Our 2-year anniversary is coming up

[MatrixWatch]

In just two months we will be celebrating our 2-year anniversary at MatrixWatch.org (May, 2005)! :applause:

Looking Back
What an amazing two years it has been. We have grown tremendously, helped facilitate the shut down of hundreds of matrix scams, jousted with matrix supporters until their forums shut down, and virtually chased the matrix sites off the North American continent. We have seen the collapse of large matrix sites such as EzExpo and GotMatrix, and we have helped to show the world that those who supported and operated those scams could never fulfill their promises.

And who could forget about our lawsuits?!? The lawsuits have not only drawn the attention of government officials and policy makers, but they have also caused large, international payment complanies to rethink servicing get-rich-quick schemes. This is significant because it means that we are changing the way that worldwide e-commerce functions! How's that for changing the future! :eek:

At the present time our influence has grown to the point where we have teams of volunteers producing the same results in the United Kingdom and Australia. The upcoming months will no doubt carry with them more opportunities for us to influence the policy makers in those countries and beyond. Several other MatrixWatch members have come forward to file lawsuits of their own. Also, thousands of matrix victims have received refunds and/or restitution while those who scammed them are on the run! lol

How Far We Have come
When I first started this site back in 2003 I wanted to get the word out on these matrix scams because I had been the victim of one (EzExpo). I found that most of the online discussion forums out there where owned by matrix administrators, and they were not allowing the truth about these scams to surface. Knowing very little about the law, web programming, or public relations I started this little project called Matrix Watch as a pun off other watchdog organizations such as judicial watch, jhuman-rights watch, etc. I also filed a lawsuit against the matrix site that scammed me, its owners, and the payment processors which I believed where aiding and abetting the scam. Anyone who wanted to join the lawsuit, debate about the matrix sites, or get advice before joining one was welcome. In contrast to the other matrix-related forums, my forums would be open to both sides of the debate. The whole project attracted lots of attention, and before long I was doing interviews with MSNBC, the WB News Network, and various other news agencies. :D

That was two years ago, and I must say that things have grown far beyond where I thought they would. Honestly, none of it would have been possible without the courageous efforts of those who have stood beside me: Mercinary, Concerned, Jokach, Ycchen, Weirdid, Arzel, Maxpower, and many others. :bow: These are the people who made standing up to matrix scammers a common thing to do. And believe me.... It wasn't always like that. There was a time where speaking out against a large matrix site would get your computer hacked and your address posted on a public forum. People used to be afraid to stand up to scammers, but this team of volunteers here at our site made it much easier for victims to come forward. :cool:

I want to commend this awesome team of my supporters and friends, and I will always remember their efforts. :weep:


Now, how should we celebrate our two-year anniversary? I was thinking that we could bring back the veterans and reflect upon how things have gone. Perhaps we could ruminate upon our successes and plan where we should be headed from here.

Feel free to chime in here on this thread and share your ideas. Also, share a memory that you have of Matrix Watch. It would be fun to look back upon the past two years with you. :D

:)

[mercinary]

Good post Watchdog.

I vote for a kegger!

-Merc

[Arzel]

Hello Everyone and Congratulations on 2 years of fighting against the Matrix.

It has been a while since I have been on these boards, and few probably remember me, but I am glad to have been there in the beginning. Unfortunately I have been quite busy the past year with my job and unable to participate as I had in the past.

[MatrixWatch]

Yeah!!!! Arzel! Great to hear from you again. It would be great to catch up.

Feel free to take a walk down memory lane with us and share some of your memories about what things were like in the beginning.

For those of you who don't know Arzel, he was one of the first members to jump on the management team here at MatrixWatch and strategize with us. He is also a mathematics wizard and thus was one of the first architects of the mathematical arguments we put forward against the matrix owners (ycchen probably remembers him). Arzel was stood by me in the beginning, when it was only a few of us against thousands of matrix supporters. The matrix sites were making money back then, and things were so much different from now!

Arzel, I'm glad to report that the team here at MatrixWatch has carried on the legacy. The matrix sites never did rebound from the crash we predicted they would undergo. Many people have received their money back through both direct refunds and our lawsuits. What you supported in the beginning continued to bear fruit, and I hope that our continued efforts have made you proud to be a part of the formation of MatrixWatch.org.

Looking forward to hearing from you, and the others who will be coming back to say hello.

[concerned]

Yeah, it is great to see Arzel. Haven't heard from him in a while. I think as part of the 2 year celebration, we should have a memories thread where the old members can reminesce, and the rest of the members can get a sort of history lesson on the foundation of Matrixwatch. My idea is to allow Watchdog, myself, Arzel, Peterdragin, Hurley, MaxPower, and any other founding members as well as our newer leadership have write access to a thread, and allow everyone else to read it. That way, nobody can hijack the thread, and it allows people to learn the history. This could be somewhat of a reunion special like all the TV shows do. Do we know if this is possible?

[Arzel]

Memories.

Although not specifically the thread I will share my memories.

I first learned of the matrix world about 2 and a half years ago. A co-worker told me about these incredible sites where you could "buy" a computer or some other high end electronic for as little as $10 to $50. He was considering getting in on one of these deals and asked me what I thought about it.

It didn't take long for me to realize what they were about, and that very few would ever get the said item at all, and if they did it would be much longer than they ever thought. During that time matrix sites were popping up like weeds, but EZExpo was by far the largest that I knew of, and their forum was a haven of hype. The problems to come to EZExpo had not yet started to become obvious, largely due to the fact that most people were blinded by the thought of making it rich.

My initial trek into the forums was to offer some statistical light onto the matrix denziens. This was not well recieved. None of my mathmatical formulas or logical thought was accepted at first, and I was very close to being banned a number of times.

My only goal was to try and save these people from throwing their money away. After a couple of months a few people started to see what I was saying. Some also came and tried to do exactly what I was doing. One of these people was Watchdog, who after an initial dip into EZExpo realized that he would probably never recieve his item. There may have been a couple others, but he is the only one I remember at the time saying the same things that I was saying. However he took it to the next level and sued.

As a non-investor, and probably the only non-investor in the forums, I didn't have that option, but once he started the ball rolling I provided him whatever statistical advice he needed to help his cause. By this time he had started this site and it was quite exciting. The fury between the matrix sites and the few of us was quite intense (I believe MaxPower and Peterdragin were also involved at this time as well).

The next few months we predicted correctly the colapse of several matrix sites and more and more people were beginning to see what we were saying. Some of the more delusional blamed us for the downfall of many of those matrix sites, but I like to believe that we saved at least some of them from loosing even more money.

I fell out of the loop the following fall, but I will always feel good that I was able to help bring down many of the matrix sites, unfortunately a fool and his money are soon parted, and the scams continue under different names.

Congratulations on 2 years, and good job to all those that continue to help others not fall into the trap of these scams.

~Arzel

[MatrixWatch]

Thanks Arzel. Great summary. I hope to also hear from Hurley, Peterdragin, and Maxpower as well.

Now, Concerned, didn't you join us around that time?

[Arzel]

Yes I think Concerned was around in the early days as well. I must not have talked to him as much as the others though. I would like to here his story of the early days as well.

[hurley9192]

Hello Hello to all involved...it's been awhile as well. It's nice to look back and see that when all was said and done, the matrix people were scammers looking for a quick buck. Greg from Gotmatrix ended up scamming most of his customers and most sites were quickly shut down once they got going. Congrats to Applematrix for their "girls gone wild" theme that roped in a few unsuspecting people before running off with their money.

Anyways, it was great being an ebay watchdog and representing on the scammers. In the end, they switched over to their other "get rich quick" scheme of egold.

[concerned]

Yeah, I was around in the early days as well, but I think I found this site shortly after it was started, maybe about 1 month or so. I started by shopping on ebay for some golf clubs. I kept seeing ads for a miracle way to get cheap clubs from a site called rsient.com. I was curious about the ads on ebay, and they all said that there was this "secret website" out there that nobody knows about. Well, I am not that stupid. I wasn't going to pay for the site, because I knew I could do some searching and finally find it out there. After about 1 or 2 days, I continued to shop around for my clubs, and saw another ebay ad. I noticed that the guy had a lot of negative feedback. I was interested to see why someone was very bad at ebay sales, and read his feedback. One angry customer was so mad, that the feedback he left the URL in his feedback. I looked at rsient and saw their spreadsheet with their list. It took me about 3 seconds to do the math in my head and see that matrix sites were a scam. I became interested in figuring out why people kept bidding on this guy's ads. After all, if they would have read the feedback, the information was free. I assumed that the bidders must be new, and didn't know about how ebay worked. I also wanted to know how someone would even think about bidding on an item from a person that had over 60% of their feedback be negative. I couldn't comprehend that someone would allow themselves to get scammed like that. I started emailing the bidders and telling them to stop bidding because the information was already in their feedback.

As time went by, there were more sellers, and they all had that information in their feedback, but people were still bidding. It was heartbreaking to see people think with their wallets instead of their brains. Then there was this one guy that bid very high, like around $100 for the link. I emailed him, and he replied and told me he was just trying to stop others from winning the auction (which is something we don't condone our users do). We emailed eachother for a while, and that was it. The next week, I found Matrixwatch, and joined. My username was created because I was truely a concerned person and didn't like seeing people get robbed like that. I originally signed up just to read the threads, but soon after the pro matrix people were sounding like a bunch of desperate people trying to scam their way through life, and I coulnd't resist. I started to argue with the pro matrix people in a way that the moderators at the time probably couldn't keep up with me. I let everything be said, and I said exaclty what I thought. I basically called it like I saw it. I never cared what others thought of my posts, and I still don't. I guess that is why I was welcomed in as a moderator a few months later.

The very funny thing about my story, was that after about 3 months, Hurly and I started talking. It turned out, that the person I emailed at ebay 3 months earlier was him. We worked together here for 3 months and didn't know that we had talked to eachother before we both found this site.

One last thing Arzel. I am also someone that did not become a victim. I came here only to help others, because it seemed like the right thing to do.

[MatrixWatch]

The single most effective element which has made this "Matrix Watch" project so successful are the volunteers. All I really did was set up a web-hosting account and register a domain name. The members who came here afterward are the ones who made all the difference.

Arzel, Ycchen, Peterdragin
In the beginning it was the superheroes like Arzel, Hurley, Peterdragin, Maxpower, and ycchen who sometimes spent over 10 hours a day working on the foundation of this project. These aren't ordinary run-of-the-mill people either. They are grown and seasoned professionals who donated their time and expertise to help make this site have very clear points that were well supported. They said things that were very visionary, but very unpopular, yet when the criticism started flying they didn't waver in their stance. Now, THAT is character! In order for a unique project like Matrix Watch to get the attention it needed, we had to prove a point with facts, figures and evidence. "Arzel" and "ycchen", especially, have worked so hard to produce great flowcharts and spreadsheets showing people that they will lose their money if they give it over to a scam matrix site. They are also respected professionals in their fields outside MatrixWatch.org, and thus I have valued and appreciated every minute that they have given to help our cause. Without these guys it would have been impossible to get to where we are today.

Concerned
"Concerned" has one of the best memories of anyone I know. He has the unique ability of putting matrix scammers in a corner and getting them to contradict themselves, which is very effective in demonstrating our claims to the public. This is a feat to accomplish, and Concerned did it so well that even powerful members of the matrix community began to respect him. You can't pull a fast one on Concerned, and he will remember every little detail about a matrix site, even long after it has been taken down off the web. This is why I began calling him the "matrix intelligence chief". He's very sharp, and still is. Matrix owners, and many scammers for that matter, often build a cultish following to protect their empire. This group of supporters will attack anyone who challenges the matrix owner, which makes it very difficult to reason with them. Even when people like Arzel and ycchen are making great arguments, the matrix fans still will not listen. It takes a person like Concerned to rip the rug out from under them and SHOW them that the person they are following is full of bull. Concerned has been one of the most criticized by our adversaries because he has the toughest job. He too has looked criticism right in the face and not allowed it to phase him. I don't know where MatrixWatch.org would be without him.

Hurley
Hurley came around at about the same time as Concerned and he helped out with the "ebay watch dogs", a team spearheaded by peterdragin which reported matrix-related auctions to eBay for cancellation. Hurley worked around the clock to help wipe out matrix sites and make sure that they didn't take anyone's money. He is brilliant with numbers also, which helped him to make some awesome arguments against the claims of matrix owners and supporters. Hurley is also a very strong Christian, and he applies his faith in very socially-responsible ways on behalf of others. He is a testimony to what Christ came to bring to this world, and Hurley's character has been an inspiration to just about everyone here.

Mercinary and Jokach
Then, along came Mercinary and Jokach. The arrival of these two geniuses is like the moment in battle when the Calvary rides in to save the day. Although we were doing really well in informing a large audience against the matrix sites, we needed a stronger, more organized foundation to be able to move forward. Furthermore, some of our "veterans" such as Hurley, Peterdragin, Maxpower, and Arzel were retiring to pursue other projects. Mercinary and Jokach infused a huge dose of strategy and IT technology into this effort, and virtually everything that you see today is a product of their handiwork. What is even more amazing is that they are two of the most humble individuals that you will ever meet, even though they have done things that are currently shifting the policies of online-auction and e-commerce companies. Mercinary and Jokach have also dug in deep and stuck to a strategy for over a year now-- the "auction watchdogs". This team is now preventing scams in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia; and it continues to grow...and grow...and grow. These guys are amazing. And Jokach is a computer wizard extraordinaire.

There are also some "newbies" who are making waves within our community. "Weirdid" and Avago181 show no signs of slowing down in what they are accomplishing here at Matrix Watch. Keep a look out for these guys on the forums here. They are known for their quick wits, sharp intelligence, and respectable work ethic.


As I said above, NOTHING would have been possible without these guys. They have made this organization what it is today, and THOUSANDS of people have benefitted from what they have done (and are doing). Scammed victims have received the justice they sought for, and the money they lost, because of the daily efforts of these volunteers. That's right, volunteers! The time they have given to others has been out of the generosity of their own hearts. I am humbled every day by these men, and I am proud to have worked alongside each and every one of them.

Happy two-years guys. :)

[Matrix-News.Net]

Congradulations, my 2 year anniversary was 2.26.2005... http://web.archive.org/web/20030402181634/http://www.matrix-news.net/ bring back some memories :D

[ycchen]

Wow, that's was the glory day of matrix in the U.S. :D

[webmaster]

Congrats, I came here a year ago. :)

[MatrixWatch]

Congradulations, my 2 year anniversary was 2.26.2005... http://web.archive.org/web/20030402181634/http://www.matrix-news.net/ bring back some memories :D

Good to see you matrix-news! Hey, now that things are winding down with the U.S. sites, what do you think about opening the books on some of the things that happened between our two sites?

Sort of like when the FBI releases files from before 19XX after a certain number of years go by. It would be neat to remember some of those encounters and see what was going on behind the scenes.

Come.. Let's sit around the old round table and look back over the past two years. :)

[Matrix-News.Net]

Heh... sure, there isn't much to open up though. I lost a bunch of money in a bunch of different matrix sites, but I made a fortune overcharging the crap out of all those eager new matrix business owners for advertising and such. I was amazed how these people jumped at the opportunity to pay $300+ and have their banner rotated with 4 other banners at the top of the page for a month. Let's see, what else... I was developing all sorts of new things for the website that never got the chance to debut such as a cycle calculator like the one on this site, new voting system, more integration with the forum, etc. I actually put some thought into creating my own matrix-site, advertising it like no other and making some really good money. But I knew that one day the **** would hit the fan, and I was not willing to deal with the consequences that would follow. All in all, the time I put into the site paid off 100x over with none other than money. Kind of ironic how it works though...
-Ill informed, optimistic matrix business owner opens up a matrix site to make some money.
-Smart, sneaky 15 year old opens matrix-news.net to create an index of matrix sites and to bring it's customers together into a big community.
-The above owner, being ill informed, invests an unheard of amount of money to place his banner on the above 15 year olds website to be only displayed 1/5th of the time as it is in a rotation.
-Ill informed, optimistic customer invests in the above matrix site.
-The above customer basically gets ripped off and never cycles.
-The above customer sues above matrix site, gets his money back and the matrix site ends up losing more money than they made.
My way of making money: Completely legal (minus tax laws) and both parties are happy (matrix owners seemed oblivious)
Their way of making money: Debatable but can easily be considered illegal

Matrix site owners seem to be getting a raw deal here... they have it worse than everybody.

Moral of the story...
Part 1: Do some research before not only investing large amounts of money in services that aren't worth nearly that much, but also before opening up your own business.
Part 2: Before you get sucked into a scheme like this, do some thinking or consult some local wisemen.

[MatrixWatch]

Sounds like you haven't changed much at all.

[Matrix-News.Net]

What do you mean I haven't changed much at all? That is all stuff that happened in the past, nothing I can change now. You asked what was going on behind the scenes, and that's exactly what I gave you ;-) I believe I posted the how the websites demise happened some time ago on this forum, try a search :)

[MatrixWatch]

Sorry about that.. It was just a joke. I probably should have put a smiley face or a "J/K" in there somewhere. :)

You must admit, though, that people on both sides of the fence would take offense to a couple of the remarks you made. :)

[Matrix-News.Net]

Sorry about that.. It was just a joke. I probably should have put a smiley face or a "J/K" in there somewhere. :)

You must admit, though, that people on both sides of the fence would take offense to a couple of the remarks you made. :)
Yes, that is very true but I am an honest person. I'm just speaking the truth, no offence is meant... :D

[tcb1969a]

Hmm....Well, I am back.....Sort of anyways. Been awhile since I have visited the site, nice to see it is still here. I probably have been the most beat up matrix owner out there on this site, and rightfully so I suppose.

I suppose I was an idiot for making a matrix site and not fully investigating how the business model worked. But I am man enough to admit that I was wrong for starting my Matrix Sites. Though I was wrong, I will add one thing. Sometimes people are willing to risk their money no matter what anyone does to try to change their mind. All we can do is give facts to people, and hope they make a wise choice. But in the end, it is their money to throw away. No matter what you do, some people will never learn.

Also, I would like to state, that some of us were honest people who made a stupid mistake opening up and operating a matrix site. That doesn't make us bad people, just idiots at the time. Some site owners think they can add a twist to a matrix site that will make it work, but in the end they fail, for after all the business model is doomed to fail.

One last thing, the only ones that can run a Ponzi/Pyramid schemes is the US Government. AKA Social Security......hmm....Sorry just had to add that...lol


Take care,
Jerry

(edited for spelling)

[sisco50]

Hmm....Well, I am back.....Sort of anyways. Been awhile since I have visited the site, nice to see it is still here. I probably have been the most beat up matrix owner out there on this site, and rightfully so I suppose.

I suppose I was an idiot for making a matrix site and not fully investigating how the business model worked. But I am man enough to admit that I was wrong for starting my Matrix Sites. Though I was wrong, I will add one thing. Sometimes people are willing to risk their money no matter what anyone does to try to change their mind. All we can do is give facts to people, and hope they make a wise choice. But in the end, it is their money to throw away. No matter what you do, some people will never learn.

Also, I would like to state, that some of us were honest people who made a stupid mistake opening up and operating a matrix site. That doesn't make us bad people, just idiots at the time. Some site owners think they can add a twist to a matrix site that will make it work, but in the end they fail, for after all the business model is doomed to fail.

One last thing, the only ones that can run a Ponzi/Pyramid schemes is the US Government. AKA Social Security......hmm....Sorry just had to add that...lol


Take care,
Jerry

(edited for spelling)

I quite agree with the SSA running a ponzi scheme but I'll bet dollars to donuts that one person here will disagree. hehehehehe ycchen, where are you? :)

[ycchen]

Welcome back, tcb1969a! Please try to stick around and help us fight the "international" matrix scams especially those in the U.K and Australia. :) And we are now extend our investigation into doublers, which is just a "cycle of 2" matrix. Unlike matrix, most doublers garantee cycled time or fixed daily interest (like YMMSS, Empowerism and PIPS). That makes doubler scams more attractive to speculators (and also misinformed/recruited newbies) but make it more vulnerable than the matrix scams.

Of course, our eBay/Yahoo watchdogs team is still working very hard on reporting auction listings that are against eBay and Yahoo listing policies.

Anyways, just to keep you update on what we are doing and hope to see you more often on matrixwatch ..:)

[tcb1969a]

I guess I have been out of it for awhile. Never heard of things called Doubler. Could you explain that concept to me a little more...?


Thanks,
Jerry

(edited for spelling)

[MatrixWatch]

We actually have an entire sub-forum devoted to them now. It is part of our "Other Internet Scams" section. Just go to the main forums page and scroll down a bit.

There are some other sub-forums there for randomizers, etc. As the matrix sites died, they sort of evolved into these other schemes that go by other names, utilize off-shore payment processors, and elude prosection in very cunning ways. In my opinion, these schemes are more dangerous than the matrix sites because victims have a harder time seeking restitution as soon as they realize they've been had.

[tcb1969a]

So are you concentrating more on these other scams than Matrix sites since it would appear that Matrix sites are all but dried up.....?

[MatrixWatch]

It seems to be somewhat seasonal lately, and it goes back and forth.

[tcb1969a]

I see, I also don't notice that many HYIP sites out there either. I lost a lot of money with them, but oh well, I treated it as gambling, but I don't see those kind of sites anymore either.....It looks to me, but then again I haven't looked on the net in awhile, that most internet get-rich-schemes are fading fast, but then again I could be wrong....

[Arzel]

There are a few big Doubler programs out there masqurading as HYIP programs. The general concensus is that most HYIP programs are simply doubler in nature. The basic double is just a matrix with a cycle of 2.

The really big ones right now are PIPS and YMMSS.

YMMSS is starting to crash as the cycle times have been rising dramatically over the past few months. YMMSS is interesting in that if you even mention "Investment" in regards to that program everyone over there will scream at you "We are not an investerment!!!! We are a real business!" even though the only motivation to join is to double money to infinity.

PIPS is a different story. A truely global scheme involving several countries with a main base in Panama. They used to be headquartered in Malaysia, but apparently the Malaysian government has caught on and is putting pressue on them.

PIPS is quite secretive in its working making it difficult for people to determine what is going on, but the general concensus is that it is a huge Ponzi scheme and like YMMSS has breached the point where new members can support the pryamid. Expect to hear more about PIPS in the future.

I think one of the main differences you are seeing now, is that the setup for these scams has become much more involved. They go through some pretty great lengths to really give the impression of a real business with actual offices and corporate structure.

[MatrixWatch]

We need to add these new schemes to our FAQ section. Those definitions that Arzel gave are really solid.

[mikv]

wow, 2 years and still going strong, great job folks!

Though I haven't been posting as actively as I used to (work too hectic these days), I still come in and check out the latest as much as I can, and I've watched this site develop and expand since it's early days.

I used to like taking the fight to the owners and argue with them in thier own forums, those were days (I'm sure concerned remembers them) But as with everything, all good things must come to an end...lol.

Congratulations and keep fighting the good fight!

[MatrixWatch]

Our 2-year anniversary is coming up soon (May 14th). Thanks to all of you who made this effort successful and rewarding.