In November 2021, FinTelegram issued a Request 4 Information regarding the Cyprus Papel Group. At the time, Papel operated as an online marketing company. In early 2022, the Papel.com website disappeared and reappeared as a payment processor with a license from the Bank of Lithuania. TBF FINANCE UAB of Artiom Saltanov operates the “new” Papel. Personally related to Papel Group is also Monitox Ltd, regulated by the UK FCA as an e-Money Institution. Here is an update.
Key Data
| Trading names | Papel TBF Finance |
| Business activity | Payment processor e-Money Institution |
| Domains | https://papel.com https://papel.com.tr https://tbffinance.com |
| Social media | LinkedIn Papel LinkedIn Papel Turkey LinkedIn TB Finance |
| Legal entities | TBF FINANCE, UAB Papel Elektronik Para ve Ödeme Hizmetleri A.Ş. |
| Jurisdictions | Lithuania, Turkey |
| Authorizations | Payment institution regulated by Bank of Lithuania e-Money Institution application at CBRT |
| Contact data | +370 6453 4636 +371 2576 6233 +48 22 208 7744 |
| Related individuals | Artiom Saltanov, Ferit Samuray, David Clark, Maksim Asanov |
| Related schemes | Monitox |
Short Narrative
Until 2021, the domain and website Papel.com was operated by Papel (CY) Marketing Services Ltd, an online marketing company in Cyprus. FinTelegram exposed that Papel also acted as an unregulated payment processor. The company was founded and controlled by Ferit Samuray (LinkedIn).
Papel.com was redirected to the domain Papel.cy where online marketing services were offered until the end of 2021. Since 2022, the domain Papel.com has been operated by TBF FINANCE, UAB, which is authorized in Lithuania by the Bank of Lithuania as a payment institution. This entity also trades as TBF Finance with a separate website.
How the domain transfer to the Lithuanian entity worked, we cannot determine at this time. Likewise, we do not know if and how the Lithuanian and Cypriot businesses are connected.
The Monitox Connection
We have discovered Ferit Samuray as a director in the high-risk payment processor Monitox Ltd, an e-Money Institution regulated with reference number 901012 by the FCA. Monitox is controlled by Estonian Maksim Asanov. Whistleblower informed us that Monitox is still connected to the “new” Papel Group. We can neither confirm nor deny this.
The Papel Group with Ferit Samuray comprises other entities, such as Papel Marketing UK Limited or the forex-focused Papel FX Ltd in Cyprus. Samuray is also the director of Smarttekk Payment Solutions Ltd in Cyprus.
Share Information
We would like to know more about Papel Group, Ferit Samuray, and their partners. If you have any information, please share it with us through our whistleblower platform, Whistle42.
