If you were on the platform CamCokine, you know what I’m going to be talking about. The cam platform suddenly disappeared from the internet in September 2020, without a word of explanation. Since then, camgirls and clients find themselves facing a brick wall, with no income.
Yet, the site has announced a grand reopening with even sexier models. But what about those who were already using CamCokine and who have been without income since August? And the clients, who have paid their subscriptions?
CamCokine has been one of the French players in the sector for more than ten years. One of the major French live show sites. What customers appreciate most is that it offers private shows. Rare. You feel good, confident, comfortable. But then, like a discordant note in sweet music, the site suddenly closed in August 2020 without warning anyone.
And in particular, without paying the girls who had worked in the previous month and a half without being paid. Among them were participants in a contest this summer who did not receive their prize money. The outstanding invoices easily sum up to thousands and thousands of euros.
“Some girls had only CamCokine to live on, sometimes they were mothers. They found themselves destitute overnight.” A group of about twenty camgirls estimates their cumulative damage to be 35,000 euros. “Imagine if we added it up for all girls on the site.”
No news from CamCokine yet
It’s legitimate to wonder what could have happened to cause this. A hack? Site maintenance? This is what the person in charge of the site, Célia, announced to the sex workers. And 3 days later, the site was shut down and disappeared from the internet. Not reassuring. Especially since site maintenance would not last several months… So, after this cold shower, the girls organised themselves by opening a second forum to try to find out more.
CamCokine then multiplied the versions of the story in the following days to justify the closure of the site, and the non-payment of the camgirls’ invoices. An ex-moderator who allegedly stole 40,000 euros from the platform, a website theft, pressure on the manager, etc. “Even Covid-19!”, one of the girls laughed. “It’s difficult to get in touch with Célia: she deletes our messages on Twitter, doesn’t answer emails or phone calls… She only answers when we question her site on social networks. We’re in the dark, we have a new story every week.”
While CamCokine had committed to paying outstanding bills one month late, it did not. Instead, the camgirls received another email stating: “Due to the bankruptcy of the WireCard Bank (Germany), ‘the main method of payment for our customers’, making payments is impossible.” What is there to say…
A bankruptcy that backed camgirls into a corner
It’s easy to imagine the difficulties that CamCokine users have faced every day since then. No more income, leading to economic difficulties, and by extension, mental health difficulties (depression, eating disorders, etc.). You can also call on the Pineapple association if you need help. They specialise in giving mental health support to people working in the adult entertainment industry.
This unexpected and sudden closure has been catastrophic for a large number of women. Many counted on it for a living:
“Some camgirls have children to feed and have nobody to rely on.”, a former camgirl on the site explained. She continued: “People have had their bank accounts blocked, which means that it’s no longer possible to make a transfer or to have a cash card. Girls have received eviction notices because they could no longer pay their bills (…). We are always promised letters from lawyers, but receive nothing.”
With no money, it’s impossible for the girls who were working only on CamCokine to pay their bills (among other things)… and it’s therefore impossible for them to continue in the trade, or to start shows elsewhere. Trapped.
Another camgirl confessed: “For me, the toll is mainly on my mental health. The way [Célia] treated us, and the way she made up horrible things about me, it was emotionally overwhelming. I am under the care of a shrink and diagnosed with depression. I left my mental health there, I really regret it.”
Moreover, it also seems that the reception given to those who complain is not the most pleasant. From the testimonies of former CamCokine hostesses, and the messages consulted, Célia appears to be a manager with a quick temper.
“She could be insulting you (…) and then ten minutes later trying to dig herself out of her hole saying I love you. We’re talking about a woman in her 60s, right? Not a young girl”, one of the girls pointed out. “When she is happy, she is generous, otherwise she threatens people. According to her, it’s her husband taking control of her account at those times, but we don’t believe that. We have voice messages where she insults us”, continued her colleague on the other end of the phone.
And if you had the misfortune to be on another platform and promote it, watch out: “Célia insisted we had to work exclusively with CamCokine. But none of us did that. We’re not her employees; we haven’t signed a work contract with her. We’re service providers – that’s why we’re paid through invoices and not by a salary.”
The last point that also makes the girls angry is the way the site has promised them their money back. As 1 token was equal to €1, some had a rather full tip jar. And of course, they want to get that back. The problem is that the site has announced on Twitter that the money will be transferred when the girls come back onto the site. Yes, this is called blackmail.
It will be up to the courts to decide
The judicial route is the only one left open for the camgirls and CamCokine. The manager has multiple complaints against her, including for breach of trust, insults, defamation and threats. Determined, one of the sex workers declared: “I don’t care about getting my money back. Unlike others, I am little affected by this. But I want her to pay for all of this. She shouldn’t be able to run this kind of site.”
However, CamCokine has not remained silent. It would even seem that it tried to ease tensions. Through an official document at the beginning of October, the company communicated its willingness to find common ground with its creditors. A letter, issued by its designated representative and addressed to the camgirls, specifies that the “memorandum of understanding relating to the draft amicable settlement of the debt” should not exceed “36 months.” But no immediate solution. “For the time being, it is a question of identifying the creditors and the amounts owed”.
But this is not nearly enough to satisfying the camgirls, and rightly so. Especially when we consider the amounts they’re waiting for. One of them calculated on the phone: “They owe me more than 2,000 euros. Over 36 months, that’s 60 euros a month. They’re going to pay my Bouygues bill for two years…?” Another cuts in, “How is this going to be settled? With the girls’ profits from their work? That’s despicable.” Problem: not all camgirls have received the information letter from the representative, and are potentially unaware of this solution to get their money back. “To top it all off, the site has all our personal information, including our addresses!”
Coming back soon?
If we had hoped for the site to return at the end of the year, our hopes were disappointed. All the more so as CamCokine has tweeted about its comeback on multiple occasions. On the one hand, they’re trying to tout for business, and on the other hand, the camgirls are always waiting for a comeback, a conversation, their income, etc. In other words, all of a sudden, things aren’t going well.
“Announcing a comeback, without mentioning our money, while pretending that everything is fine is unacceptable.” Others are warning future camgirls who might be tempted to make a career on CamCokine, or return to it. “This site is a small pearl of a customer base. A camgirl who doesn’t work anywhere else, or who only has this site as a source of income, I understand her approach. But I would tell her to be wary.” More categorically, a last camgirl affirms, “I was able to land on my feet elsewhere. CamCokine is over for me.”
On the day the article was written (November), the site was still closed, as well as the Twitter account, following a last attempt to explain things to the camgirls.
Source: le Tag Parfait