When analyzing the scams against which the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued an investor warning yesterday, St. Vincent and the Grenadines had a dominant role as the given address of the scam operating entities. This is also the case with Universal Markets (www.umarkets.io, www.umarketspro.com, or www.umarketspro.net). The scam is allegedly operated by Universal Services LLC, register number 193LLC2019, and/or UM Media LLC, register number 240LLC2020. Surprise! Both companies are registered in Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The link behind “Customer Service and Deposit Help” on this first page refers to a separate page linked with the domain www.ccsecpay.com (CCSECPAY). However, the documentation is customized to the scam customer Universal Markets (www.universalmarkets.com).
Behind the payment gateway, we also discovered the UK-based high-risk payment processor Ecommpay (www.ecommpay.com) as a payment processor. However, in our review of the scam, this payment option did not work anymore.
In June 2020, the Spanish regulator CNMV warned about the Universal Markets scam (see report here). On March 1, 2021, the UK FCA also issued an investor warning. Therefore, it is astonishing that payment processors still knowingly and willingly support the scam.
