Tag: PayOp

A whistleblower has courageously stepped forward to expose the alarming operations of unlicensed online gambling platforms targeting vulnerable individuals in the UK. These platforms, operating under offshore licenses, exploit problem gamblers, circumvent self-exclusion systems, and engage in illegal payment practices.

While the main website of the Betify online casino, Betify.com, states Altacore N.V. has a Curacao license as an operator, various other Betify websites do not provide any information about the operators. Costa Rica is stated as the jurisdiction responsible for the terms and conditions. In our reviews at the beginning of August 2024, we discovered the Cyprus-registered Altaprime Limited as the payment processor for anonymous and illegal casino activities.

A customer of the illegally operating online casino Rolletto revealed a series of unauthorized transactions involving their Monzo, HSBC, and Barclays bank accounts. The transactions, which occurred between May 24 and May 25, 2024, were processed by PayOp and directed to Rolletto, a website owned by Santeda International. These transactions highlight serious breaches of anti-money laundering (AML) laws and the companies' own terms and conditions.

PayRate42, the leading rating authority for payment processors in the CyberFinance domain, announced the downgrading of high-risk payment processor PayDo to Orange Compliance due to looming compliance issues. PayDo operates under Ecommerce Technologies Ltd, regulated by the FCA, and PayDo Canada Ltd., registered with FinTRAC. FinTelegram recently exposed PayDo and PayOP as payment facilitators for unauthorized online casinos and gambling schemes.

We have already extensively reviewed the FCA-regulated high-risk payment processor PayDo in 2022 and also outlined the close cooperation with PayOp. In our current analysis of the high-risk segment of online casinos and the gambling segment, we have also found the two payment facilitators at the offshore crypto casino Gamdom, reglated in Curacao. They facilitate the distribution of the Gamdom Coin. We have therefore updated our PayDo review.

We continue our reviews of the high-risk segment of online casinos and gambling providers and their payment facilitators with the crypto casino Gamdom. This is operated by Curacao licensed Smeins Hosting B.V. and also offers its products to customers in EEA jurisdictions. Gamdom has issued its own cryptocurrency, Gamdom Coins, which is traded on the Binance BNB Chain and can be purchased via PayOp with credit/debit card. Here is our review.

We've uncovered a concerning trend in our recent analysis of the online casinos and gambling sector, particularly focusing on the high-risk aspects of these activities and their associated payment processors. Many payment processors, including those regulated by financial authorities, seem to be unknowingly engaging in unauthorized and, consequently, illegal online gambling operations. FinCrime Observer published an interesting report about this scene and its payment processors.

The offshore broker Number One Capital Markets a/k/a N1CM registered as a Financial Dealer with the Vanuatu FSC (VFSC) in 2017. However, N1CM no longer appears in the latest VFSC Financial Dealer list dated July 10, 2023. The broker does not provide details on this. Recently, the Spanish regulator CNMV issued a warning against N1CM. We have therefore placed the broker on our Red Compliance list and advise all traders to exercise the utmost caution.

Currently, Russian broker scam Binarium is running a massive promotion and offers generous bonuses of 100% for deposits. FinTelegram and financial market regulators have already issued several warnings against Binarium, which operates through Binarium Limited, registered in Cyprus, and an offshore entity in St. Vincent & The Grenadines. For some time now, the new registration has been blocked for EEA residents. However, existing EEA clients can still register, make deposits, and trade. Stay far away!

It is currently common for online casino, sports betting and gambling operators equipped with an e-gaming license in Curacao to have a payment subsidiary in Cyprus. This also has the advantage of having a location in the EU. The operator of Bet Swagger, Usoftgaming N.V., has also chosen this structure and processes the payments of its customers via the Cyprus-registered Pulsion Processing Ltd. We have heard massive complaints from several customers of this scheme. Therefore, we issue a warning.

PayOp is a high-risk payment processor operated through Transferop Payment Gateway Ltd, a money service business registered with FINTRAC Canada, and Fintech Decision Pte. Ltd, registered with MAS in Singapore. We last discovered PayOp as a payment processor in the Binarium broker scam (report here). According to the latest Similarweb statistics, PayOp receives the most traffic from websites in high-risk industries. Here is our updated review!

In October 2022, we published our initial review of the high-risk payment processor PayOp and revealed that it is essentially a Ukrainian scheme operated through legal entities in Canada and Singapore. The Ukrainian Sherii Zakharov is the controlling person. At the time of your initial review, PayDo was heavily engaged in Russia, which accounted for more than 30% of its website visitors. Since we published our report, PayDo terminated its Russian connections, blocked Russian visitors, and started to defame FinTelegram!