tamir | FinTelegram News

Author: tamir

March 3, 2021

R4I – Devastating forex and crypto broker scams BitStarMarkets and QuantBitex

BitStarMarkets and QuantBitex, two Forex, CFD, and crypto trading platforms claim to have their office in Zurich. This is a big fat lie. UK numbers are given as phone numbers. Registration for the platforms is by invitation only. From the documents available to us, we can establish that the scams attacked and acquired client-victims in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Switzerland, or United Kingdom. A shocking number of people have fallen for the scams.

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

The Ukraine-Lithuanian Finmax scams still active with Praxis Cashier and Spanish partners

Finmax scams have been active since at least 2016. Various regulators and review sites have already issued numerous investor warnings. Nevertheless, the scam is currently active with at least two websites FinmaxFX (www.finmaxfx.com) and FinmaxBO (www.finmaxbo.com). The two Ukrainians, Olena Vakulenko and Oleksandr Vakulenko, coordinate the scams through various legal entities in Lithuania, Vanuatu, Seychelles and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. To date, despite all scam warnings at FinmaxFX, Praxis Cashier with the Spanish Redsys and Comercial Global Payments as payment processor is active.

Crypto Payments

February 28, 2021

Pradexx – While the high-risk payment processor’s website is back its CFO is gone

It is accessible again. We mean the website of the licensed Estonian high-risk payment processor and scam facilitator Pradexx. Its main page www.pradexx.com was not accessible via any browser for a few days due to security problems. We have reported about it. Today the site is available again. No reason is given for the inaccessibility, neither on the website nor on the associated LinkedIn channel. On the other hand, we can see that on LinkedIn, that its CFO, Matan Roee, is no longer working for Pradexx. He is now CFO of the Israeli crypto FinTech Komoline.

European FinTech Ecosphere

February 28, 2021

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 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.

February 28, 2021

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.

February 24, 2021

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.

February 23, 2021

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.

February 23, 2021

Spanish Watchdog CNMV warns against Russian crypto scam Deal Trade

The crypto hype is the new playground for scammers. This week, the Spanish regulator CNMV issued an investor warning against the Deal Trade scam (www.dealtrade.io) operated by the UK-registered Deal Trade Inc Ltd. As payment processors, we have identified Perfect Money and Payeer. However, the scam merchant is currently disabled on the latter. Investors should not get too greedy and lose their common sense.

February 23, 2021

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.

February 19, 2021

StormGain Review – A crypto trading platform with an interesting ecosphere

StormGain (www.stormgain.com) is an unregulated crypto trading platform operated by the offshore entity Stormgain LLC in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Currently, StormGain does not hold a license in any regulatory regime as a broker, investment firm, or financial services provider. Like Kraken, BitStamp, or other crypto brokers, StormGain lets you trade a range of crypto pairs. Partners of StormGain include Israel's Bits of Gold, Koinal, or Simplex. In December 2019, the Spanish regulator CNMV issued a warning against StormGain.

February 19, 2021

Ozan Ozerk’s Eurotrade Group with CySec-regulated EuroTrader and LQFX

FinTech entrepreneur Ozan Ozerk is a remarkable man. He has built an impressive empire of regulated and unregulated FinTech companies in various jurisdictions over the last few years. These include European Merchant Bank in Lithuania, Ozan Ödeme Hizmetleri ve Elektronik Para AŞ in Turkey, and several FCA-regulated institutions in the UK. This is the official site of Ozan Ozerk, which he runs through his Akce Group and OpenPayd Group. Then there are his gambling and forex empires.