Bank of Lithuania | FinTelegram News

Category: Bank of Lithuania

February 23, 2023

Breaking: The PayrNet Scheme Investigated For Money Laundering Causing MuchBetter Service Disruption!

The High-risk payment processor MuchBetter recently stopped most provided services. The service disruption came just days after the Bank of Lithuania ordered PayrNet UAB to stop onboarding new clients on allegations of “severe and systematic violations of the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.”The regulator also ordered to stop the provision of services through the company's agent UAB MIR Lithuania d/b/a MuchBetter, which may have caused the service disruption.

January 4, 2023

Payment Processors: Introducing The New Papel Group With Monitox!

In November 2021, FinTelegram issued a Request 4 Information regarding the Cyprus Papel Group. At the time, Papel, which operates as an online marketing company, had also come to our attention as an unauthorized payment processor. Early 2022, the Papel.com website disappeared and then reappeared as a payment processor with a license from the Bank of Lithuania. The new Papel is operated by TBF FINANCE, UAB of Artiom Saltanov. Associated with Papel Group is also Monitox Ltd, regulated by the UK FCA as an e-Money Institution. Here is an update.

November 27, 2022

Quo Vadis, MoneyNetInt? The Latest Update On A Legendary Binary Options Payment Processor!

The FCA-regulated e-money institution MoneyNetInt had its best time during the binary options hype. Most of the binary options scheme providers were Israelis, and, as it turns out, almost all of them were scam schemes. Many of them were clients of MoneyNetInt, such as IC Option, TitanTrade, or the schemes of Uwe Lenhoff and Gal Barak. As of 2017, binary options were banned in most regulatory regimes. Since then, MoneyNetInt's business might not be doing so well either, as their latest figures suggest. Here is an update.

June 24, 2022

Whistleblower Request– Transactworld Group meets GlobalNetint!

In May 2019 FinTelegram uncovered that the Indian payment processor Paymentz facilitated the huge Zoo Broker Scam Network. Paymentz is a part of the Transactworld Group of the Indian brothers Anupam Vassa and Amoolya Vassa. This group operates with several legal entities across different jurisdictions The UK entity Transactworld Limited is an FCA-authorized E-Money Institution, and the Cyprus-based Transactworld Limited is an agent of GlobalNetint UAB d/b/a payswix, an EMI regulated by the Bank of Lithuania. We would like to learn more about this network.

June 23, 2022

Regulated Lithuanian FinTech Sector Continues To Grow In 2022!

The Electronic money institution (EMI) and payment institution (PI) sector in Lithuania continued to grow in the first quarter of 2022, the Bank of Lithuania informed. Income from licensed activities of EMIs and PIs, which form the backbone of the licensed Lithuanian FinTech sector, increased 1.8 times in Q1 2022, compared to Q1 2021, to just over €170 million. The volume of payment transactions grew strongly in the first quarter of the year to €173.6 billion and was double the level of a year ago.

May 16, 2022

Statement Of Verified Payments To Our Report About Regulatory Audit!

On 5 May 2022, FinTelegram reported a regulatory audit of Verified Payments UAB d/b/a Verifo (www.verifo.com). The entity is regulated by the Bank of Lithuania, which scheduled an audit from May 6 to June 23, 2022, to assess the institution’s compliance with applicable anti-money laundering and terrorist financing requirements. FinTelegram has received a copy of the regulator's letter and additional insider information. Verifo sent a compliant to FinTelegram, which we publish in part below as a courtesy:

May 5, 2022

Bank of Lithuania launches probe into fast-track payment processor Verified Payments

The Bank of Lithuania notified the e-Money Institution (EMI) Verified Payments UAB d/b/a Verifo (www.verifo.com), regulated by license no. 27, of an audit to be conducted during the period from May 6 to June 23, 2022. The purpose of the audit is to assess EMI's compliance with applicable anti-money laundering and terrorist financing requirements. In addition to the online banking platform Verifo, EMI also operates a white-label banking solution to leverage its license.

March 15, 2022

Money-laundering! The license of Lithuanian Trustcom has been revoked!

The Bank of Lithuania informed that the license of the notorious Italian-Lithuanian Trustcom Financial UAB has been revoked. Bankruptcy proceedings will be filed, criminal investigations have been initiated in Lithuania, Latvia, and Italy due to the possible organization of money laundering by its Italian CEO Marco Spinola and his partner Michele Scognamiglio. They are the beneficial owners of the financial institution. Thus, these guys can no longer be deemed "fit and proper" to run a licensed financial institution, the Bank of Lithuania remarked.

December 21, 2021

Money-laundering – Bank of Lithuania fined high-risk payment processor Wallter €280,000

The Bank of Lithuania (BoL) fined the e-money institution Wallter UAB €280,000 for violating the Lithuania Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. Moreover, the regulator imposed additional obligations on Wallter. The institution, regulated by BoW under the authorization code LB000450 has to eliminate all violations and shortcomings until 31 March 2022. Many of Lithuania's EMIs operate in the high-risk sector and are notorious for their very relaxed approach to money laundering and cybercrime.

November 23, 2021

Bravo! Lithuanian regulator follows FinTelegram and revokes license of Epayblock!

FinTelegram has issued several warnings against the notorious scam and cybercrime facilitator Epayblock, an e-Money Institution regulated by the Bank of Lithuania (BoL). Finally, the regulator announced that it revoked the license of Epayblock due to money laundering issues. The regulator said that it received complaints and information about Epayblock customers potentially using its services for fraud. It initiated the investigation and obtained court permission to apply temporary restrictions on the provision of services to its customers.

September 27, 2021

R4I – Regulated Lithuanian high-risk payment processor Trustcom Financial

Trustcom Financial has continuously appeared on our scam radar as a payment processor over the past few years. Scam operators have been directing deposits from their victims to Lithuanian companies with their bank accounts at Trustcom. While the Bank of Lithuania regulates Trustcom Financial UAB with authorization code LB000438, it is an Italian venture controlled by Michele Scognamiglio. The close relationship with the Georgian tax advisor Business Service Distribution LLC (BSD) is of utmost interest. We want to know more about the Trustcom group and BSD.

August 3, 2021

Breaking News – Lithuanian Epayblock under investigation with restricted activities

Finally! The Bank of Lithuania (BoL) today announced that it launched a probe into scam-facilitating Epayblock. It was about time! We informed the public and the regulator time and again about the bad activities of this Polish-Lithuanian e-Money Institution. In its investigation, BoL will check possible breaches of money laundering and terrorist financing prevention. Epaybank's activities will be partially restricted during the investigation. BoL said that it received information that some of Epayblock's customers may be using its services for fraudulent purposes. Sure they do!