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Post-Brexit! FCA scam warning against CySEC-regulated Brokereo
The UK FCA has issued a warning against Brokereo and qualified it as a possible scam. The operator is Concorde Investments (Cyprus) Ltd, registered in Cyprus and regulated by CySEC under license number 189/13. The domain www.brokero.com is also approved by CySEC. However, during our review, we found problems with the KYC/AML procedures of the broker. Among others, Sepaga E.M.I. Ltd in Cyprus acts as a payment facilitator.
Latest Updates
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Consob Enforcement Action – 27ProQuote scam still active offering high crypto deposit bonus
The 27ProQuote (a/k/a ProQuote27) scam is one of them. Most recently, Italy's Consob ordered the black-out of the scam's website www.27proquote.com. FinTelegram reported that Maltese ApcoPay was uncovered to be a payment facilitator in the 27ProQuo scam. Lately, the scam has bet on crypto, promising up to a 50% bonus on crypto deposits. At the time of our re-review (24 Feb 2021), the registration and login page was offline.
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German Regulator launches probes into brokerunity and EmperiumFX scams
BaFin announced today that it is investigating the operator of the broker scams brokerunity (www.brokerunity.com), Kode Tech Solutions LTD registered in the Marshall Islands with registration number 105303, as well as the operators of EmperiumFX (www.emperiumfx.com and www.emperiumfx.ch), Emperium Holding allegedly regulated in Mauritius under license number C216036192 by the Financial Services Commission of Mauritius (FSC). This also operates the ACB - A Class Bank scam.
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German BaFin warns against GRAM broker scam
BaFin launched a probe into the GRAM a/k/ka FXGRAM broker scam currently active via the two websites with the domains www.gmmkex.com and www.akfxgram.com. Both websites state that they are registered and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Likewise, they would soon be regulated by the Canadian FINTRAC. Of course, this is not correct. As a payment processor, we discovered Epay, whereby deposits can also be made via cryptocurrencies. On a BTC wallet, we discovered deposits of more than BTC 5.
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Regulator warns against BridgerPay scam client The Forex Premium
Bridger AI Ltd is an unregulated PayTech and, therefore, apparently moves feels free to accept scam merchants without too much concern. Just recently, Cohen hired Nati Harpaz, a big name, as an additional Executive Director. One would expect legitimacy there. However, BridgerPay has come up more frequently as a payment facilitator of scams regulators warn against. So it facilitates The Forex Premium (www.4xpremium.com) operated by Premium Finance Solutions Ltd.
Payment Processors
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Investor warning against ProfitAssist broker scam with more than $20M damage to EU consumers
the Spanish regulator CNMV issued an investor warning against the broker scam ProfitAssist (www.profitassist.io) allegedly operated by Seabreeze Partners Ltd, which is registered in Roseau Valley in the Commonwealth of Dominica. We have identified the Russian Piastrix and the Lithuanian registered UAB Skylas as payment processors. Potential customer-victims of the scam may also lose their money via cryptocurrency deposits. On one BTC blockchain address, we uncovered that victims deposited $12M.
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German-Ukrainian Capital Letter Scam Group and its payment facilitators
German Capital Letter group operatees scams such as BrightFinance, SolidInvest, GFXRoyal, STSRoyal, STSCrypto, or GFXFinance. Various European regulators such as the FCA, BaFin, or the FMA have already warned and issued Cease and Desist Orders over the last months. The Italian Consob has ordered a blackout of the sites. Some scams are still active. Now the UK FCA issued a new warning. Praxis Cashier is still facilitating the GFXRoyal scam along with the Estonian AnyCach OÜ (d/b/a any.money).
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Illegal German payment processors Z.I.E natural edition, Maka Marketing, and their network
German BaFin issued cease and desist orders against Z.I.E natural edition and Maka Marketing. Both payment processors processed bank transfers from victims of several broker scams like easytrade55 or MarketsSoft. The British resident Aron Wertheimer is involved in both companies. He is a director of Maka Marketing and the liquidator of Z.I.E natural edition. Scam victims who used Z.I.E natural edition or Maka Marketing should file their fund recovery claim with these companies and Aron Wertheimer and his partners.
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High-Risk Payment Processors Series and the dark side of finance
Undoubtedly, high-risk payment processors (#HRPP) are at the very center of cybercrime and scams. Very often, they facilitate consumer fraud and related money laundering. In early September 2020, Gal Barak was sentenced to four years in prison for investment fraud and money laundering in the Vienna Cybercrime Trials (#VCT) for operating a global scam broker network. A breakthrough in the fight against cybercrime. the forensic analysis of banking and financial data by law enforcement, the trial findings, and the court's reasoning in the verdict also allow investigating the anatomy of high-risk payment processors.
Cybercrime Court Cases
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Bravo! Serbian boiler room perpetrator extradited to the United States to stand trial
According to an announcement of the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade, the Serbian Antonije Stojilkovic, 32, has been extradited to the U.S. to stand trial on allegations that he and his co-conspirators defrauded investors out of more than $70 million in binary options and crypto scam schemes. The Serbian police arrested Stojilkovic on July 24, 2020. Stojilkovic consented to extradition, and he was consequently extradited on Feb. 4, 2021. It's about time to crack down on the vast Belgrade scam scene.
Regulatory Updates
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Investor warning against Lollygag Partners with FXActive, FinoCapital, and FXCore scams
Today, the Spanish regulator CNMV issued an investor warning against the broker scam FinoCaptial (www.finocapital.io), allegedly run by Lollygag Partners Ltd registered in the Commonwealth of Dominica. The Lollygag Partners also operate the FXActiv (www.fxactiv.io) and FXCore (www.fxcore.trade) scam and probably more. As payment processors, we once again discovered the Russian Piastrix in all three scams, along with Perfect Money and the Piastrix Wallet. On one BTC wallet, we discovered BTC 1.5. - customers are obviously falling for the scam.
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Investor warning against WAM Capital broker scam with BridgerPay and VivaWallet
CNVM issued an investor warning against the broker scam WAM Capital (www.wam-capital.co) allegedly operated by WAM-Capital Limited in New South Wales, Australia, and Gabioni Ltd. According to the website, the scam would be regulated by the Australian ASIC as a CFD provider. In fact, WAM Capital is acting as a fake of the public-listed Australian asset management firm Wilson Asset Management (WAM). The payment processor we discovered is Ran Cohen's BridgerPay and VivaWallet.
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European Funds Recovery Initiative (EFRI) is a non-government organization with the mission to support scam and cybercrime victims.
