2024-04-15 13:37:47
Cryptopyramid blocks savings for several thousand euros. One of the victims of the fraud also tells about this.
In 2020, Ginka Slavova came across a training seminar related to nutritional supplements. Before long, he became an independent partner and began distributing the company’s products through multi-level marketing. However, it turns out that in addition to healthy living, the Swiss-registered international holding also promoted cryptocurrency packages.
“The largest was 1,650 euros, and the smallest under 100 euros. The last way they collected money was with trainings. Academy, we’re all going to be doctors almost. It cost 1,000 euros,” Ginka Slavova told BNT.
Ginka Slavova bought packages for her entire family, including friends. In this way, he should have increased his rank as a distributor and increased his income. It shows us some of the translations made, as well as its profile in the system.
“Everyone who bought packages under me brings me certain bonuses,” she explained.
The company’s videos on the Internet advise how to invest. Paradoxically, they also emphasize how to protect oneself from financial pyramids. In the description below the video, it is claimed that fiat money, or the company’s own currency, is being bought, on the basis of which dividends are received every month. It is explicitly mentioned that the money can be withdrawn immediately, reinvested or purchased cryptocurrency of the holding, with which 30% of the value of the ordered products can be paid. Users have personal profiles in the system through which they can see how investments are moving.
“They promised around 5-10%, depending on the cryptocurrency itself, how they vary, in the beginning the dividends went very well, we once exceeded 10%,” shared Ginka Slavova.
In June 2022, things change. Dividends stop on the grounds that there is a crypto crisis due to the war in Ukraine. Although the crypto market was booming at the time, and such an excuse could have been the first red light that something was wrong – Ginka patiently waited for nearly a year and a half before trying to withdraw the invested money, despite the disadvantageous agreement that the company had to keep 15% of them. Then the mentors in the chain, with whom the woman communicated, changed the rules of the game, and the investment of nearly 10,000 euros remained frozen.
“There is no connection. There is support on this platform in Telegram – Since October, we have been going around in a vicious circle, they promise to transfer the problem to the financial department, the IT department, whatever departments they must have asked me ten times what the registration numbers are, no progress there,” he added Ginka Slavova.
“In this case, it is a question of a similar scheme as Ruza Ignatova’s onecoin. It’s just about smaller volumes,” explained Yordan Mitsikulev – financial analyst.
Yordan Mitsikulev decides to check the platform that the international holding uses. Through public information, it found that just over 2,600 incoming transactions had been made to it. In three years, nearly 7.7 million dollars or nearly 14 million BGN were transferred. The peak of transfers was from mid-2021 to mid-2022. The largest transaction we found was for $106,000.
“But the background of the small transactions shows that there are people who have really risked very serious sums and unfortunately they can never get them back. Why did they buy the real thing too? I found that the platform has no cryptoasset issued. There is a crypto-asset with this name of a small independent company, and perhaps a large number of users have been deceived precisely because it has such an abbreviation, but not from the platform in question. Bearing in mind the address we are commenting on, it is logical that this type of tokens enter and exit, but it is established that there is no token that corresponds to the one presented by the platform in question. There is no such thing. This is one website that is bound only to the internet, to no exchange. When we bring in money, we put it directly into the pocket of the owner of the pyramid,” the financial analyst added.
And without an available crypto-asset in return, clients’ investments turn out to be just a phantom.
“The fact that the money is drained immediately. This token does not appear anywhere, it is not on the open market. We cannot talk about transparent activity,” Mitsikulev specified.
The financial analyst recognizes another apparent violation – the promise that the invested funds will be managed by 10 very experienced brokers without specifying their qualifications.
“This is extremely illegal, because in Bulgaria such activities can only be carried out by licensed investment intermediaries. If we have such an activity, we again enter the financial pyramid column. The maximum fine is five million BGN and imprisonment,” Yordan Mitsikulev explained.
The company for which Ginka Slavova works as a distributor was registered in 2017, according to public data. In 2021, the sole owner was changed, and a year later the managers were also changed. There is no office of the company in question at the address indicated in the Commercial Register in Sofia.
Ever since Ginka Slavova tried to get her money back, the connection with people at a high level began to be lost, she was also excluded from the community’s Telegram groups.
“In order to reach the lady at the top of this company in Bulgaria, this is a more serious case. Now I am not allowed to talk to her because I have to respect the hierarchy and there is a person between us. In order to reach her, I talk to my direct mentor, she talks to this lady, she is her direct mentor,” shared Ginka Slavova.
There are other people in a similar situation who have also invested different amounts.
“I made a Telegram group myself. We are about 25 people inside. Everyone has invested in something. No one takes action. Only I deal with this,” added Ginka Slavova.
“When it comes to investments of amounts in non-banking and insurance products, which are the most regulated and secured in the EU, amounts up to 100,000 euros are secured, outside of this regulated system, any other investment in any form carries risk. The risk is at the expense of the one who invests the money”, said Bogomil Nikolov from “Active users”
In the methods of persuading consumers to invest in risky investments by “Active Consumers” they see marketing techniques of the “word of mouth” type. The idea is that recommendations and advertising are done through relatives and friends. Often the path to profits and financial freedom is described as easy for anyone to achieve.
“The big problem comes from the mediators and consultants who usually drag us in this direction as far as they give us true advice, objective and comprehensive information or they just want to involve us in some adventure from which they will earn a commission and some money. This is what people need to learn to see. When there is an investment, the risk must be from me,” commented Bogomil Nikolov.
At the European level, the problem is getting worse.
“There are different ideas. On the one hand, clarification of the income, how the respective consultant is financed, on the other hand, mandatory qualification and imputed responsibilities by law. We must understand that those who speak around us are not taking any risks. We take the risk ourselves,” explained Bogomil Nikolov.
According to analyst Yordan Mitsikulev, financial pyramids always collapse – the question is how long they will last. The scale largely depends on how well the scheme is disguised, and this is sometimes done precisely through side businesses that aim to filter out victims. Paid agents are also used to confirm the profitability or the quality of the products. Due to the serious growth of crypto markets in 2020, many of the new schemes are aimed precisely in this area, the analyst claims. He expects many pyramid schemes to be exposed soon as everything is traceable in the crypto world.
“Anyone who took a commission stays forever in the blockchain. These people eventually have to withdraw the money, usually this is done through the stock exchange, but there we get a photocopy of an ID card, proof of address, bank accounts. The FBI’s official statement is that they prefer financial fraud to be done with bitcoin, because it is the easiest to catch,” said Yordan Mitsikulev.
Whether and when Ginka Slavova will be able to withdraw her money is still unclear. For now, all he relies on are promises.
“At the last gala event in Moscow, the president of the company said that some of his projects were unfortunately not successful. Everyone makes mistakes. This was given to me by my mentor as an answer,” explained Ginka Slavova.
The prosecutor’s office has started an investigation of the company. Globally, the damage caused by crypto-fraud is estimated in the millions, and practice shows that the most common mistake is hasty decisions, which can sometimes cost us dearly.
Therefore, experts advise that every undertaking should be carefully studied through various sources of information – this is how red lights can be detected, which would protect us from unnecessary risks.