Tag: Lucrum

FinTelegram has uncovered several broker scams over the last two years that we have attributed to the so-called Plutus Racket. This means that these scams were run by the same boiler rooms, even if they used different offshore entities as operators. Most recently, we were contacted by a victim of the Stockhome scam who has since disappeared. The domain www.stockhome.io redirects to www.google.com. We would like to know more about the operators and request any relevant information.

FinTelegram has issued warnings against the Celox a/k/a Celox Live (www.celox.com) broker scam several times over the last few months. It was one of the many scams of the so-called Plutus Racket operated by boiler rooms in Bulgaria and Ukraine. Apparently, the Celox scam or its website has disappeared with the error message 404 (File or directory not found). Most recently, Celox has already received a 2-star "Poor" rating on Trustpilot and was declared a scam via an IIROC press release.

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.

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.

FinTelegram recently issued an investor warning against Bitcoin Formula, an affiliate system to recruit new victims for various broker scams. Among them, we have discovered the Lucrum.Pro (www.lucrum.pro) is one of the many scams promoted via Bitcoin Formula. This specific scam is allegedly operated by Econdary LLC, registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Deposits can be made using an intermediate solution via Stripe and PayPal or cryptocurrencies. The scam found an interesting solution to integrate Stripe and PayPal via a Polish Sales Master Z.O.O. (d/b/a Varifilio).

The crypto hype is getting stronger every day. Almost every day, we read headlines about new crypto events. PayPal reports records since they accept cryptocurrencies. Elon Musk and his Tesla are buying $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoins, and most recently, Twitter chief Jack Dorsey and Jay-Z announced the creation of a Bitcoin trust. Meanwhile, the big media houses like CNN, BBC, or the Financial Times entertain with ever new exciting crypto stories. Scammers use this hype to rip off greedy and/or naive consumers with scams like Bitcoin Formula and ProfitsTrade.