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Shalon Case – U.S. Prosecutors seek a 20-year prison term for Russian hacker!
Andrei Tyurin has been a co-conspirator of the Israeli Gery “Gabi” Shalon who carried out the biggest financial hack in U.S. history. In Sept 2019 Tyurin a/k/a “Andrei Tiurin,” pled guilty to computer intrusion, wire fraud, bank fraud, and illegal online gambling offenses in connection with this hacker attack. Allegedly, Tyurin was paid $19 million for his work, scheming with Shalon to destroy evidence that might lead to their apprehension. Prosecutors are seeking a prison term between 15 to 20 years.
Latest Updates
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Equitiy Group partners with Cyprus payment processor BridgerPay
The Equiti Group (www.equiti.com) is a multi-asset broker regulated under several regulatory regimes including UK, Dubai, and Jordan. The group announces that it has partnered with BridgerPay "to expand the list of global payment solutions." The Cyprus-registered Bridger AI Limited d/b/a BridgerPay (www.bridgerpay.com) was established in 2019 by the Israeli forex veterans Ran Cohen and his partner Yaron Hershcovich.
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PPRO Group and its involvement in vast scam operations
PPRO Group consists of PPRO Financial Limited (www.ppro.com), an e-money institution (EMI) regulated by the UK FCA and several other entities in different jurisdictions including South America and Asia. The German PPRO Holding GmbH is the controlling entity. Philipp Nieland, a German citizen, is a director in both companies. The FCA-regulated PPRO Financial has a bank account with the BaFin-regulated Deutsche Handelsbank and through these accounts, it processes payments from scam customers and their victims.
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KBH Andelskasse clients convicted in the U.S. for $250 Mio money-laundering scheme
The Swedish Monark Finance AB was one of 183 foreign high-risk customers of collapsed KBH Andelskasse. In 2018, transactions with these customers triggered 1,645 money laundering alarms. The bank processed €4.1 billion in that year, the majority of which were suspicious and came from these customers. While the Danish prosecutors investigate KBH Andelskasse the Canadian Firoz Patel, beneficial owner of Monark Finance, has been sentenced to a 3-years prison term for money-laundering in the United States.
Payment Processors
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Urgent Warning against scam-facilitating Lithuanian payment processors
In the last few weeks, we have noticed an increasing number of Lithuanian companies acting as illegal payment processors for scams and handling bank payments for their client-victims. The payments are made on the basis of fake invoices for alleged consulting services issued by these illegal payment processors. Recently we have uncovered Skylas UAB, Fuselma UAB, or Merelita UAB as such scam facilitators and money launderers. We urgently ask investors to be super-cautious before paying an unrelated Lithuanian company for fake services.
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Investor warnings against CMG Markets, Paragon Finance, and Lithuanian payment processors
The UK regulator FCA issued a warning against the broker scam CMG Markets, operated by Mitz Group with Mitz Partnership OÜ, Estonia, and its parent company Mitz Holdings Ltd, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The scam is related to the Paragon Finance scam. Their payment processors are the Russian Piastrix for credit and debit cards and the Lithuanian Fuselma UAB and Skylas UAB with Trustcom Financial UAB for bank transfers. The scams of course take cryptos too.
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CySEC confirms crypto regulation – What it means for Maxigrid and BitandBuy!
Maxigrid Ltd is a regulated Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF) and has made its crypto platform - as well as its bank accounts with GlobalNetint - available to scammers and acted as a payment processor for them. The Financial Ombudsman Service of the Republic of Cyprus purported that the CySEC would not regulate crypto assets. Apparently, it does. The CySEC has issued a guideline on how CIFs should deal with crypto.
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Law and Tax Enforcement Actions – Start with Payment Processors to chase cybercriminals
FinTelegram is frequently contacted by law enforcement agencies in various jurisdictions with requests for information. It has become known in the international law enforcement scene that FinTelegram has indeed valuable information and contacts. In our respective discussions, we recommend starting enforcement actions against facilitating payment processors. They are the backbone and payment data hubs of the ever-expanding cybercrime universe and its scams.
Cybercrime Court Cases
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OneCoin Update – German prosecutors bring charges of money laundering
German prosecutors have not yet brought charges against the crypto-fraud scheme OneCoin and its principals, but are now taking action against the German payment processors involved. This is a somewhat strange approach and legally contestable. The public prosecutor's office in Bielefeld has brought charges against three people for money laundering for the OneCoin scam. which is not yet legally binding. German payment processors processed more than €360 million for the OneCoin Ponzi scheme.
Regulatory Updates
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Cybercrime story around Danish Shadow Banking Hub KBH Andelskasse unfolds
EFRI co-founded by FinTelegram, has filed several complaints against the Danish KBH Andelskasse. The small cooperative bank was finally taken under supervision by the Finansiel Stabilitet and is being wound up. Danish prosecutors opened a criminal case on charges of money laundering and facilitating cybercrime. The leading Danish financial newspaper Børsen has published a series of reports about KBH Andelskasse based on FinTelegram and EFRI findings and his own research.
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Gooooood Morning BaFin! Another Cease-and-Desist order against a dissolved company
Almo Markets VIP GmbH accepted funds from private persons on its bank accounts for the sole purpose of transferring these funds to offshore companies operating FX, CFD, and crypto scams. Among these scams facilitated by Almo Markets VIP have been 53capitaltrade, YesOption. YesTrading, TradeGBP, TradeDAX as well as Coinbrokerz. Almo Markets VIP vanished. As did all the scam sites. And with them the money. BaFin missed some time, we guess!
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Sorry, too late! BaFin issued a cease-and-desist order against dissolved laundromat
In recent years, German companies have increasingly been used as payment processors for scams and cybercrime. Dozens of German companies are still acting as illegal payment processors for scammers. The law calls it money laundering. Lipans Smart Consult GmbH was one of those laundromats. BaFin issued a Cease-and-Desist Order but the company has already been dissolved months ago.
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European Funds Recovery Initiative (EFRI) is a non-government organization with the mission to support scam and cybercrime victims.
