INVESTOR WARNING: Illegal Broker XTraderFX, GPay, And Money Laundering

The illegal online broker XTraderFX and the non-registered payment services provider GPay Ltd have already received numerous warnings from various financial market supervisory authorities. FinTelegram has been working with investors in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland for some time now to understand the processes, procedures and bank accounts of this cybercrime network. Today we publish the first report on this subject. This report shows how XTraderFX and GPay use shell companies in Germany and Hungary to receive funds from investors in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. The strings of this cybercrime network are pulled from the notorious Israeli scam artist Gal BARAK and his E&G Bulgaria. The vast cybercrime network of Israeli partners actually spans from the Marshall Islands via Hong Kong to Israel.

Shell Companies And Fake Accounts

Customers who register with XTraderFX (XFX) and want to deposit money by bank transfer will receive the bank details of shell companies in Germany, Hungary, and other EU member states. Among them is, for example, a real estate and construction firm named IntellEstate Bau GmbH registered in Leipzig, the. The managing director of the company is the Ukraine citizen and resident Julia IVANTSIV. Client payments to XTraderFX are managed via an account of this construction company with the German Postbank. Incredible, isn’t it? How can those fake accounts pass the banks KYC/AML check? Customers receive corresponding instructions from XFX (see Screenshot). Such payments are also made to XFX via Hungarian construction companies such as Csermimetal Kft and the Hungarian Polgari Bank.

These are just two examples of the many bogus companies with which these illegal broker sites work. In fact, these illegal brokers work through various Merchant Identification Number (MIDs) with a variety of payment service providers and fictitious companies. Account connections are frequently changed in order to make traceability more difficult for the authorities.

As a matter of fact, these illegally operating broker sites work with European banks such as the Postbank, Deutsche Bank, Investbank, or PayVision (ING) to defraud European investors.

Example: Payments via GPay Ltd and Georgi KOMISAROV

FXF customers will be informed on the website that all payments will be processed by GPay Ltd, registered in the UK (Company No: 10938332 see Companies House). This unregistered and/or non-licensed Payment Services Provider (PSP) has received numerous warnings from financial market regulators connected with different illegal broker sites. Managing Director of GPay Ltd is the Bulgarian Georgi KOMISAROV who is also Managing Director of the Bulgarian Green Oak Ltd (see the company’s OpenCorporates record). Green Oak Ltd is the official operator of the illegal broker page ROITEKS (www.roiteks.com). There are also numerous warnings against this website.

Georgi KOMISAROV is also the managing director of Chillimarkets OU (Chillimarkets Ltd – see company information here), which is registered in Estonia. Until recently, this company operated the illegal Binary Options broker site SwissRoyalMarkets. Officially, Chillimarkets is a marketing company. This is common in this scene. Illegally earned money from online brokers is billed as marketing revenue. According to the company register, Chillimarkets recorded more than EUR 600,000 turnover in the first 3 quarters of 2018 alone. This was probably the commission from the illegal acquisition of customer money.

Money Laundering and Criminal Organizations

The revenues from the operation of illegal online brokers are by definition revenues from organised crime and must therefore be laundered. The operators of those broker sites deploay numerous offshore companies and Payment Services Providers (PSPs) such as PayVision, PayRetailers or Praxis to get their money clean. Customer funds that have to be held legally on segragated accounts are actually misappropriated and used for commission and marketing payments and moved into the privacy of the operators of these illegal broker sites.

GPay is such a platform for international money laundering around the illegal brokerage activities. According to the documents available to us, 59-year-old Georgi KOMISAROV is merely a frontman for the criminal organization behind it. For example, there is a direct connection to the companies of Gal BARAK, the Wolf of Sofia. Month after month, millions of dollars of customer funds are processed over GPay and are transferred to companies in Bulgaria, British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, and the Marshall Islands. From there the money is transferred to Israel, Hong Kong or other offshore centres. Details will be given in the next report.

EFRI Funds Recovery Campaign

FinTelegram has launched the European Funds Recovery Initiative (EFRI) together with lawyers, auditors and authorities in various countries. Damaged investors can register their claims and complaints on the EFRI website.

Next report: Forensic Analysis of Cash Flows from Bulgaria to Hong Kong, and Israel

The forensic analysis of cash flows between Bulgaria and the offshore companies Online Prospect and MUU Group based on concrete payment processes and company constructions.