Webmasters all over are having problems today as they try to withdraw money or use their ATM cards associated with their ePassporte only to find that those cards no longer work.  Not to oversimplify a very fucked up situation but basically all those people with money in ePassporte are fucked.

Some say this was expected for a long time now and they are surprised it’s just now happening but yet others are out thousands and thousands of dollars.  Anyone with any money in their “virtual visa” account are said to be fucked.  They can’t access any of that money and they aren’t sure when if ever they will be able to.

I remember the day I seen a message from the people who run the Vivid Cash program which said they will no longer off ePass as a payment method “for the protection of their affiliates”.  If that wasn’t the writing on the wall, don’t know what to tell you.   But perhaps it was the brilliant move to release a  movie about yourself that hints at some mob connections.  Real brilliant there.   Glad I was never stupid enough to store any of my money in an ePass account.

But it fucking sucks that a shit ton of webmasters did and now they may very well never see tens of thousands of dollars of their own money.

From ePassporte – IMPORTANT MESSAGE REGARDING YOUR EPASSPORTE ACCOUNT From: Christopher Mallick, Owner, ePassporte.com

Dear ePassporte Account Holders, Please be advised that, at 12:00 PM PDT today, September 2, 2010, we were notified that effective immediately, Visa International has suspended our banking partner’s (St. Kitts Nevis Anguilla National Bank) ePassporte Visa program.

The ePassporte e-Wallet program continues to be up and running, except funds cannot be transferred between your Visa Account and your e-Wallet. At this time ePassporte can no longer issue Visa Cards, and the ability for our Account Holders to make point of sale purchases and withdraw funds from ATMs has also been suspended. At this time we do not know why this drastic action was taken by Visa. To us, it is unconscionable that such action would be taken without the opportunity for ePassporte to fully understand Visa’s reasons and to be able to take all steps necessary to keep our program running the way it has so successfully done for over 7 years. But that is what Visa has done. As soon as we have more information we will be in contact with you. In the meantime please be assured that your funds are safe. We are very sorry for the short notice and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. The ePassporte team is working diligently to rectify this situation. We kindly ask you to bear with us while we work through this issue.

Please feel free to contact us via the message center or at our call center, should you have any questions, comments or concerns. Thank You, Christopher Mallick