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March 19, 2022

Arnold Schwarzenegger sends his message to the Russian People!

The former Californian governor and Terminator action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger is known for his action films in which violence takes up a considerable part of the dramaturgy. He is more of a peace-loving, cigar-smoking man in his private life. And like most people inside and outside Russia, he is against the war in Ukraine. In a video message, he addresses the Russian people directly. Vladimir Putin will not like the message! However, it seems essential to let the Russian people know how the rest of the world sees the Ukraine War.

March 19, 2022

Interesting! Troubled state-owned Russian Sberbank bets on crypto!

Early March 2022, the ECB decided to close down Sberbank Europe AG, a subsidiary of state-owned Russian Sberbank, with its headquarters in Vienna, Austria. In total, the deposit guarantee scheme in Austria expects to pay out a total of EUR 947 million. Amid the Western sanctions against Russia's financial industry, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) has granted Sberbank a license to issue and exchange digital assets. Crypto may be the last resort for the Russian financial industry.

March 18, 2022

It’s about time! Australien consumer watchdog sues Meta over fake Facebook ads!

The Australian consumer watchdoch sues Facebook's parent company, Meta, over targeted fake crypto ads that have scammed Australians out of more than $100 million. The ACCC alleges the company engaged in false, misleading, and deceptive conduct by publishing scam advertisements featuring prominent Australians. The ACCC says that, in one instance, a victim lost $650,000 to a scam. Fake ads on Google and Facebook are the most efficient way for scammers to chase victims.

March 18, 2022

Good News! Former Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov arrested!

FinTelegram readers may recall. Israeli cybercrime principal Gal Barak, sentenced in 2020 to several years in prison for investment fraud and some €4 million in restitution payments, was a friend of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov. At least he gave him and his minister friends nice money gifts and was therefore protected by the state. Boyko Borissov was detained late Thursday amid a wide-sweeping police investigation linked to probes by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.

March 17, 2022

Bravo! UK regulator warns against Michael Gastauer’s scam-facilitating Black Banx scheme!

German Michael Gastauer is a hustler on the gray and black side of the financial market. Not coincidentally, his latest company is called Black Banx (previously WB21) and promises to get bank accounts for individuals and merchants accounts in over 180 countries in minutes. On LinkedIn and its website, Black Banx claims to have 8 million customers and $10 billion in monthly transaction volume. We doubt the figures of this high-risk and dark side payment processor. The UK FCA has issued a warning against Black Banx.

March 16, 2022

Be cautious with the Turkish DegerFX broker scheme!

On 8 March 2022, the Financial Commission announced that it had approved DegerFX as a member. In our review, we found that DegerFX primarily addresses a Turkish audience. Additionally, the broker operates its platform in English. However, the boiler room seems to reside in Montenegro. DegerFX LLC, St. Vincent & The Grenadines, is the operator of the unregulated broker scheme. The broker is not authorized to operate in the UK, Europe, or other regulatory regimes. We advise staying away from unregulated offshore brokers.

March 15, 2022

Money-laundering! The license of Lithuanian Trustcom has been revoked!

The Bank of Lithuania informed that the license of the notorious Italian-Lithuanian Trustcom Financial UAB has been revoked. Bankruptcy proceedings will be filed, criminal investigations have been initiated in Lithuania, Latvia, and Italy due to the possible organization of money laundering by its Italian CEO Marco Spinola and his partner Michele Scognamiglio. They are the beneficial owners of the financial institution. Thus, these guys can no longer be deemed "fit and proper" to run a licensed financial institution, the Bank of Lithuania remarked.

March 14, 2022

Attention! Russian crypto payment processor Payeer with Estonian license!

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.

March 13, 2022

FCA warns against the Russian-Cyprus Trillion-Dollar broker network Alpari!

Alpari is a Russian broker, or at least it has its roots there. It was founded in 1998 by Russian-born Andrey Dashin in Kazan, Russia. Allegedly, it has more than 2 million customers. According to the UK Companies House information, Dashin lives in Cyprus. He also operates the CySEC and FCA regulated broker ForexTime there. Both ForexTime and Alpari are operated through offshore brokers with a network of various legal entities. Also, in close cooperation with the CySEC and FCA regulated Fortrade. The UK FCA has now issued a warning against Alpari.

March 10, 2022

The Russian €5 billion issue! Estonian Garantex Europe lost crypto license!

Garantex Europe OÜ used to be a licensed Estonian crypto payment processor moving more than €5 billion. It had close ties to Russia, a regulatory investigation found. The Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) identified serious and systematic deficiencies in the company's KYC/AML procedures, which would have led to the revocation of the crypto license. Consequently, Garantex Europe OÜ surrendered its license.

March 10, 2022

R4I – Introducing offshore crypto investment scheme Invictus Capital

Invictus Asset Management Limited in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), authorized by the BVI Financial Services Commission, operates the scheme. The website also informs that Invictus Capital Financial Technologies SPC in the Cayman Islands has applied for a Virtual Asset Services Provider license at CIMA. Invictus Capital offers investments in various crypto funds, such as the CRYPTO10 Hedged (C10) smart index fund. The scheme is open to retail investors in the UK, Europe, Australia, and Asia.

March 9, 2022

The CySEC issue! LegacyFX continues with offshore onboarding for European clients!

Offshore onboarding to circumvent ESMA and FCA guidelines is still a big issue for European regulators. Especially CySEC has had a problem with this approach for years, as FinTelegram has pointed out repeatedly. Most recently, in a new review of CYSEC-regulated FXORO, we found that the CIF continues with offshore onboarding of European retail investors systematically in violation of regulatory requirements, as does LegacyFX.