In May 2020, the UK FCA issued an investor warning against the Infinitrade (www.infinitrade.com) broker scam, operated by A&E Products Ltd, registered in Bulgaria. We reported about the warning here. The facilitating payment processors are Phoenix Payments Ltd d/b/a Paytah, and Finligue Grupp OÜ d/b/a Crypto1. We are also aware that the MFSA has received complaints from victims about Paytah and is referring them to the Ombudsman. Therefore, we would like to know more to support the victims’ claims.
The Paytah and MFSA mess
Paytah is notorious as a scam facilitator. Both FinTelegram and the MFSA have received many complaints from scam victims who lost their money through the MFSA-regulated payment processor. Paytah‘s former Chief Compliance Officer has also brought charges of money laundering and violation of KYC/AML (report here).
Following an investigation, the MFSA has fined Paytah €32,000 and restricted the payment processor’s license. The latter appealed against the MFSA measures and filed a lawsuit against the MFSA in turn. This is not a normal civil court case. Instead, Paytah brought the claim against MFSA at the Constitutional Courts level. This is a first in Malta. Paytah has also sued MFSA for damages. Please read our report here. MFSA is a very weak regulator, and Malta has been grey-listed in the meantime. The country is a regulatory mess.
Victim’s hearing
On August 26, 2021, a hearing is scheduled at the Maltese Office of Arbiter for Financial Services (a/k/a Ombudsman) in Malta to hear a complaint from an Infinitrade victim who paid into the scam through Paytah. In other words, the Infinitrade scam operators were or are clients of Paytah. Those guys
- can provide the regulator and/or Ombudsman with all KYC information necessary to go after the scammers, and
- have to refund the victims that deposited via Paytah because of its
- failure to implement a proper KYC/AML procedure and/or its gross negligence or wilfulness in this context
If you have any information about Infinitrade and the scammers or any information about Paytah and Crypto1 in this regard, we would appreciate it if you share it with us.
