BULLETIN: SpotFN, ‘Binary Options’ Platform, Issued Cease-And-Desist Order In Missouri
BULLETIN: (Updated 5:52 a.m. EDT April 8 U.S.A.) A “binary options” platform operating out of England allegedly plucked $82,742 from four Missouri investors, telling one of them that his money “had been stolen by former employees and could only be retrieved by paying a service fee and taxes to the companies’ supposed insurance company, Allianz Tiriac, located in Romania.”
The office of Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander has issued a cease-and-desist order that applies to SpotFN.com, Spot FN LLC, Spot CEO James Kingsley and “affiliated New York companies Binary Holdings and Binary Academics,” Kander’s office said.
Spot does not appear to be an MLM. But some MLM “programs” are pushing binary-options schemes.
Among the issues in Missouri is that the Spot and Binary entities “and Kingsley are not registered to offer investment advice or act as broker-dealers in the state of Missouri,” Kander’s office said.
“Email and online-based investment opportunities such as this are a common practice by scammers to lure investors,” Kander said. “If you or someone you know was approached via email with an investment opportunity — especially by a foreign-based company — contact my office before turning over your hard-earned money.”
According to a statement by Kander’s office, Spot told a story about “guaranteed” profits and used the Internet and telemarketers to line up business for binary options, “which are bets on whether an event will happen at a specific time.”
Prospects were told to “send their investment funds through a website via their credit card, and their funds would be invested either by a ‘robot trader’ or an ‘executive trader,’ with a higher fee. In some instances, investor credit cards were charged without the investor’s knowledge or authorization,” Kander’s office said.
The address appears to point to Tower 42 aka the Nat West Tower. Once the tallest building in the city.
There may be a link to a company called “Hortense Holdings Limited” which has this warning from Gibraltar:
http://www.fsc.gi/enforcement/fscwarning0050.htm
Also from Austria:
https://www.fma.gv.at/en/consumers/investor-warnings/national-investor-warnings/detail-natwm/article/spotfn.html
Pitiful.
Even the lowliest of the East European HYIP Ponzi frauds going back a decade have been using that “must make another deposit to unlock your earnings” game trick to double-soak their victims.
SD
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Thanks for the info above, Tony.
Canada’s province of Quebec, via the Canadian Securities Administrators association, also is concerned about binary-options schemes and put out this information on March 9, 2015:
http://www.lautorite.qc.ca/en/press-releases-2015-corpo.html_2015_csa-investor-alert-unregistered-binary-option-platforms-target-canadians09-03-2015-00-0.html
SNIPPET:
____________________________________________________
Offering investment services or products, whether online or in person, is a regulated activity. Investing with offshore companies operating outside of Canada can be risky and is a common red flag of investment fraud. Once offshore, it can be nearly impossible for an investor to recover their money.
____________________________________________________
Patrick
June 2013 SEC warning on binary options, including info on a prosecution involving Banc de Binary Ltd. of Cyprus:
http://www.sec.gov/News/PressRelease/Detail/PressRelease/1365171575220#.VSUQl5PVqk8
Link to combined SEC/CFTC warning:
http://www.sec.gov/investor/alerts/ia_binary.pdf
Patrick
Looks as though the “Moore Fund” borrowed from the “we’re insured” playbook when victims of Achieve Community were being re-targeted.
https://patrickpretty.com/2015/02/24/bulletin-moorefund-a-ponzi-board-hyip-program-pushed-by-achieve-community-huckster-is-using-unauthorized-security-seal-from-norton/
Check out the photo of the man in the MooreFund video:
https://moorefund.com/
Compare it to this man at Binary Academics, one of the entities listed in the story above about the Missouri actions:
http://www.binaryacademics.com/
Patrick
Screen shot from BinaryAcademics:
https://patrickpretty.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/binaryscademics.jpg
Screen shot from MooreFund:
https://patrickpretty.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/moorefund575.jpg
Patrick
Patrick, it looks like these paid-shill/fiverr.com crooks are amping up their game by using the green-screen function in iMovie to superimpose themselves onto any background they wish as they make their pitch. The high-rise office background in the Moorefund promo video is lifted from this office design company site (bottom of the page):
http://www.bkmtexas.com/who-we-are/case-studies/
The photo used as background by the same paid shill promoting Binary Academics is the intellectual property of The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. and appears to be stolen by or licensed to hundreds of websites, including this one:
http://www.wired.com/2012/02/high-speed-trading/
SD
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Thanks for this, SD.
What an endless loop!
Patrick
Haha, thats Michal J. he does greenscreen speehes for $15 , saw him in many HYIP promo videos.
Here he is: https://www.fiverr.com/bookreviewstew
Looks as though he is Michael-John Wolfe, who has some experience as an actor and is doing the greenscreen gigs via Fiverr.
He has an imdb listing:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1677527/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm
So, looks as though some of the binary-options/HYIP schemes have hired him.
Patrick
He (as any on fiverr) will pimp anything , be it a ponzi scheme or a prostitution bordel. Law has nothing on them. It just should just be on his conscience.
I refuse to believe he saw nothing wrong when he spoke about 1049% guaranteed annual return.
Re Spotfin.
Some weeks ago I received a message from Alliance Tiriac that they handle the closure of this account with an outstanding balance of $ 14,024.10. I was asked to wire transfer$ 1,013.48 to cover expenses. As expected, I have not heard any further from them. Referring to the Missouri case, I reported them to the Mass. Attorney General.
Incidentally, Alliance has a very impressive web page showing a business address in New York