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Interesting! Estonian Exchange It Online, regulated iForex, and unregulated GlobalTrading26
Recently we published a report about some licensed Israeli crypto-payment processors in Estonia. We established the connection between the Israeli Pradexx group around Boaz Amir, Matan Roee, Dari Rishel, and Angela Behar and Exchange IT Online controlled by Offer Efraim Levy. The latter is also a director in Formula Investment House B.O.S. Ltd in Cyprus, alongside Eytan Yaron. This Cyprus entity is a co-operator of the FX and CFD broker iForex and responsible for the treasury and back-office services. Surprisingly, the entity also operates the unlicensed and unregulated GlobalTrading26.
Latest Updates
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Bybit Review – Unregulated crypto trading platform earned itself an FCA warning
The UK FCA recently issued an investor alert against Bybit (www.bybit.com). This is an unregulated crypto trading platform in existence since 2018 that claims to have more than 1.2M users and is operated by Bybit Fintech Limited, registered in the British Virgin Islands. Dun & Bradstreet presents Ben Zhou, a Singapore resident, as the key principal who describes himself on his LinkedIn profile as Co-Founder and CEO of Bybit. While it may not be the best crypto trading platform, it has no regulatory permission, which is a serious violation but doesn't seem to be a fraud. However, be very cautious!
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Crypto payment company Pradexx offline; connection to Russian Nymeria established
The licensed Estonian crypto payment processor operates the two brands Pradexx and NextPayWay. While the Pradexx website (www.pradexx.com) has been down for a few days due to security issues, NextPayWay (www.nextpayway.com) is online. A licensed high-risk payment processor with security issues? Interesting, isn't it? Then we discovered the also FIU-licensed crypto payment processor Nymeria OÜ of the Russian Aleksei Bratashov, which at least until recently was connected to the Pradexx network.
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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.
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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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.
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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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European Funds Recovery Initiative (EFRI) is a non-government organization with the mission to support scam and cybercrime victims.
