Connectum | FinTelegram News

Tag: Connectum

High-risk payment processors

January 17, 2023

Update On High-Risk Payment Processor Hawex Group And Its Russian Connections!

The motto of FCA-authorized payment agent Hawex is "above the banks." The UK entity Hawex Group was controlled by Russian Kirill Baldakov until March 2022. Since October 2022, Hawex Investment LLC, registered in Dubai, has been controlling the UK entity. A UBO is not specified, but allegedly, it is still a Russian venture. According to our information, Indian payment veteran Ruchi Rathor is one of the Hawex partners. We reported Hawex's collaboration with FCA-regulated Connectum (report here).

Offshore Broker

December 27, 2022

Interesting: Offshore Broker Gerchik Is Building The Trading Bridge Between The U.S. And Russia!

The New York-based professional trader Alexander Gerchik (LinkedIn) and his Ukrainian partner Ivan Kroshny ioperate several websites offering online trading education and brokerage services via legal entities in Vanuatu and other jurisdictions. The online trading scheme Gerchik solicits Russian-speaking clients offering them trading in U.S. stocks. According to Similarweb, his websites attracted more than 260,000 visitors in December 2022. Of these, more than 40% come from Russia and Belarus.

December 27, 2022

FCA-Regulated High-Risk Payment Processor Connectum And Its Russian Activities!

What business is the FCA-regulated payment institution Connectum has been on our radar over recent years as a facilitator of broker scams and as a partner of high-risk processors such as HoneyPay or Hawex. According to the latest Similarweb statistics, Connectum makes a significant part of its payment volume with Russia. Among other things, we noticed that Alexander Gerchik, a trader living in New York, exclusively targets Russian clients who deposit via Connectum through his trading education website Gerchik.com.

December 11, 2022

Exposed: FCA-Regulated Connectum And Russian High-Risk Payment Processor Hawex!

FCA-regulated payment institution Connectum was a notorious scam facilitator and money launderer for the fraudulent Israeli broker scene. It processed payments for the cybercrime organization of the convicted Israeli Gal Barak. At least until a few months ago, Connectum has been working closely with the Russian-controlled high-risk payment processor Hawex, in which the notorious Indo-British Ruchi Rathor is also involved. Whistleblowers have provided us with data exposing Hawex merchants billed through Connectum.

Crypto Payments

June 14, 2021

Scam-facilitating Estonian crypto payment processor Tinkbit offline

As recently as March 2021, white-label payment gateway provider Akuratoco announced via press release that, in addition to Tranzzo and Connectum, it has also integrated licensed Estonian crypto payment processor Tinkbit OÜ d/b/a Tinkbit (www.tinkbit.com) into its portfolio. Surprisingly, today the website is down and producing the Error 1016 Cloudflare error message. Maybe it's just a short-term problem, maybe not. In recent months, Tinkbit has come to our attention as a scam-facilitating payment processor.

June 14, 2021

R4I – Connectum, Walletto, and the money laundering connections to Russian Binex Group

The former CEO and beneficial owner of FCA-regulated Connectum Limited, Latvian Edgars Lasmanis has joined Walletto UAB, a regulated Lithuanian e-money institution, as chairman of the supervisory board. He has held this role since October 2017, according to his LinkedIn profile. Lasmanis resigned as director and CEO of Connectum in January 2021, according to UK Companies House. Connectum, in turn, has had a central role in the money laundering of Binex Group LP around the E&G Bulgaria cybercrime organization of Gal Barak, Gery Shalon, and Vladislav Smirnov.

November 25, 2020

Finally! BaFin orders Deutsche Handelsbank to implement appropriate AML procedures

Deutsche Handelsbank has appeared as a payment processor in many binary options and broker scams. Moreover, the BaFin-regulated institution is a correspondent bank and partner of other regulated payment processors such as MoneyNetint, which also support scams. EFRI has filed a corresponding complaint to BaFin. The German regulator has now officially ordered Deutsche Handelsbank to implement appropriate AML measures to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.

September 29, 2020

Binex Group and the Russian-Ukraine Connection in Vienna Cybercrime Trials

In the first of the Vienna Cybercrime Trials ("VCT"), the Israeli principal of the cybercrime organization operated via the Bulgarian E&G Bulgaria, Gal Barak, was sentenced to four years in prison in early September 2020. One reason for the relatively modest sentence was Barak's confession. Through his lawyers, Barak also submitted documents that massively incriminated his Russian partner Vladislav Smirnov and his Binex Group, making him de facto the mastermind behind the Barak scams.