CySEC | FinTelegram News

Category: CySEC

April 22, 2021

Fraud campaign Elite Trading Club chases victims for CySEC-regulated eXcentral

A very freshly pressed warning about a fraudulent marketing campaign: we have just received another email promising that we will receive an app that generates €734 income for us every 15 minutes. The provided link takes us to the notorious Elite Trading Club campaign on the FXOffers site (https://fxoffers.cc/elite). Upon registering, we are redirected to the payment page of the CySEC-regulated eXcentral (www.excentral.com). We would have been able to deposit unlimited amounts via bank wire without compliant onboarding or KYC.

April 21, 2021

FCA warning against PrimeQX broker scam operating with CySEC clone site

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued an investor warning against the broker scam PrimeQX. The scam is operated by PRIME BUSINESS FINANCE LTD and MAGNETITS CAPITAL LTD. The scam claims to be regulated by CySEC with license number 129/22. The scammers operate the fake CySEC site www.cysecgov.com where PrimeQX is falsely presented as a CySEC-approved domain. As the scams payment facilitators, we have discovered iPayTotal, Itez, WE4BTC, and PaymentsPro.

April 17, 2021

CySEC Compliance Issue – FCA bans FXVC for the UK market

Cyprus Investment Firms (CIF) regulated by CySEC are a problem for the security of the European financial markets. The CySEC CIFs work with illegal offshore mutations, fraudulent marketing campaigns, and target consumers and retail investors in the EU. Now the UK watchdog FCA has banned CySEC-regulated Finteractive Ltd d/b/a FXVC from UK clients. After Brexit, FXVC was allowed to operate under the Temporary Permission Regime (TPR) with the CySEC license in the UK.

April 17, 2021

Maxigrid Case Update – Law enforcement investigations and Serbian boiler room activities

Since May 2020, we have been reporting on the Maxigrid Case. In a nutshell, Maxigrid Ltd of Israeli Roy Almagor and its CEO Jekaterina Pedosa, regulated by CySEC under license number 145/11, has been processing funds as an unlicensed payment processor for many broker scams such as RoyalsFX, LincolnFX, 10CryptoMarket, RoyalCBank, and others. For this purpose, Maxigrid used its bank account with the Lithuanian GlobalNetint as well as its own crypto platform BitandBuy. Victims of these scams have provided us with many documents proving this. At least one victim has filed a lawsuit and criminal charges through his attorney.

April 15, 2021

CySEC Compliance Issue – PlusMarkets, its offshore mutation, and Serbian boiler rooms

CySEC-regulated investment firm UR Trade Fix Ltd operates PlusMarkets broker under the license number 282/15. Within the scope of this license, the company is authorized to operate the domain www.plusmarkets.eu within the EU or EEA only and must comply with the relevant regulatory requirements. But as most CySEC-regulated brokers, PlusMarkets entertains an offshore mutation operating with the unauthorized domain www.plusmarkets.com. This offshore mutation acquires and accepts investors from the EEA and circumvents regulatory frameworks and investor protection.

April 12, 2021

EuroTrader Update – Ozan Ozerk, Soteris Georgiou, domains, and legal entities

We have brought a first report on the activities of brokers brands EuroTrader and LQDFX some ago. The EuroTrader group is regulated by CySEC for its activities in the EU. However, besides that, the group operates offshore mutations via entities in the Marshall Islands and South Africa. The FinTech emperor Ozan Ozerk controls both EuroTrader and the unregulated LQDFX. The British accountant Soteris Georgiou is also registered as Ozerk's long-time partner and accountant as the offshore entities' beneficial owner. Here is an update.

March 27, 2021

LegacyFX – another CySEC CIF onboarding European clients via Vanuatu mutation

LegacyFX broker operates with two mutations. The "European Mutation" is operated by A.N. Allnews Investments Ltd, an investment firm regulated by CySEC. Then there is the "International Mutation," operated by AN All News Investments Ltd regulated offshore by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC). While not allowed to do so, the "International Mutation" actively addresses European investors and accepts happily accepts them and their money.

March 19, 2021

CySEC Attention – Regulated Trade360 fishing for clients with fraudulent affiliate services

Once registered with one of the many fraudulent affiliate schemes, our research team is served with literally dozens of new scams every day via email, phone, or social media. Currently, cryptocurrencies are used to lure client-victims. These emails introduce crypto investment opportunities. In fact, you are redirected to scams via websites like Bitcoin Billionaire, Bitcoin Revolution, or Bitcoin Era. But also CySEC-registered CIFs use this fraud service. Yesterday and today, we found Trade360, which use it to get customers to deposit without KYC/AML and false promises.

March 15, 2021

Maxigrid Case – CySEC receives €75.000 for not finding violations and not supporting victims!

CySEC-regulated investment firm Maxigrid Limited of Roy Almagor and Ekaterina Pedosa is in the spotlight of FinTelegram. Our documents prove beyond any reasonable doubt that Maxigrid processed payments for broker scams through its unlicensed and CySEC-unauthorized crypto platform BitandBuy, as well as through its bank account at Lithuania-based GlobalNetInt UAB. Among those facilitated scams are RoyalsFX or LincolnFX, against which numerous regulators have issued warnings. While the victims are still waiting for their money, the CySEC has settled with Maxigrid and received €75,000 on behalf of the Republic of Cyprus.

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.

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.

January 23, 2021

EU regulators’ problems with CySEC and its investment firms

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) suspended the EU license passporting rules and banned several CySEC-regulated Ínvestment Firms (CIF). Among them Magnum FX, Rodeler, Hoch Capital, and F1Markets. Roy Almagor's two firms - Maxigrid and Maxiflex voluntarily withdrew before the FCA blocked them. The Italian Consob has already blocked some CySEC CIFs from the Italian market before the FCA. Now a problem is also looming from Spain's CNMV as per a CySEC circular. Truth is, that CySEC and its CIFs have long been an issue for EU regulators.