R4I | FinTelegram News

Category: R4I

October 11, 2021

R4I – Israeli broker technology provider AirSoft is a Venture of Interest

In recent months we have warned against many broker scams running on the Israeli AirSoft a/k/a AirSoft Technologies platform (www.airsoftltd.com). We know that AirSoft is a Venture of Interest for German law enforcement agencies and is at the center of respective investigations because of scam-facilitating activities. The venture's website lacks legal entity details. Since 2015, the AirSoft CEO has been the Israeli Shay Benhamou. Allegedly, the Hadjadj family controls the yet unknown legal entities behind the venture.

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.

September 23, 2021

R4I – The Amsterdam-New York Connection with Safened, fourthline, and Payvision spin-off Cetler

Safened is the trading name of Safened-Fourthline Limited, a company licensed by the FCA as an Authorised Payment Institution since May 2018. Safenet-Fourthline Opco Holding B.V. in Amsterdam controls the company, says UK Companies House. A director of Safened-Forthline is Payvision founder Rudolf Booker. SafeNed Deposits B.V. in Amsterdam is also connected to Safened. All companies are registered at Tesselschadestraat 12 in 1054 Amsterdam. The Payvision spin-off Cetler B.V. is also located there.

August 18, 2021

R4I – Payment processor RogerPay facilitating GXCM and other scams

Recently, the UK FCA issued an investor warning against the broker scam GXCM. The operator of the scam is allegedly GXCM Ltd with Estonia as the competent jurisdiction stated in the Terms and Conditions. As a payment processor for credit and debit card payments, we found RogerPay (www.rogerpay.io), a mysterious payment processor whose stated social media accounts are not online. We would like to learn more about the scam-facilitating payment processor RogerPay.

May 25, 2021

R4I – The Spanish-Bulgarian Elit Property Vision Racket, WTCInversion, and other scams

Almost two years ago, we published a report about a Cease and Desist Order issued by the German BaFin against Elit Property Vision Ltd and its Britonprice scam. Before and after that, numerous regulators have issued warnings against scams associated with the Elit Property Vision Racket. According to the information we have, this is a Bulgarian-Spanish cybercrime network, and Rezaeian Mohammadi Majid is one of the principals. Therefore, we would like to know more about the Elit Property Vision Racket and its people.

April 30, 2021

R4I – Secretive scam-facilitating payment processor Paystruct

In recent weeks, Paystruct (www.paystruct.com) has appeared more and more frequently as a payment processor in our analysis of scam brokers. Like many of the high-risk payment processors, Paystruct discloses very little information on its website. There is no indication of the legal entity and individuals behind it. Contact can be made by email or phone with a number in London. Also, there is no additional information on the merchant dashboard except that Paystruct is supposed to be the world's best closed-loop token payment system with payouts under 24 hours.

April 22, 2021

R4I – Scam-facilitating licensed Estonian crypto payment processor PayTechno

We already know Igor Torsin. Don't we? The 62-year old Estonian lawyer works for Estonian company builder Eesti Firma OÜ and is a director at nine FIU-licensed Estonian crypto companies (read this report). Among them is PayTechno OÜ, supervised by the FIU with license number FVT000151. The company was registered in May 2018 and operates two domains www.cryptopaytech.com and www.paytechno.com. The latter is one of the worst scam-facilitators as a crypto payment processor. We would like to know more.

April 3, 2021

R4I – Illegal Italian Payment Processor Elmo Color with ePayComfort

We have recently brought a report on the so-called TradeCabinet scams. Boiler rooms in the Balkans operate this scam network. This includes 3 FID Tech (3fidtech) in Tirana as well as Global-Tech and Comunico88 in Belgrade. The TradeCabinet CRM software is apparently used for the back-office processes of the attached scam brands. Processing deposits from customer victims is part of these back-office processes. We found the Italian digital marketing firm Elmo Color S.R.L.S. as an illegal payment processor in combination with ePayComfort. We would like to know more about these payment processors.

March 28, 2021

Regulated Lithuanian scam-facilitator Epayblock lost two top managers

We brought a Request 4 Information (R4I) regarding Epayblock a few days ago because we want to know more about the e-Money institution regulated by the Bank of Lithuania with authorization code LB001911. The reason for this R4I was that illegal Lithuanian payment providers such as Skylas, Merelita, or Ristema are involved in currently active broker scams. These companies launder money through their bank accounts at Epayblock. Upon our R4I, we received the information that two top managers had already left the company several months ago.

March 26, 2021

R4I – Epayblock, illegal payment processor clients, and money-laundering

Amid the hype of binary options, CFDs, and crypto trading, many FinTech entrepreneurs have picked up e-Money Institution licenses in Lithuania. Like Eyal Nachum with his Bruc Bond and International Fintech. Well, they lost the license and went to Singapore. However, MoneyNetint Group and its GlobalNetInt are still there; regulated! Most recently, Epayblock caught our attention because it is repeatedly involved in broker scams as a payment processor. We would like to know more about Epayblock.

March 14, 2021

R4I – The Latvian Racket, Estonian crypto payment processors MisterBit, and Isunext

We ask for the support of our whistleblowers to supplement the information we have and to be able to create complete profiles from it. In the last few days, we have discovered two scams, Zurich Invests (here) and XFinances (here), where MisterBit of Cristiano Chiarugi, licensed in Estonia as a crypto payment processor, acted as payment facilitators. Also, we have received information suggesting a connection between MisterBit and Estonian Isunext.

February 18, 2021

R4I – The secretive Ukrainian Paythrone focused on complex merchants

The website of the high-risk payment processor Paythrone looks acceptable. Not exactly majestic as the name might suggest, but nice. Other than that, you won't find much on the website. Neither is it stated (or we didn't find it) which legal entities and persons operate the payment facilitator or under which jurisdiction it operates. We have found the payment processor focused on "complex merchants" most recently in the two broker scams Spintop Capital and Optimus Markets. However, we would love to learn more about the mysterious provider.

US Treasury Forgives Ukraine Looters!

On 26 September 2024, the United States Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ‘FinCEN’ made the astonishing decision to drop sanctions against ABLV Bank of Latvia. ABLV was sanctioned in 2018 for a list of reasons, including helping Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich’s bagman, Serhiy Kurchenko, steal billions of dollars from Ukraine.

Gurbir Grewal’s Departure from the SEC: His New Position and Potential Impact on Crypto Regulation!

Gurbir S. Grewal, the former Director of the Division of Enforcement at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has left his position to join Milbank LLP, one of the most innovative and prestigious law firms globally. This transition from his high-profile regulatory role to private practice is likely to have lasting implications, particularly on the SEC’s enforcement strategy in the crypto sector.

Warning Against The Imminent Danger of Pig Butchering For The Dawning Cyber Society!

Pig butchering scams are a devastating form of cybercrime that blend romance and investment fraud, leaving victims emotionally and financially shattered. These sophisticated operations, run by organized crime syndicates, often exploit human trafficking victims as unwilling scammers. The perpetrators meticulously cultivate trust over months, luring targets into fraudulent cryptocurrency investments through fake platforms.

MLM Schemes

Latest Arrests in $4 Billion Forex AI Fraud Scheme OmegaPro and the Austrian Connection!

FinTelegram has reported on the fraudulent crypto MLM schemes OMNIA Tech and OmegaPro several times in the past. This week, various media outlets have reported the arrest of Robert Velghe in Turkey, who has played a crucial role in both scams. The OmegaPro MLM scam is believed to have stolen around $4 billion from victims worldwide. Here is our update with a request for additional information from whistleblowers.

Crypto MLM Scam: David Carmona Sentenced to 121 Months for IcomTech Crypto Ponzi Scheme!

iComTech was one of the numerous fraudulent MLM schemes that used cryptocurrencies as a means of fraud in parallel with the crypto hype of 2017/18. David Carmora started IcomTech in approximately 2018 with other co-conspirators as a purported cryptocurrency mining and trading company. The scheme promised to earn its victims high profits and guaranteed daily returns that would double their money within six months.