Tag: BlueData

German regulator BaFin today announced investigations into Plutus Racket. BaFin is unfortunately not known for being particularly active or competent but at least it is a first step in the fight against this racket. The Plutus Racket is the operator of a vast network of scams such as Plutus, PlutusPro, Lucrum, LucrumPro, Galore, or Celox. The racket and its scams are facilitated by several payment processors like Praxis Cashier, BitTheBank, XChangePro, and Polish Sales Master Z.O.O. Behind all these scam brands are the same boiler rooms in Bulgaria and the Balkans.

We have reported about Plutus Racket scams several times in the last few weeks. So far, thanks to our whistleblowers and with the information provided by victims, we have found the scam brands Plutus, Lucrum, and Galore. Apparently, the Celox (www.celox.live) scam also belongs to Plutus Racket. Furthermore, we have discovered BitTheBank, XChangePro, and Polish Sales Master Z.O.O. as facilitating payment processors. Behind all these scam brands are the same boiler rooms in Bulgaria and the Balkans working with Anydesk.

Digital currencies are the future in one way or another. For a few months now, online payment pioneer PayPal has also been accepting bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. Estonia is currently the epicenter of European crypto payment processors. As of mid-2020, the Estonian FIU had issued more than 3,000 licenses (report here). Unfortunately, many of them are used to facilitate scams and illegal payment services. We have drafted a list of Estonian crypto payment companies that have come to our attention in scams.

Estonian BlueData OÜ d/b/a XChangePro has come to our attention over the past few months as a scam-supporting crypto payment processor. It has supported scams like Plutus, MDX500, or Blackstone500. On its websites www.xchangepro.net and www.exchangepro.eu, XChangePro claims to be a financial institution licensed by the Estonian FIU with license number FVR000146 and Ken Kovask as its only director. In fact, this license is no longer valid as of September 2020. Stay away from XChangePro.

The same boiler room apparently operates the three broker scam brands. Victims report that chat history is shared about at least these three scams. We have already reported about the Plutus scam (here) and the Lucrum scam (here). The Galore scam (www.galore.pro) is allegedly operated by ITM Solutions LLC, registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. This entity also operates the Plutus scam. The offshore entity behind the Lucrum scam is Econdary LLC, also registered in SVG. On two BTC addresses, we have discovered a total of barely BTC58 worth more than $3.3M.

Yes, the Plutus broker scam is still active and continues to scam consumers and small investors! And yes, these scammers stole millions! We reported about it a few days ago. Until around May 2020, the scam worked with Praxis Cashier and accepted credit cards and later switched to cryptocurrency payments only. Until recently, the scam operated by ITM Solutions LLC processed payments via BitTheBank and XchangePro of the licensed Estonian crypto payment processors Lipan Services OÜ and BlueData OÜ, respectively. We are trying to track down the operators.

The Estonian regulatory regime had been a severe issue for the EU since the inception of its crypto license program some three years ago. Even though the Estonian Ministry of Finance recently announced that its FIU revoked more than 1,000 licenses, there are still about 400 regulated crypto payment companies active in the market billing themselves as "EU-regulated" payment processors. Companies like BlueData OÜ, or Lipan Services OÜ facilitate and/or operate scams. These companies are also customers of the Lithuanian GlobalNetInt which is part of the network.

MDX500 (www.mdx500.com) was just down for a while and displayed error message 522. It will not be a surprise if the scam goes offline. They all do aftleverer a few months. However, the boiler rooms and payment processors behind the scams are here to stay. In the case of MDX500, these are the boiler rooms that also run Blackstone500, for example. The Estonian BlueData OÜ operated the scam. Client-victims informed us that withdrawals and tradings had been stopped. Goodbye, money then! Another Estonian scam ripped off investors with Estonian regulators and law enforcement doing nothing.

The Austrian FMA warns against Blackstone500 (www.blackstone500.com). It’s about time for law enforcement agencies in various EU jurisdictions to take action. In any case, the Leverate Financial Services Ltd which is regulated in Cyprus by CySEC should be approached to identify the beneficial owners and individuals behind PumaTS. The latter is a white label broker platform provider as well as a partner and client of Leverate and operates a vast scam broker network.

Currently, not a day goes by without a financial market regulator warning about one of the scams from the worldwide PumaTS scam broker network. It's about time for law enforcement agencies in various EU jurisdictions to take action. PumaTS is a white label broker platform provider and operates a vast scam broker network. On 22 July 2020, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a public investor warning against CFD broker Blackstone500 (www.blackstone500.com).