Prime Market has gone offline, and the fallout is already spreading to vendor shops. Dread administrator HugBunter says the market's disappearance is still unclear, but Torqon/OM, a provider that many vendors rushed to after losing their Prime shops, has now exit scammed.
What happened to Prime Market
Prime went offline suddenly, including vendor shops that Ace, the operator, was reportedly running for multiple vendors. HugBunter says there are conflicting accounts of what happened. Before the outage, there was evidence Ace was worried about arrest without explanation.
HugBunter does not describe Prime as a confirmed exit scam. He notes there were no significant funds in the market and that it had recently been added to the Superlist. His working theory is that something spooked Ace, or that he leaked something sensitive and left with whatever he could. An extortion message that appeared on Prime's clearnet landing page is believed to have come from a staff member, not Ace.
Torqon/OM exit scam
When Prime's vendor shops went down, many vendors scrambled to replace them and rushed to Torqon/OM. HugBunter says Torqon/OM had been removed from the community in the past after their server was hacked, and he did not know they were still operating. They have now exit scammed with what he describes as a good chunk of crypto.
Shops under Torqon/OM control that should be avoided include:
- simplesupplements
- NordicMedTech
- addyrus
- lsdexpress
- lapplisas
- evalena
- traplordatlantic's previous shop
HugBunter notes that traplordatlantic has launched a new shop; it is the previous one that should be avoided.
Why it matters
Exit scams often arrive in waves. When vendors lose funds in one market, some may take the opportunity to call it quits or try to recover losses elsewhere. That knock-on effect can put more users at risk. Prime's situation is a reminder that an offline market is not automatically an exit scam, but it is also not safe to assume the funds are coming back.
What to do now
Avoid the affected Torqon/OM shops and treat any new address claiming to be Prime as unverified. Check the Prime service page for status updates, and be sceptical of recovery offers or urgent migration messages. We will update this post as more information is confirmed.