message from Robert Vaughn
Hi everyone, and Happy New Year! This is Robert Vaughn, operations
manager of PrivateOpps. I am very pleased to present you with our second
monthly Newsletter.
I hope all of you have had a wonderful holiday season and a great new
start to 2006!
PrivateOpps has seen enormous growth within the past six months, with
close to 3,000 registered Participants (900 of whom joined in the past
5 weeks alone!) PrivateOpps is quickly becoming the program of choice
for many online investors.
We have many great things coming up in 2006, including new Contracts,
weekly contests and raffles starting next week, and our own Debit Card
solution that is linked directly to your PrivateOpps account. Stay
tuned!
As always, feel free to contact me directly at robert@privateopps.com.
For general account support, please consult our Support Desk at
support@privateopps.com.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(2) PrivateOpps in Numbers!
Here are some statistics (as of Jan. 6, 2006, 5pm EST) for those
number-lovers out there:
* 2,943 registered PrivateOpps Participants since July 20, 2005
* 2,091 of them currently hold Units
* $1,516,480 currently invested in "Contract" Units
* $239,193 in profits withdrawn by Participants thus far
* $111,922 earned by Participants in our Referral Program
* 1,934 emails / support tickets processed
* 620 registered Users in our Forum
* and... 6 DDoS attacks sustained so far, all mitigated within a few
hours
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(3) e-gold Updates
As some of you know already, e-gold has suffered long downtimes in
December, and was recently featured in a news article after Federal
investigators had visited their offices, seeking information regarding
fraudulent transactions involving several e-gold users.
We at PrivateOpps do not believe the recent events have any long-term
consequences over the operation of the e-gold system, and will continue
to accept e-gold deposits and withdrawals as usual, as it is currently
the currency of choice for most online investors. e-gold is a stable,
secure, and efficient way to transact online, and we have no plans to
replace it as our primary processor.
However, it is not the only digital currency we support - you may also
deposits and withdraw funds using e-Bullion, 1mdc, or Pecunix.
(5) New Turing Test implemented
I am happy to announce that a new Turing Test has been implemented on
our website last month, and both the Signup and Log-in pages now require
you to enter a code shown in an image.
By entering the code, you help us prevent automated registrations and
brute-force attacks initiated by malicious users trying to illegally
gain access to Participants' accounts. This also reduces system loads
and ensures better performance of our service.
At PrivateOpps we are committed to providing all Participants a secure
investment environment. As we continue to grow on a daily basis, it
becomes worthwhile for malicious users to abuse our service in an
attempt to illegally obtain Participants' funds.
The Turing Test is the first in a series of upcoming security
enhancements. Next on our list is the ability to configure IP-based
access restrictions! Stay tuned! We hope that the new Turing Test will
not be of an inconvenience to you, and appreciate your understanding and
cooperation in our efforts to better protect your account.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(6) What's next for the PrivateOpps "Contracts"?
Six months after our launch, we currently feature 7 Contracts in our
system. As we continue to grow (averaging 20 new accounts a day), more
Contracts will be offered on our system. We already have plans to
introduce FOREX.II in 2006 (daily interest rate and Holding Period are
still to be determined), along with another brand new Contract from a
new private club.
As you know by now, PrivateOpps is here for the long-haul. The private
clubs in our system are very satisfied with the results since we went
live, and are showing interest in possibly issuing additional Units once
they sell out."
Another update was issued which pertains to E-Gold and things mentioned prior in today's roll of Updates. It claimed that the article against E-Gold was slander and directs us to this letter over at the E-Gold site to read the other side of the story. So everything is still looking good in the world of E-Gold and PrivateOpps is as of now panning out even better than I hoped.
Alientrust
These guys just keep on keeping on and there's some more positive updates.
"Morning Everyone,
As promised, even though E-Gold wouldn't give you your money back - WE will!
All members account that were part of the hacking shortly after we launched that are still with us, have been credited with the shares they lost during that incident.
Sorry it took so long, but we wanted to be sure that we were in a financially stable position for this to not be an issue at all, so we erred on the side of caution.
Thank you all so much for your continued support and we're happy you decided to stay with us, we only actually lost about 5 members in that entire incident, so it all turned out pretty well.
Thanks again and have a great weekend.
V"
So a positive and generous end to something from their inception - they made a promise and kept it. Cool!
NS-FG
Well, NS-FG have got a website. Check it out! I highly reccomend these guys as a positive, solid base for your investments.
Till next time, ciao y'all.
First up, we'll stick with news on the big gun...
12 Daily Pro
Well there's a lot of 12 Daily Pro info for you to wrap your heads around so I'll just paste the news items here and get straight to the point:
It started with the 6th being a surfing holiday, followed up with an update about EMO being their new payment processor. I'll keep that update out of here, you can read it over on the site. BTW, Emo has now of course been added to my blogroll of payment processors. They have a pretty stringent verification system, so I'm probably going to be converting to Stormpay with 12DP.
Then came the E-Gold announcement (sans news article that is usually attached to the bottom of this update - it's an easy to find article that just tries to slander E-Gold):
"E-Gold Investigation / 12dp Decision - by Charis - 12DP Admin at 2006-01-06 23:09:03
Recently we announced that due to mounting issues with one of our payment processors, E-Gold, we would be extending our payment period for that processor from 7 business days to 10 business days. This decision was made due to a number of disturbing factors including:
1. The extreme increase in hacked E-Gold accounts and the amount of time staff has to dedicate to correcting member accounts and payouts due to this issue.
2. The continual downtime the site experienced during the month of December, severely affecting the functioning and slowing our ability to make and receive payments.
3. The lack of communication and member support from the staff of E-Gold during downtime
4. The large amount of E-Gold funds we had lost to cheaters using this payment method to conduct fraudulent activities and remain untouched.
It was because of these reasons and many others that we encouraged members to seek Stormpay as a better alternative, particularly given their new lowered rate option. One thing we did not count on when we made the recommendation was the huge response from our members evidenced by a large migration to Stormpay. Because we don’t keep a large amount of reserves in E-Gold for security purposes and so that the money can be utilized for various investments, when this happened, it created a decline in our E-Gold reserves and a huge increase in our StormPay reserves.
Extending the payment terms for E-Gold to 10 business days was designed to allow us the time to move necessary funds to E-Gold through an exchange as needed to help balance the reserves. We were in the process of planning for such transfers earlier this week when we became aware of some very disturbing news regarding E-Gold, that made us stop in our tracks.
In the most recent issue of Business Week magazine, one of the most highly respected business journals in the US, a detailed expose was published about E-Gold and its founder, Douglas L. Jackson. The article entitled, “Gold Rush”, stated that E-Gold has become the currency of choice for ‘cyber crooks’. The article, which is reprinted in its entirety below this message, also stated that the E-Gold offices and the home of its founder were raided on Dec. 19 (the same time frame which the E-Gold site was down with no explanation.). No charges have been filed to date, but there are also over a dozen FBI probes into online criminal rings involving terrorism, child porn, etc. all with one thing in common, E-Gold.
We are not presuming any guilt on their part and would never do so. However, we are very disturbed the the criminal element that is using E-Gold and are very concerned that future government action or sanctions against the company might lead to freezes of all accounts, including ours and those of our members. We also have prided ourselves on building and maintaining a business built on moral values, ethics, and a professional reputation. We will not but our members funds at risk and we will not continue to associate with a payment processor that is clearly at risk for legal sanctions.
We have been weighing all week, our options on how to handle this situation. We have been very wary of moving any more funds into E-Gold because of this situation. This is why you have noticed E-Gold payments slowing this week. We finally arrived at a very difficult, but necessary decision today. We apologize for the short notice, but given the additional due diligence we conducted after learning of the raid and the expose, we believe that immediate action was necessary for the protection of our funds and of yours, as well as our business reputation.
As of this evening, 12daily Pro will no longer be accepting upgrades or making withdrawal payments via E-Gold.com. We will honor all current pending withdrawals and upgrades purchased using E-Gold with a payment of full earnings and referral commissions. This evening, we will make the last of our E-Gold payments, which will be for all upgrades expired on Dec. 23. For all E-Gold upgrades expiring on Dec. 24 - January 18, payments will be made by Jan 31, with the timing of payment somewhat dependent on which payment option is chosen. We will be offering a number of payment options to all members will pending E-Gold withdrawals and active upgrades. Beginning Monday, January 9, members will be able to submit a customized support ticket for each affected upgrade which will allow you to select from the following options:
1. Payment via Storm pay (fastest option, 1% fee). We have had hundreds of requests for such transfers in the
2. Payment via EMO (no fee)
3. Payment via EMO money order (must be US citizen and have withdrawal amount $1000 or over)(fee tbd)
4. One time only compounding of withdrawal into new upgrades package(s) to allow time to setup/verify a StormPay or EMO account. (fee will be any amount under $6 left over after all withdrawal funds are applied to new upgrade package)
These options will generally all prove faster than recent E-Gold withdrawal times and all E-Gold withdrawals will be completely paid by Jan 31.
For more information on EMO, our new payment processor, please read the news item entitled, “Our New Payment Processor”. We will begin accepting upgrades via EMO sometime next week. The good news for E-Gold users is that EMO accepts E-Gold funding, so your transition should be an easy one. And international users will find a great benefit in their debit card option.
Please do not submit help tickets or phone calls regarding this matter this weekend. We will be opening a new dept. just for these customized requests on Monday and will expedite requests in order of expiration.
We know there will be a lot of questions regarding this and we will be providing more clarifications on Monday along with the opening on the new dept.
Know that this action will also allow us to feel secure that 12dp itself is not being utilized by criminals for the same illegal purposes as some are doing with E-Gold, as members who are NOT involved in any illegal activity will have no problem or issue with creating verified accounts with one of our two other processors.
We thank you for your patience and support during this time. We have made this decision for the safety and security of our program funds and yours.
Charis
12daily Pro Admin"
And then, some clarification came:
"Quick update on some issues...
1. We are working with Stormpay to resend notices to our system of upgrades purchased on Jan 5-6 and this should correct all outstanding missing Stormpay upgrades.
2. Note that the new payment schedule for all remaining E-gold withdrawals will be posted on Moday. Keep in mind that the news item said BY Jan 31, NOT on Jan 31. Likely most will be paid in under 10 biz days, some even sooner depending on the chosen payment option and in order of expiration.
3. We have completed 70% of the payments for Egold accounts expired on Dec. 23, as we posted about in the recent news item. As soon as we receive our list in-exchange of e-gold, we will be able to complete the rest of Dec. 23 and mark them all processed. We anticipate this should be sometime before the end of the weekend."
So, that's it in the world of 12DailyPro for now, they're still kicking it and going strong, and lets hope this transition is smooth and we get many more happy returns.
PrivateOpps
Well, PrivateOpps has had a round of updates as well. Key points were:
"(1) A message from Robert Vaughn
Hi everyone, and Happy New Year! This is Robert Vaughn, operations
manager of PrivateOpps. I am very pleased to present you with our second
monthly Newsletter.
I hope all of you have had a wonderful holiday season and a great new
start to 2006!
PrivateOpps has seen enormous growth within the past six months, with
close to 3,000 registered Participants (900 of whom joined in the past
5 weeks alone!) PrivateOpps is quickly becoming the program of choice
for many online investors.
We have many great things coming up in 2006, including new Contracts,
weekly contests and raffles starting next week, and our own Debit Card
solution that is linked directly to your PrivateOpps account. Stay
tuned!
As always, feel free to contact me directly at robert@privateopps.com.
For general account support, please consult our Support Desk at
support@privateopps.com.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(2) PrivateOpps in Numbers!
Here are some statistics (as of Jan. 6, 2006, 5pm EST) for those
number-lovers out there:
* 2,943 registered PrivateOpps Participants since July 20, 2005
* 2,091 of them currently hold Units
* $1,516,480 currently invested in "Contract" Units
* $239,193 in profits withdrawn by Participants thus far
* $111,922 earned by Participants in our Referral Program
* 1,934 emails / support tickets processed
* 620 registered Users in our Forum
* and... 6 DDoS attacks sustained so far, all mitigated within a few
hours
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(3) e-gold Updates
As some of you know already, e-gold has suffered long downtimes in
December, and was recently featured in a news article after Federal
investigators had visited their offices, seeking information regarding
fraudulent transactions involving several e-gold users.
We at PrivateOpps do not believe the recent events have any long-term
consequences over the operation of the e-gold system, and will continue
to accept e-gold deposits and withdrawals as usual, as it is currently
the currency of choice for most online investors. e-gold is a stable,
secure, and efficient way to transact online, and we have no plans to
replace it as our primary processor.
However, it is not the only digital currency we support - you may also
deposits and withdraw funds using e-Bullion, 1mdc, or Pecunix.
(5) New Turing Test implemented
I am happy to announce that a new Turing Test has been implemented on
our website last month, and both the Signup and Log-in pages now require
you to enter a code shown in an image.
By entering the code, you help us prevent automated registrations and
brute-force attacks initiated by malicious users trying to illegally
gain access to Participants' accounts. This also reduces system loads
and ensures better performance of our service.
At PrivateOpps we are committed to providing all Participants a secure
investment environment. As we continue to grow on a daily basis, it
becomes worthwhile for malicious users to abuse our service in an
attempt to illegally obtain Participants' funds.
The Turing Test is the first in a series of upcoming security
enhancements. Next on our list is the ability to configure IP-based
access restrictions! Stay tuned! We hope that the new Turing Test will
not be of an inconvenience to you, and appreciate your understanding and
cooperation in our efforts to better protect your account.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(6) What's next for the PrivateOpps "Contracts"?
Six months after our launch, we currently feature 7 Contracts in our
system. As we continue to grow (averaging 20 new accounts a day), more
Contracts will be offered on our system. We already have plans to
introduce FOREX.II in 2006 (daily interest rate and Holding Period are
still to be determined), along with another brand new Contract from a
new private club.
As you know by now, PrivateOpps is here for the long-haul. The private
clubs in our system are very satisfied with the results since we went
live, and are showing interest in possibly issuing additional Units once
they sell out."
Another update was issued which pertains to E-Gold and things mentioned prior in today's roll of Updates. It claimed that the article against E-Gold was slander and directs us to this letter over at the E-Gold site to read the other side of the story. So everything is still looking good in the world of E-Gold and PrivateOpps is as of now panning out even better than I hoped.
Alientrust
These guys just keep on keeping on and there's some more positive updates.
"Morning Everyone,
As promised, even though E-Gold wouldn't give you your money back - WE will!
All members account that were part of the hacking shortly after we launched that are still with us, have been credited with the shares they lost during that incident.
Sorry it took so long, but we wanted to be sure that we were in a financially stable position for this to not be an issue at all, so we erred on the side of caution.
Thank you all so much for your continued support and we're happy you decided to stay with us, we only actually lost about 5 members in that entire incident, so it all turned out pretty well.
Thanks again and have a great weekend.
V"
So a positive and generous end to something from their inception - they made a promise and kept it. Cool!
NS-FG
Well, NS-FG have got a website. Check it out! I highly reccomend these guys as a positive, solid base for your investments.
Till next time, ciao y'all.
posted by chancer at 10:57 AM
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