Tag: Paycorp

As reported previously, the Lithuanian Financial Crime Investigation Service (FCIS) has imposed a record fine on the payment processor Payeer, totaling nearly €9.3 million, for significant breaches of international sanctions and anti-money laundering (AML) regulations. This development corroborates FinTelegram's previous investigations into Payeer's Russian connections and its role in laundering money for scammers, further solidifying FinTelegram's reputation as a leading financial intelligence provider.

Over the last 3 years, FinTelegram exposed the Russian-controlled crypto payment processor Payeer as a payment processor for various broker scams. In January 2023, the Estonian FIU considered the revocation of Payeer's crypto license due to identified deficiencies. However, Payeer decided to renounce their license voluntarily and registered crypto service provider in Lithuania. We found more information about the related individuals and company history.

FinTelegram has reported several times about crypto payment processor Payeer which is controlled by Russian nationals. We have already discovered Payeer as a payment processor in scams several times. The Estonian FIU announced that Payeer had lost its license. The Estonian FIU exposed deficiencies, and the license would have been invalidated. However, Payeer decided to renounce their license to avoid the revocation. Now, the scheme operates with a crypto license in Lithuania!

We have been following the activities of the high-risk payment processor Payeer for several years now. Payeer is operated through Payeer OÜ, which holds an Estonian crypto license, and Paycorp Limited, registered in Vanuatu by the VFSC. Most recently, we discovered Payeer as a payment processor at many Russian high-risk merchants such as Express Wallet or Taxi Money. In recent months, an average of 25% of website visitors came from Russia.

Payment processor Payeer, which operates with an Estonian crypto license, has been on our radar since 2021, having been a facilitator in various broker scams. Until June 2022, Russian Liubov Svezhentseva was officially registered as the beneficial owner and director. After our last report, new Estonian individuals were again registered as beneficial owners and directors. We may justifiably conclude that they are acting as nominees for the real owners. Here is the update.

The FCA recently made clear that regulators worldwide are taking concerted action against crypto companies that violate Western Alliance sanctions against Russia. Cryptoasset firms must take steps to ensure their compliance with the sanctions. The Estonian FIU recently made sure that Russian-controlled Garantex Europe OÜ had its crypto license surrendered. However, there are plenty of other FIU-licensed crypto payment processors controlled by Russians that engage in illegal activities. One of them is Payeer OÜ, for example. Here is an update.

Fincana OÜ, a crypto payment processor, licensed in Estonia by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) as the competent regulator, operates the payment processor Payeer (www.payeer.com) together with Paycorp Limited, which is registered in Vanuatu and licensed by the VFSC. This payment processor has increasingly appeared as a scam facilitator over the last couple of months. For example, in the scams of the Capital Letter group against which regulators issued numerous warnings. The beneficial owner of Payeer is the Russian Liubov Svezhentseva.

Against the German Capital Letter GmbH and its network of offshore entities and scams such as BrightFinance, SolidInvest, GFXRoyal, STSRoyal, STSCrypto, or GFXFinance, various European regulators such as the UK FCA (here), BaFin (here), or the FMA (here) have already warned and issued Cease and Desist Orders over the last months. The Italian Consob has ordered a blackout of the sites (here). However, the scammers are unimpressed. Some scams are still active. Now the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a new warning.