[Note to Forum Mods: I am posting this here for maximal exposure in the hope that this urgent letter will get to Mr. Grandval by this means as quickly as possible. Trust this is acceptable given the current situation. This is also important as it concerns the whole Bitcoin community.]
Dear M. Grandval,
I am writing to you here as all other attempts to communicate with your company have been futile. It is my hope that you (or a formally authorized representative of Paymium) will respond urgently in order to avoid criminal charges being filed against all Paymium directors tomorrow.
The reasons for this are simple and clear, and I enumerate them below:
1. Your company has, via its websites, alleged that a hack has taken place and that coins have been lost.
2. A forum member ("Boussac") has stated the he represents Paymium and has communicated various things related to this alleged hack and associated claims process, including that a police report has been filed and that independent auditors are conducting a forensic analysis. See
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=167215.0;all3. Over the past week he has been repeatedly asked the following questions by various forum members:
a) His real name.
b) His position at Paymium.
c) Police report file reference number (or other verifiable proof that such has actually been filed).
d) Details of who the "independent auditors" are.
e) Contact details for Paymium (office address and telephone number).
f) Details regarding the hack.
g) Explanations related to the proposed claims process.
4. To date not one of these questions has been answered, addressed or even acknowledged, despite his active forum presence during this time.
5. As everyone knows that a "hack" for personal gain is very easy to stage, holders of funds in Instawallet are naturally curious to ensure that Paymium's claims in this regard are legitimate.
6. As Paymium provides no means of communication with itself (no office telephone number) other than an email address, and emails to this address are not responded to, the forum conversation with "Boussac" has been the only viable point of contact and means of communication.
7. As communication with "Boussac" has also proved essentially futile, there is real concern that Paymium is presently engaged in non-disclosure, dishonesty and fraud. (The request for a police report reference number has been made so many times now I have lost count, and it is obvious that the question is being evaded.)
8. The reasons for this suspicion have everything to do with this blatant and grossly unprofessional lack of communication, and apparent cavalier attitude towards Installawallet account holders ("Boussac" even suggesting in one of his posts that Instawallet account holders are not really customers of Paymium as it was a free service).
9. This complete lack of transparency, and your company's unwillingness to address it, points to the need for external intervention.
In my letter to you (via your company email address) earlier this week, and in my forum posts I have indicated that I will be speaking to both the French Embassy in my country and my country's Embassy in France with a view to opening a criminal enquiry against Paymium and its directors for possible fraud and theft.
I would ABSOLUTELY PREFER NOT TO DO THAT. I would rather support Paymium to recover from what has happened and to emerge from this as a strong and trusted player in the Bitcoin economy. However by your apparent decision to act in bad faith and directly evade very important questions, you leave no alternative but for Instawallet account holders to directly intervene. (It has also been noted that the 42,000 BTC from Instawallet's cold storage started moving around 3 days ago - and this adds a certain urgency to this matter.)
I will be doing this myself personally as discussed and also supporting other Instawallet account holders who choose to file criminal or civil suits against Paymium and/or its officers. Your simple and direct response to the basic questions being asked, and your willingness to engage, however simply, with your customers in this regard is all it will take to avert unnecessary unpleasantness.
It is my sincere hope that as CEO of Paymium you will recognize your responsibility to the Bitcoin community as a whole and your need to address this matter directly and urgently. Please rise to this challenge and show us that the perception being created by your company's non-communication is not accurate.
Sincerely,
PyedPyper (my real name is penned to my email which I have sent to your company email account)
