Regulation | FinTelegram News

Category: Regulation

Regulation

March 7, 2021

Crypto-trading gamification platform Bybit terminates UK business after FCA warning

Bybit is a leader in the gamification of crypto trading. FinTelegram published an initial review on Singapore-based crypto-derivate trading platform Bybit (www.bybit.com) of Ben Zhou a few days ago. In this context, we also reported on an investor and scam warning issued by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) against Bybit. In October, the FCA had issued a ban on the sale of crypto derivatives to UK retail investors or consumers. In a recent blog post, Bybit has now announced the suspension of services to UK customers.

March 7, 2021

FCA warns against CoinePro broker scam with Inovestments and CCX Markets legacy

The UK FCA has issued an investor warning against the FX and CFD scam broker CoinePro (www.coinepro.com), operated by the Estonian ExchangePower Technology OÜ with registration code 14632465. The only director registered is Nikolay Kunev Kolev, who is also the beneficial owner of Domus Partners Ltd, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which operated the Inovestment and CCX Markets scams, among others. The CoinePro scam is apparently just the latest link in a long chain of scams since at least 2017.

CONSOB

March 6, 2021

Italian Consob ordered blackout of 5 more scam broker sites

The Italian watchdog Consob has ordered the blackout of five more scam broker websites that abusively offer financial services and financial products. Additionally, one site through was ordered to be blacked out offering financial products without the required prospectus. Consob availed itself of the powers deriving from the "growth decree" (Law no. 58 of 28 June 2019, article 36, paragraph 2-terdecies) regarding the blackout of the sites of abusive financial intermediaries.

March 6, 2021

The Insta Trading scam facilitated by BridgerPay and Zichain

Spanish CNMV has issued an investor warning against the Insta Trading scam allegedly operated by the Bulgarian Alcatel Group Ltd and/or Protiviti Group Ltd and/or Protiviti International EOOD are also involved as operators. These are fake companies. As payment processors, we have once again identified BridgerPay Cashier and, behind it, the crypto exchange Zichain OÜ and its Rashbe crypto service.

March 5, 2021

The 20+ Mio of scam operator Donnybrooker and the Lithuanian payment processors

Spanish CNMV issued an investor warning against the EuroFX scam operated by Donnybrook Consulting Ltd in the Commonwealth of Dominica. This offshore entity is also the operator of the Energy Markets scam. We have discovered the Russian Piastrix and the illegally operating Lithuanian payment processor Merelita UAB with the regulated e-money institution Epayblock as facilitators. Besides, we have discovered a BTC address with more than BTC490 (equivalent to almost $23.2M).

March 5, 2021

Investor Warning against FXX Trader broker scam facilitated by BridgerPay

Cyprus is high on the list of evil payment processors that support cybercrime and its scams with their technology and services. The Central Bank of Cyprus, as the responsible regulator, does precious little in the fight against these payment villains. These include the Israelis Amit Klatchko and Ran Cohen and their payment processors Praxis Cashier and BridgerPay, respectively. In the FXX Trader scam, the UK FCA has issued an investor warning against we have once again discovered BridgerPay.

March 2, 2021

Investor Warning – Universal Markets broker scam facilitated by Praxis Cashier

When analyzing the scams against which the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued an investor warning yesterday, two suspects stand out once again - Praxis Cashier as a payment gateway and St. Vincent and the Grenadines as the given address of the scam operating entities. This is also the case with Universal Markets (www.umarkets.io, www.umarketspro.com, or www.umarketspro.net). The scam is allegedly operated by Universal Services LLC and/or UM Media LLC.

March 2, 2021

Investor Warning – Don’t fall for crypto scam FXoptionTrade

The UK FCA has issued an investor warning against the broker scam FXoptionTrade. This scam acts as a clone of the FCA-registered Tickmill UK Ltd (www.tickmill.co.uk). Allegedly, the trading is done via a trading bot achieving up to 15% ROI within just seven days in different investment plans. Bullshit it is! The only way to deposit is Bitcoins (BTC). The scam is sloppily made and a white-label solution from one of the many scam factories. In fact, you can find so many spelling mistakes and flaws that victims should not fall for it.

March 1, 2021

Another warning against Max Capital scam FinMax and its mutations

Regulators have warned against the FinMax scams already. In Jan 2019, the German BaFin warned against the mutation FinMaxBO and issued a Cease-and-Desist Order today. In Oc 2020, the Spanish CNMV warned against the mutation FinmaxFX. The scams are operated by Max Capital Limited, Vanuatu, and Gatelinas UAB, Lithuania. Although Max Capital is licensed by the VFSC, it's not authorized to scam anybody. As scam-facilitation payment processors, we have uncovered Webmoney, Jeton, VLoad, advcash, and Aveia.

February 27, 2021

Whistleblower business – SEC awards more than $4.7M in four cases

Whistleblowing has long since become a billion-dollar business in the United States, involving whistleblowers, lawyers, and private investigators. It is a lucrative business. Over the last seven days, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced awards totaling more than $4.7M. The SEC has awarded approximately $752 million to 138 individuals since issuing its first award in 2012.

FCA
Review

February 25, 2021

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!

February 24, 2021

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.