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CySEC Tourism – More scams and victims of Maxigrid’s BitandBuy fraud facilitator identified
Sometime in April 2020, the discussion with Maxigrid started. A customer lost several hundred thousand Euros via the broker Scam RoyalsFX. He had made the deposits on the instructions of RoyalsFX via the BitandBuy crypto platform of the CySEC-regulated Maxigrid. He lost everything and involved FinTelegram in the complaint and shortly afterward BitandBuy disappeared without a trace. However, more scams and victims appeared after our Request 4 Information in June 2020.
Latest Updates
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Vienna Cybercrime Trials – Following the Money to former Vienna Stock Exchange CEO
The Israeli Gal Barak was sentenced to four years in prison in the Vienna Cybercrime Trials ("#VCT"). The court ordered that the seized funds and assets be used for restitution payments to the victims. Currently, this is a few million and thus only a fraction of the stolen funds. Millions of the Gal Barak's scams were processed via
the Austrian-Ukraine payment processor Fondy, which is controlled by the former head of the Vienna Stock Exchange Stefan Zapotocky.
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Vienna Cybercrime Trials – Passionate law enforcement teams meet whistleblowers and EFRI
The Vienna Cybercrime Trials ("#VCT") have been an important step in the fight against scammers, cybercrime, and money laundering. The #VCT findings have also facilitated investigations and prosecutions in other jurisdictions and other scam cases. The first arrests in connection with the #VCT were made by EU arrest warrants issued by Austrian authorities. Thanks to the help of whistleblowers and FinTelegram. Now, leading EU investigative media like SZ report about the "Fall of the Wolf."
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FinCEN Leaks meet Vienna Cybercrime Trials
FinCEN Leaks are currently a big topic in the financial industry. The analysis of the approximately 2,500 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) leaked FinCEN documents demonstrates what FinTelegram has been stretching out for years now - money-laundering is still not really taken seriously by financial institutions. The FinCEN Leaks also have a direct connection to the Vienna Cybercrime Trials and the collapsed Austrian Meinl Bank.
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UK FCA and Austrian FMA warn against InterCryptos
The UK regulator FCA has already warned in July 2020 against the Crypto CFD broker scam InterCryptos (www.intercryptos.net) and its operator Intercryptos Ltd. On September 23rd, 2020 the Austrian Financial Market Authority FMA also issued a warning. Allegedly InterCryptos Ltd is located in London. However, we could not find the company. The domain was only registered in April 2020 via Seychelles.
Payment Processors
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Dear Bank of Lithuania – please explain your situation with International Fintech!
According to reports by Lithuanian journalist Vakaris Deksnys, the Bank of Lithuania has terminated the license of the International FinTech UAB of Israelis Eyal Nachum and Tamir Zoltovsky without providing a reason. It already happened in July 2020. No statement was given by the regulator on this matter as it would be necessary and required. That's a strange approach. How can a regulated company simply disappear form an EU regulator's list without further explanation?
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Binary options fraud – Notorious Cartu Brothers charged by U.S. CFTC
It is a court season for the fraudulent binary options industry and its perpatrators. Among the worst scammers were David Cartu and his brothers. After the Canadian regulator OSC had already sued them for binary options fraud, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a civil enforcement action. The regulator charges six individuals and four companies with operating a fraudulent binary options trading scheme that received over $165 million via their Irish GreyMountain Management Ltd.
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Broker scam Trade99, ClearTransfer, and another vanished crypto platform
Since we started our reports about the RoyalsFX Scam and described the background and processes, victims of other scams like LincolnFX or Trade99 have come forward. They have identified similar processes and/or have been involved in several of these scams and have discovered parallels. The involvement of the CySEC-regulated Maxigrid Ltd as a payment processor and its crypto platform BitandBuy was one of these parallels. As is the disappearance of another crypto platform.
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BaFin issues cease and desist order against payment processor Global Data Conduct
The German regulator has issued a Cease and Desist Order against the illegal payment processor Global Data Conduct GmbH, a company registered in Cologne, Germany. This German company at least acted as facilitator for the broker Scam TradesFX, received bank transfers from client victims and forwarded them to the scammers. The sole managing director of the company is Anatolijs Dedenko, who lives in Düsseldorf.
Cybercrime Court Cases
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The story of Kai Petersen, a German-Israeli fraud scheme and Grenke Bank
Kai Christian Petersen, who lives in Düsseldorf, Germany, was a major player in the binary options and forex fraud industry between 2014 and 2020, directly or indirectly controlling a number of companies through which scams and boiler rooms were operated and tens of thousands of retail investors were defrauded of hundreds of millions of Euros. The SEC claims that with the three scams, Bloomberg Options, Morton Finance, and Starling Capital, Petersen and his accomplices ripped off $100 million. And these were only three of many other scams.
Regulatory Updates
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Another warning against PumaTS white-label scam BlueSave
After the UK FCA had already warned against the PumaTS white-label broker Scam BlueSave in July 2020, the Spanish regulator CNMV also issued an investor warning. The scam is operated under the domain www.bluesave.io via the Buen Solutions Ltd, a company registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The scam is still active as we have checked but the payment processors have changed.
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Spanish Watchdog CNMV warns against GlobalspotFX and Trade Com
The Spanish regulator CNMV has issued an investor warning against the scam broker GlobalspotFX (www.globalspotfx.com). The scam is allegedly operated by Trade Com Limited for an office in London. As a payment provider we have found the Russian PayeCards (www.payecards.com). Already in July 2020, the Italian regulator CONSOB had issued a warning against the scam.
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European Funds Recovery Initiative (EFRI) is a non-government organization with the mission to support scam and cybercrime victims.
