Ascendancy IPO Turned Into a Scam - Investigation in progress

[yahoo62278]

As stated by Darkstar and Sparkit, we are currently discussing and have been discussing this whole situation via telegram. Myself, Lauda, Minerjones, Sparkit, Darkstar, Superwoot, and Lutpin are the participants in the discussion.

We have control of 7btc currently. This was the amount invested as of this morning. All of the funds invested past 3am EST we had no connection with. We are currently waiting to hear from Mr Joel_Janston as well. He has been MIA for 24 hours, at least on his main account.

I have tagged Joel and the Ascendancyteam accounts as i believe none of the rest of the users mentioned above are involved in the scam. The 8 hour window before funds were transferred opened up possibilities we didnt forsee obviously. We were talking with the team on skype right up until 10 minutes before the website went down. Nothing seemed fishy at all. Least not in my mind.

As far as the 7btc is concerned, we are discussion the appropriate course of action to take. Should we just refund the users that invested this 7btc? Should we give everyone who can prove they invested a %? I personally think since we never controlled the later investments then we should  only refund the investors whos money we controlled.

Ill update this thread with any other information we come up with when we reach a decision or whatnot.

I apologize to everyone involved in the shit end of the deal. We obviously didnt expect this to happen

[SanFrancisco]

Let me get this clear.

Was it clear from the beginning that investors will send the BTC to the scamteam first and the scamteam said "we will forward the invested BTC every 8 hours to our escrowers"?
Are you kidding me? Then why do you fucking have escrowers? LOL... how stupid can someone be, to join this scam as an escrower, if this was the deal? The job #1 of an escrower is to get the money directly from the investors. If you don't follow this rule #1 as an escrower, then your are guilty in my eyes.

[malcovixeffect]

As stated by Darkstar and Sparkit, we are currently discussing and have been discussing this whole situation via telegram. Myself, Lauda, Minerjones, Sparkit, Darkstar, Superwoot, and Lutpin are the participants in the discussion.

We have control of 7btc currently. This was the amount invested as of this morning. All of the funds invested past 3am EST we had no connection with. We are currently waiting to hear from Mr Joel_Janston as well. He has been MIA for 24 hours, at least on his main account.

I have tagged Joel and the Ascendancyteam accounts as i believe none of the rest of the users mentioned above are involved in the scam. The 8 hour window before funds were transferred opened up possibilities we didnt forsee obviously. We were talking with the team on skype right up until 10 minutes before the website went down. Nothing seemed fishy at all. Least not in my mind.

As far as the 7btc is concerned, we are discussion the appropriate course of action to take. Should we just refund the users that invested this 7btc? Should we give everyone who can prove they invested a %? I personally think since we never controlled the later investments then we should  only refund the investors whos money we controlled.

Ill update this thread with any other information we come up with when we reach a decision or whatnot.

I apologize to everyone involved in the shit end of the deal. We obviously didnt expect this to happen

I would wish you luck, you'll need it. As we are in the river of scammers and trolls.


HAHAHAHAHAHA

[altcoinrich]

As stated by Darkstar and Sparkit, we are currently discussing and have been discussing this whole situation via telegram. Myself, Lauda, Minerjones, Sparkit, Darkstar, Superwoot, and Lutpin are the participants in the discussion.

We have control of 7btc currently. This was the amount invested as of this morning. All of the funds invested past 3am EST we had no connection with. We are currently waiting to hear from Mr Joel_Janston as well. He has been MIA for 24 hours, at least on his main account.

I have tagged Joel and the Ascendancyteam accounts as i believe none of the rest of the users mentioned above are involved in the scam. The 8 hour window before funds were transferred opened up possibilities we didnt forsee obviously. We were talking with the team on skype right up until 10 minutes before the website went down. Nothing seemed fishy at all. Least not in my mind.

As far as the 7btc is concerned, we are discussion the appropriate course of action to take. Should we just refund the users that invested this 7btc? Should we give everyone who can prove they invested a %? I personally think since we never controlled the later investments then we should  only refund the investors whos money we controlled.

Ill update this thread with any other information we come up with when we reach a decision or whatnot.

I apologize to everyone involved in the shit end of the deal. We obviously didnt expect this to happen

Hi yahoo, I remember you and lauda or minerjones are the escrows in another ICO project(I can't remember the name of that ico), I doubt that is a scam too, be careful. Scammers become more and more clever now.

[yahoo62278]

Let me get this clear.

Was it clear from the beginning that investors will send the BTC to the scamteam first and the scamteam said "we will forward the invested BTC every 8 hours to our escrowers"?
Are you kidding me? Then why do you fucking have escrowers? LOL... how stupid can someone be, to join this scam as an escrower, if this was the deal? The job #1 of an escrower is to get the money directly from the investors. If you don't follow this rule #1 as an escrower, then your are guilty in my eyes.

I would normally agree with you 100% but the escrow agreement was right there in front of everyones eyes to read. Everything was written in black and white. Its not as if the escrows tried to dupe anyone here. Everything looked to be running smooth. Btc was going to the escrow address like it should and then all the sudden a big rush came in. The Ascendancyteam decided to scam.

[yahoo62278]

As stated by Darkstar and Sparkit, we are currently discussing and have been discussing this whole situation via telegram. Myself, Lauda, Minerjones, Sparkit, Darkstar, Superwoot, and Lutpin are the participants in the discussion.

We have control of 7btc currently. This was the amount invested as of this morning. All of the funds invested past 3am EST we had no connection with. We are currently waiting to hear from Mr Joel_Janston as well. He has been MIA for 24 hours, at least on his main account.

I have tagged Joel and the Ascendancyteam accounts as i believe none of the rest of the users mentioned above are involved in the scam. The 8 hour window before funds were transferred opened up possibilities we didnt forsee obviously. We were talking with the team on skype right up until 10 minutes before the website went down. Nothing seemed fishy at all. Least not in my mind.

As far as the 7btc is concerned, we are discussion the appropriate course of action to take. Should we just refund the users that invested this 7btc? Should we give everyone who can prove they invested a %? I personally think since we never controlled the later investments then we should  only refund the investors whos money we controlled.

Ill update this thread with any other information we come up with when we reach a decision or whatnot.

I apologize to everyone involved in the shit end of the deal. We obviously didnt expect this to happen

Hi yahoo, I remember you and lauda or minerjones are the escrows in another ICO project(I can't remember the name of that ico), I doubt that is a scam too, be careful. Scammers become more and more clever now.

We are escrows for TASKIE. I personally am holding 100btc worth of TASKIE for the team. And the money is directly going to escrows when that project reopens. If the money isnt going to escrows directly i will not be participating in that project.

I will not be a part of this setup again

[SanFrancisco]

Let me get this clear.

Was it clear from the beginning that investors will send the BTC to the scamteam first and the scamteam said "we will forward the invested BTC every 8 hours to our escrowers"?
Are you kidding me? Then why do you fucking have escrowers? LOL... how stupid can someone be, to join this scam as an escrower, if this was the deal? The job #1 of an escrower is to get the money directly from the investors. If you don't follow this rule #1 as an escrower, then your are guilty in my eyes.

I would normally agree with you 100% but the escrow agreement was right there in front of everyones eyes to read. Everything was written in black and white. Its not as if the escrows tried to dupe anyone here. Everything looked to be running smooth. Btc was going to the escrow address like it should and then all the sudden a big rush came in. The Ascendancyteam decided to scam.

Then why in gods name did the escrowers join this scam? If the deal is INVESTOR -> SCAMMERS -> ESCROW then you never do escrow! The escrowers should be blamed, too.

[altcoinrich]

As stated by Darkstar and Sparkit, we are currently discussing and have been discussing this whole situation via telegram. Myself, Lauda, Minerjones, Sparkit, Darkstar, Superwoot, and Lutpin are the participants in the discussion.

We have control of 7btc currently. This was the amount invested as of this morning. All of the funds invested past 3am EST we had no connection with. We are currently waiting to hear from Mr Joel_Janston as well. He has been MIA for 24 hours, at least on his main account.

I have tagged Joel and the Ascendancyteam accounts as i believe none of the rest of the users mentioned above are involved in the scam. The 8 hour window before funds were transferred opened up possibilities we didnt forsee obviously. We were talking with the team on skype right up until 10 minutes before the website went down. Nothing seemed fishy at all. Least not in my mind.

As far as the 7btc is concerned, we are discussion the appropriate course of action to take. Should we just refund the users that invested this 7btc? Should we give everyone who can prove they invested a %? I personally think since we never controlled the later investments then we should  only refund the investors whos money we controlled.

Ill update this thread with any other information we come up with when we reach a decision or whatnot.

I apologize to everyone involved in the shit end of the deal. We obviously didnt expect this to happen

Hi yahoo, I remember you and lauda or minerjones are the escrows in another ICO project(I can't remember the name of that ico), I doubt that is a scam too, be careful. Scammers become more and more clever now.

We are escrows for TASKIE. I personally am holding 100btc worth of TASKIE for the team. And the money is directly going to escrows when that project reopens. If the money isnt going to escrows directly i will not be participating in that project.

I will not be a part of this setup again

75 BTC scam is an expensive lesson for escrow, I respect you, and hope no more scammers will scam you. How did that scammer change the btc address from the escrow address without let you guys know? There must be some system(website) trick.

[SanFrancisco]

How did that scammer change the btc address from the escrow address without let you guys know? There must be some system(website) trick.

Well, that's the point. They didn't have to. The deal was, that the investors send the BTC to the scammer team and the scammers promised to send the BTC to the escrowers. FAIL!

[whynotbit]

Let me get this clear.

Was it clear from the beginning that investors will send the BTC to the scamteam first and the scamteam said "we will forward the invested BTC every 8 hours to our escrowers"?
Are you kidding me? Then why do you fucking have escrowers? LOL... how stupid can someone be, to join this scam as an escrower, if this was the deal? The job #1 of an escrower is to get the money directly from the investors. If you don't follow this rule #1 as an escrower, then your are guilty in my eyes.

I would normally agree with you 100% but the escrow agreement was right there in front of everyones eyes to read. Everything was written in black and white. Its not as if the escrows tried to dupe anyone here. Everything looked to be running smooth. Btc was going to the escrow address like it should and then all the sudden a big rush came in. The Ascendancyteam decided to scam.

Then why in gods name did the escrowers join this scam? If the deal is INVESTOR -> SCAMMERS -> ESCROW then you never do escrow! The escrowers should be blamed, too.

Nothing says funds would pass before to an adress not watched by the escrowers, which seems crazy and irresponsible. Why not simply an adress with a 3 of 4 keyholders ?
The "diagram" does not show this not anything else.
Escrowers seem legit but do lack responsability and on my part do not feel trustworthy for this activity that they do not practice properly.

How did that scammer change the btc address from the escrow address without let you guys know? There must be some system(website) trick.

Well, that's the point. They didn't have to. The deal was, that the investors send the BTC to the scammer team and the scammers promised to send the BTC to the escrowers. FAIL!

Where does it say the funds passed by an adress not controlled by the escrows ?
Nowhere ! And it changes everything.

[CryptoMrM]

Let me get this clear.
Was it clear from the beginning that investors will send the BTC to the scamteam first and the scamteam said "we will forward the invested BTC every 8 hours to our escrowers"?
Are you kidding me? Then why do you fucking have escrowers? LOL... how stupid can someone be, to join this scam as an escrower, if this was the deal? The job #1 of an escrower is to get the money directly from the investors. If you don't follow this rule #1 as an escrower, then your are guilty in my eyes.

I would normally agree with you 100% but the escrow agreement was right there in front of everyones eyes to read. Everything was written in black and white. Its not as if the escrows tried to dupe anyone here. Everything looked to be running smooth. Btc was going to the escrow address like it should and then all the sudden a big rush came in. The Ascendancyteam decided to scam.

That is not the #1 job of the escrow. Escrows can be used in a number of different ways, it's your job to interpret that.

Maybe you all need baby sitting and want an escrow which doesn't allow you to invest in 'complex products'. Would you like your abilities restricted? I was able to see this window as a potential hazard, especially when combined with other factors and avoided it. The proof is in the pudding, so to speak.

Unfortunately it's incidents like these that lead to increased regulation, reduced innovation and less flexibility/opportunities for the rest of us. Don't mess around with these things unless you know what you're doing or are willing to except the consequences!

[altcoinrich]

How did that scammer change the btc address from the escrow address without let you guys know? There must be some system(website) trick.

Well, that's the point. They didn't have to. The deal was, that the investors send the BTC to the scammer team and the scammers promised to send the BTC to the escrowers. FAIL!

LMAO, why escrows trust the scammers? Escrows were too naive to trust someone without real ID? It is serious, escrows can make faults.

[CryptoMrM]

Nothing says funds would pass before to an adress not watched by the escrowers, which seems crazy and irresponsible. Why not simply an adress with a 3 of 4 keyholders ?
Escrowers seem legit but do lack responsability and on my part do not feel trustworthy for this activity that they do not practice properly.

That's common sense. If you see an address to send BTC to which is different than the stated escrow address. Guess what? It's not the escrow address.

See previous posts on responsibilities of escrows.

Where does it say the funds passed by an adress not controlled by the escrows ?
Nowhere ! And it changes everything.

It says very clearly in the escrow document: "All funds sent through our website will stay/be converted to Bitcoin if necessary. Bitcoin funds will be transferred over to the Escrow address every 8 hours in order to reduce the number of API requests."

[SanFrancisco]

Let me get this clear.

Was it clear from the beginning that investors will send the BTC to the scamteam first and the scamteam said "we will forward the invested BTC every 8 hours to our escrowers"?
Are you kidding me? Then why do you fucking have escrowers? LOL... how stupid can someone be, to join this scam as an escrower, if this was the deal? The job #1 of an escrower is to get the money directly from the investors. If you don't follow this rule #1 as an escrower, then your are guilty in my eyes.

I would normally agree with you 100% but the escrow agreement was right there in front of everyones eyes to read. Everything was written in black and white. Its not as if the escrows tried to dupe anyone here. Everything looked to be running smooth. Btc was going to the escrow address like it should and then all the sudden a big rush came in. The Ascendancyteam decided to scam.

Then why in gods name did the escrowers join this scam? If the deal is INVESTOR -> SCAMMERS -> ESCROW then you never do escrow! The escrowers should be blamed, too.

Nothing says funds would pass before to an adress not watched by the escrowers, which seems crazy and irresponsible. Why not simply an adress with a 3 of 4 keyholders ?
The "diagram" does not show this not anything else.
Escrowers seem legit but do lack responsability and on my part do not feel trustworthy for this activity that they do not practice properly.

How did that scammer change the btc address from the escrow address without let you guys know? There must be some system(website) trick.

Well, that's the point. They didn't have to. The deal was, that the investors send the BTC to the scammer team and the scammers promised to send the BTC to the escrowers. FAIL!

Where does it say the funds passed by an adress not controlled by the escrows ?
Nowhere ! And it changes everything.

It was supposed to be here, I guess: https://ascendancy.io/escrow.pdf

Google Cache: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://ascendancy.io/escrow.pdf

[Wolf Rainer]

Nothing says funds would pass before to an adress not watched by the escrowers, which seems crazy and irresponsible. Why not simply an adress with a 3 of 4 keyholders ?
Escrowers seem legit but do lack responsability and on my part do not feel trustworthy for this activity that they do not practice properly.

That's common sense. If you see an address to send BTC to which is different than the stated escrow address. Guess what? It's not the escrow address.

See previous posts on responsibilities of escrows.

Where does it say the funds passed by an adress not controlled by the escrows ?
Nowhere ! And it changes everything.

It says very clearly in the escrow document: "All funds sent through our website will stay/be converted to Bitcoin if necessary. Bitcoin funds will be transferred over to the Escrow address every 8 hours in order to reduce the number of API requests."

Wheres that document? Why that wasn't declared on the first page of ann and why the three escrows trusted in a annon person? The escrows are going to lose all the good reputation they have if they dont refund everyone.

[SanFrancisco]

Nothing says funds would pass before to an adress not watched by the escrowers, which seems crazy and irresponsible. Why not simply an adress with a 3 of 4 keyholders ?
Escrowers seem legit but do lack responsability and on my part do not feel trustworthy for this activity that they do not practice properly.

That's common sense. If you see an address to send BTC to which is different than the stated escrow address. Guess what? It's not the escrow address.

See previous posts on responsibilities of escrows.

Where does it say the funds passed by an adress not controlled by the escrows ?
Nowhere ! And it changes everything.

It says very clearly in the escrow document: "All funds sent through our website will stay/be converted to Bitcoin if necessary. Bitcoin funds will be transferred over to the Escrow address every 8 hours in order to reduce the number of API requests."

Wheres that document? Why that wasn't declared on the first page of ann and why the three escrows trusted in a annon person? The escrows are going to lose all the good reputation they have if they dont refund everyone.

Google Cache: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://ascendancy.io/escrow.pdf

[Wolf Rainer]

Nothing says funds would pass before to an adress not watched by the escrowers, which seems crazy and irresponsible. Why not simply an adress with a 3 of 4 keyholders ?
Escrowers seem legit but do lack responsability and on my part do not feel trustworthy for this activity that they do not practice properly.

That's common sense. If you see an address to send BTC to which is different than the stated escrow address. Guess what? It's not the escrow address.

See previous posts on responsibilities of escrows.

Where does it say the funds passed by an adress not controlled by the escrows ?
Nowhere ! And it changes everything.

It says very clearly in the escrow document: "All funds sent through our website will stay/be converted to Bitcoin if necessary. Bitcoin funds will be transferred over to the Escrow address every 8 hours in order to reduce the number of API requests."

Wheres that document? Why that wasn't declared on the first page of ann and why the three escrows trusted in a annon person? The escrows are going to lose all the good reputation they have if they dont refund everyone.

Google Cache: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://ascendancy.io/escrow.pdf

So there was no escrows at all, it was all pure negligence. "Hey im the escrow so you are safe, but I will not hold the funds, the funds will be hold by the annon person who is selling the coins". "Im the police officer, you are safe, but I will not stop the crimes, im just going to give the bad guy my weapond and hope that he dont kill anyone.".

[CryptoMrM]

Wheres that document? Why that wasn't declared on the first page of ann and why the three escrows trusted in a annon person? The escrows are going to lose all the good reputation they have if they dont refund everyone.

Someone posted a Google cache above ^ I have the PDF still open in my browser.

I believe the addition of escrows was an added feature after the ANN (not sure though). Other than that, I presume because they're scammers and don't want to make it glaringly obvious they are trying to scam you.

I understand some people might object to the escrows providing their services but they're hardly complicit in this.

So there was no escrows at all, it was all pure negligence. "Hey im the escrow so you are safe, but I will not hold the funds, the funds will be hold by the annon person who is selling the coins". "Im the police officer, you are safe, but I will not stop the crimes thats your job".

As I've said there was an escrow agreement in place. That does not mean the funds are always held in escrow. There is a difference.

[SanFrancisco]

Google Cache: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://ascendancy.io/escrow.pdf

Bitcoin funds will be transferred over to the Escrow address every 8 hours in order to
reduce the number of API requests.

"Reduce number of API requests"... LOL. Jesus...

So, what the scammers actually did: They received the BTC through their website to non-public addresses, then they sent 0.5% (or what ever) of the received BTC to the escrow address every 8 hours and kept the 95.5% of all investments for drugs and hookers..

[whynotbit]

Let me get this clear.
Was it clear from the beginning that investors will send the BTC to the scamteam first and the scamteam said "we will forward the invested BTC every 8 hours to our escrowers"?
Are you kidding me? Then why do you fucking have escrowers? LOL... how stupid can someone be, to join this scam as an escrower, if this was the deal? The job #1 of an escrower is to get the money directly from the investors. If you don't follow this rule #1 as an escrower, then your are guilty in my eyes.

I would normally agree with you 100% but the escrow agreement was right there in front of everyones eyes to read. Everything was written in black and white. Its not as if the escrows tried to dupe anyone here. Everything looked to be running smooth. Btc was going to the escrow address like it should and then all the sudden a big rush came in. The Ascendancyteam decided to scam.

That is not the #1 job of the escrow. Escrows can be used in a number of different ways, it's your job to interpret that.

Maybe you all need baby sitting and want an escrow which doesn't allow you to invest in 'complex products'. Would you like your abilities restricted? I was able to see this window as a potential hazard, especially when combined with other factors and avoided it. The proof is in the pudding, so to speak.

Unfortunately it's incidents like these that lead to increased regulation, reduced innovation and less flexibility/opportunities for the rest of us. Don't mess around with these things unless you know what you're doing or are willing to except the consequences!

I can be irresponsible and assume my consequences, I say it now, I do not "need" any funds back from the 3 escrowers, but I just find it unbelievable to escrow while you know there is a timelapse impossible to overwatch and "police".
I will surely know bitcointalk escrows can be as irresponsible as me (lol) and hold no real value except as a make-up/trompe l'oeil, which is not their original purpose.
Who can say except for their reputation (trust) that escrows are not part of the scam (I do not "believe" in that schema, but to highlight the fact it is not secure.)
Probably for a lot it is a basis but many just continue. Each responsible in a way. Trusted escrow companies with real backups, founders and team made public, white paper not just being Word, a true team already gathered, a project roadmap solid and not hastened.
Anyway, not holding grudges to anyone here excepted the obvious scammers.
I hope this lesson will be of use to everybody, investors, escrowers, team members.
Edit : I apologize to the escrowers, I did not read the contract fully and just saw the PDF document. Still, for me it is not escrow activity you are doing. Like I do read my every disclaimers each time I will in crypto since it has no value