[Confirmed] Stromonic Clients In The Process Of Being Transferred To Leapswitch

FrankZ · March 2023

Previous titles:

Stromonic Now Requires ALL Client Accounts To Be Verified or Suspension Of Services May Result
Client Panel Blocked - Services Suspended - Maybe Even If You Provide KYC Info
Stromonic Has Deadpooled
Stromonic Has Deadpooled, No Wait, Now Maybe Migrating to LeapSwitch, Who Really Knows
[Confirmed] Stromonic Has Deadpooled, No Wait, Now Migrating to LeapSwitch

Latest Update:

@leapswitch said:
Interesting discussion and points everyone

We are taking over the clients/services not just in India but also in other locations which are not under our control. We are not looking to make money off this immediately and it will be hard to do so in the near future.

However, we have been in this industry for 16+ years now, we have seen hundreds of hosts shutdown and we know how badly genuine customers are affected by them. When I started out as a 15 year old kid designing websites, I have experienced the same and ended up losing data. Personally, I do not want Stromonic or any other customers to go through that, regardless of how much they paid.

My team is working 24x7 to make sure all services continue to work as is and customers are smoothly migrated onto our billing/support systems. We have already the shared/reseller hosting customers migrated to our servers. We are reaching out to all customers with Active Services about the next steps.

There will be no changes - IP, location, price - for VPS and Dedicated server customers in the near future. We will migrate everyone to our systems and then decide on what to do in the future. All customers will get full access to our 24x7 support teams via Helpdesk, Chat and Phone. We welcome everyone to Leapswitch and hope you stay with us forever

Any generic questions regarding the acquisition, further steps or Leapswitch in general, I am here for you.

Thanks!
Ishan

Followed by ....

Dear Frank,

We are delighted to inform you that Leapswitch Networks Pvt. Ltd. has acquired Stromonic Hosting, effective immediately. This acquisition marks a significant milestone in our ongoing commitment to providing top-quality hosting services to our esteemed customers.

As part of this acquisition, we will be moving all your servers and billing to Leapswitch Networks. Soon you will receive a separate email regarding migration. As of now, there are no changes in server locations, IPs or prices. We will reach out to you if anything changes.

We will be migrating your billing panel to our system, and you will receive separate login credentials for it. Please note that your old invoices will not be imported into the new system.

After the billing panel is migrated, there is an essential step that you need to complete. As part of our compliance with relevant laws and regulations, we require all our clients to complete the Know Your Customer (KYC) process. You will have 15 days to complete this KYC process. This process helps us verify your identity and maintain compliance with all relevant laws and regulations. You will receive a separate email with instructions on how to complete the KYC process, and we appreciate your cooperation in this matter.

We value your continued support of Leapswitch Networks Pvt. Ltd. and are excited to welcome you to our family of satisfied customers. We look forward to serving your hosting needs for many years to come.

Best Regards,
Team Leapswitch Networks Pvt. Ltd.

Original thread body:

It seems there is a new wrinkle with this provider. You can't see, manage, or cancel any of your services until you upload a government issued ID and proof of residence.

On client log-in.

Attention:

Please be aware that your account is not currently verified. From now all user accounts are required to be verified. To become verified please complete the following form and submit identification documents to us. All fields must be filled out before a submission can be reviewed.
Required documentation :

VALID Photo ID (National ID Card/Passport/Driving License/Pan Card/Aadhaar Card/Any other Government Issued ID)

Residence Proof (Utility Bill/Income Tax Return/Insurance Card/Latest Bank Statement) ISSUED WITHIN 6 MONTHS

Email:

Hello Frank Zappa,

We would like to inform you that, your account KYC verification is pending. Kindly login to your client area account and complete KYC verification.

Documents Required for KYC:

ID Card such as National ID/Passport/Driving License/Government Issued ID etc.
Address Proof such as Utility Bill, Bank Statement, Telephone Bill, Government Issued ID etc.
Kindly share the documents at earliest to verify your account with us. Ignoring the KYC may result in service suspension.

Regards,

Compliance Team

Stromonic Networks Pvt. Ltd.

I would like to hear why @Stromonic has taken this course of action, without notice, and locked clients out of their accounts, before taking further action.

Hello Customer,

We are sorry to inform you that, due to an ongoing legal battle between us and Indian authorities, we are facing fund crisis to pay our legal fees.
So, we can no longer run business operations due to this situation.
We would request you to take necessary backups of your data from your end. Our servers may turn offline shortly.
To migrate your domain please login into the below registry dashboard as per your domain registry.
OwnRegistrar: https://domain.stromonic.com
PublicDomainRegistry: https://cp.stromonic.com
Enom: https://access.enom.com

Your email address is same registered with us, and you may reset your password on registry page.
Regards,
Stromonic Team

Hold on now. Maybe not ....

Dear Customer,

Kindly ignore the previous email.
We would like to inform you that, we are migrating all our customers to LeapSwitch.com. All your active services/servers/domains will be migrated to LeapSwitch shortly.
You are requested to co-operate on this situation.

Regards,
Stromonic Team

I wonder what LeapSwitch has to say about this ? ....

Hi everyone,
As you may have seen in the email, @stromonic reached out to us to see if we can help keep the lights on. The services are back online, its a weekend past midnight in India so we have not really looked at what needs to be checked/fixed/migrated etc.

We will try to work through the weekend and go over all the services that Stromonic offers and reach out on a service/location basis to each customer. We will reach out to you latest by Monday night.

Please do not use leapswitch.com portals / support phone numbers / email addresses for any Stromonic related queries as our team needs time to go over everything. For now, please reach out via the Stromonic support system and @stromonic will continue to assist you.

Who are we?

Leapswitch Networks has was founded in December 2006 (as lacehost.com) and is incorporated in India and in the USA. We have 40+ employees across 3 offices in India and run 1000s of servers in Pune, Mumbai, Noida and in various locations in Europe and USA.
We are also the provider for Stromonic for their Mumbai, India region.

- Link -

EDIT: Due to the lack of communication from this provider I expect it would be prudent for everyone to be taking backups at this time. Title changed.
EDIT2: Title changed after service reported suspended by multiple members.
Lots more edits afterward.

vyas · March 2023

I received a communication from Stromonic today that as per Government of India rules, I have to submit my ID proof my Know Your Customer documents, etc. And they pointed to a government mandate that had come in April 2022. The notification says that it will become valid within 60 days from the date of the notification which means that by end of June 2022, that law had been enforced.

I do not have a problem with complying with the law. But the issue is about false advertisement and providing incomplete information. Stromonic as a service provider, failed in their duty to inform when they advertised on LES that Indian customers would have to submit their ID proofs after making a sale. They retro actively come up with this KYC requirement. This is false advertisement and now they're pointing me back to the law. I am going to cancel my services with them if not resolved . My concern is a provider making sales without providing factual or adequate information.

——-
Edit:
1. Question arises: was it ignorance, incompetence or false advertising?

As per email message from “Jay” from Stromonic,

“ The KYC is mandatory under No. 20(3)/2022-CERT-In, for clients having servers in Indian datacenter.”

Link to Government notification:

https://www.cert-in.org.in/PDF/CERT-In_Directions_70B_28.04.2022.pdf

Why only @stromonic ? What about @OVHcloud_APAC, @Abdullah , mikho (if he still have Mumbai NAT service, not tagging because of a previous post), @leapswitch and @Advin would not the rule apply for them also?
@BlaZe GST is okay as long as their revenues are below prescribed limit. The half drunk/ half hung over approach is the concern . My first invoice with @visualwebtechno did not have gst. Last year I paid - good sign that provider is growing revenues (or going legit)

BlaZe · March 2023

https://lowendspirit.com/discussion/comment/98586#Comment_98586

They haven't been collecting GST from Indian clients either. Might be a lot of legal mess as officials have become more strict and the taxation system has become more strict & vigilant.

https://babatax.com/gst-and-itr-frauds-will-be-detected-by-ai-and-machine-learning/

FrankZ · March 2023

@vyas said: I am going to cancel my services with them.

From what I saw in the client panel there is no way to cancel the service normally, without providing the required ID. I expect you could make a support ticket asking your service to be canceled.

This seems like a real bad move on Stromonic's part. I can just imagine the number of PayPal charge backs they are going to be hit with in the next couple of days.

vyas · March 2023

@BlaZe said:
https://lowendspirit.com/discussion/comment/98586#Comment_98586

They haven't been collecting GST from Indian clients either. Might be a lot of legal mess as officials have become more strict and the taxation system has become more strict & vigilant.

https://babatax.com/gst-and-itr-frauds-will-be-detected-by-ai-and-machine-learning/

Boy

Now that I re read that Sept 2022 discussion, there is a bigger issue.

@stromonic mentioned 90 percent of their clients are outside India. Which means they will have to file for LUT for which GST and PAN is needed. Dealt with that for four years as a consultant and now for gaathastory .

Crap there goes another provider

Advin · March 2023

@vyas said:
4. Why only @stromonic ? What about @OVHcloud_APAC, @Abdullah , mikho (if he still have Mumbai NAT service, not tagging because of a previous post), @leapswitch and @Advin would not the rule apply for them also?

We went through this specific document and looked into laws in India (as we wanted to be in compliance) before we opened an India location, just to make sure that we are taking the necessary steps and are keeping the necessary data/information. Nothing in the document states anything about requiring KYC for VPS providers, only for:

"(vi) The virtual asset service providers, virtual asset exchange providers and custodian wallet providers"

I'm not a lawyer or legal expert, but I simply don't see where there's anything about needing KYC for datacenter or VPS.

Here are the following providers with an India location:

Amazon Web Services
Vultr
Linode
DigitalOcean
Google Cloud
OVHCloud
LeapSwitch
ExtraVM
Advin Servers

Guess how many require ID? Precisely none of them. However, Stromonic is based within India which could change things. I am, again, not a legal professional or lawyer, but I don't see why they would need it and the specific document they linked makes no mention about needing KYC for datacenter/VPS.

vyas · March 2023

@Advin Thanks, clarifications and disclaimers both taken for what they are !!
Sorry I tagged other providers , but perspectives help. It cannot be “rule applies for one, not for others”
Leapswitch are India registered, AWS too have India entity IItC.. but lets see what response we get.

AlwaysSkint · March 2023

P.S. @vyas there is no plural of proof, AFAIK (although anything is possible in legal jargon!)

Neoon · March 2023

Seriously, they just did a sale and now this.

webz · March 2023

I was asked by Leapswitch too for KYC Compliance that was like 5 months ago

And I think it should be done by third-party id verifier like Hetzner do ?

vyas · March 2023

@webz said:
I was asked by Leapswitch too for KYC Compliance that was like 5 months ago

And I think it should be done by third-party id verifier like Hetzner do ?

Before or after making a sale?

webz · March 2023

@vyas said:

@webz said:
I was asked by Leapswitch too for KYC Compliance that was like 5 months ago

And I think it should be done by third-party id verifier like Hetzner do ?

Before or after making a sale?

I didn't saw their sale here so can't comment on that when it was done.

I was using their service prior knowing this site.

I commented because I think KYC is now mandatory for the service provider but yeah look like stromonic did it purposely after making a so tempting sale thread and then suddenly imposing the KYC rule.

febryanvaldo · March 2023

Already verified.

MichaelCee · March 2023

I would be more inclined to provide data (if I had a service) if it was a random spot check because of a VPN, not a full on KYC on everyone. To me that means the data is likely not being deleted at any point.

shallow · March 2023

dosai · March 2023

@shallow said:

Expired license.

Brueggus · March 2023

@dosai said:

@shallow said:

Expired license.

Fixed, thx.

bliss · March 2023

@Advin said: Guess how many require ID? Precisely none of them.

No in my case, vultr offered "free tier" weeks ago, but after days of approval, vultr demanded photos of government issued id card or passport or driver license, and credit card.

What really sucks is, after my uploading the photos, vultr appended one more thing, a photo of my holding the card.

I just refused the "one more thing".

As I expected that "free tier" is not always or really free.
By the way, in most of the time, emails from vultr even didn't bother to mention my user name, just starting the email with a "Hello,", and they were "assisting me to suspend my account".

Most impolite and repulsive provider I've ever seen.

webcraft · March 2023

Next step, you need to provide all this stuff to a central government agency and authenticate at your provider with that id. As brain dead as the indian lawmakers appear to be these days, I wouldn't be surprised if it was imposed on foreign entities and individuals as well.

lapua · March 2023

@visualwebtechno and @Abdullah statement please.

vyas · March 2023

@webcraft said:
Next step, you need to provide all this stuff to a central government agency and authenticate at your provider with that id. As brain dead as the indian lawmakers appear to be these days, I wouldn't be surprised if it was imposed on foreign entities and individuals as well.

I
Don’t understand why everyone in government is deemed brain dead. One of the smartest folks. Banned tik tok 2 years before many countries in rest of world did. Likewise for apps that google is now removing from play store.

Anyways there is a more comprehensive cyber security law coming. These are air pockets

bliss · March 2023

@vyas said: Likewise for apps that google is now removing from play store.

Google was banned in China about 10 years ago, not to mention Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WikiPedia, xxNews....
The ban of TikTok is a delayed reciprocal action done by countries led by US.
People can expect slews of CCP APPs to be banned.

People may want to use open source software as alternatives, just like Trump's truth social, which is (imho) above mediocre.

Encoders · March 2023

@FrankZ said:
This seems like a real bad move on Stromonic's part. I can just imagine the number of PayPal charge backs they are going to be hit with in the next couple of days.

oh boy here it comes!

Neoon · March 2023

I replied to the said email, no response yet.
Will see, how long it will last.

AuroraZero · March 2023

Here is the biggest problem I have with shit like this, especially when a government is involved, what standards are required to safe guard such data?

What standards are being utilized to keep it safe?

What is the vetting process on such systems?

How can I trust that this information won't be on every hacking website in less than 24 hours?

Does every company doing business in said country have to comply or just the ones based there?

This kind of thing is getting stupid in my opinion. Do I have to give you ID if I buy something from you in person?

rattlecattle · March 2023

This should serve as a warning to providers from opening an India location, unless this govt created mess is sorted out.
The hassles of doing business are simply not worth it. No wonder why Tesla wasn't able to open an India location, need to appease the Govt first.

salakis · March 2023

Hmm, was already mildly annoyed by the IPv6 downtime and the rushed and sudden IPv4 address swap, now this, don't feel entirely comfortable about sending this a provider which hasn't really convinced me with their reliability, so I guess this might be the end for me.

webcraft · March 2023

@AuroraZero said:
Here is the biggest problem I have with shit like this, especially when a government is involved, what standards are required to safe guard such data?

What standards are being utilized to keep it safe?

What is the vetting process on such systems?

How can I trust that this information won't be on every hacking website in less than 24 hours?

Does every company doing business in said country have to comply or just the ones based there?

This kind of thing is getting stupid in my opinion. Do I have to give you ID if I buy something from you in person?

If I remember some stories here of poorly created websites and some based on nulled software, you could send your private data right to the newspaper to be published. That process might take even longer than sending it to one of these hosts.

kheng86 · March 2023

Lol. No way I'm gonna give my sensitive info to such company and government. Please consider the practicability of your business going forward.

Fritz · March 2023

I'm gonna pass this. Not worth the effort.

vyas · March 2023

@rattlecattle said:
This should serve as a warning to providers from opening an India location, unless this govt created mess is sorted out.
The hassles of doing business are simply not worth it. No wonder why Tesla wasn't able to open an India location, need to appease the Govt first.

Great theory on Tesla, congratulations.

Now please explain how a disagreement with Government over how much technology should be imported versus locally made is related to web hosting ( semi knocked down kits versus completely knocked down kots in automotive parlance)

The mess is not government created, it is provider created who was caught with pants down for not complying with the law.