Belize Financial Regulator Warns Against Fraudulent Bitcoin Investment Company
The financial regulator of Central American nation Belize has issued a public warning against XMAXBIT, a company that claims to provide returns for investors by investing in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.
Published on Monday, the Office of the International Financial Services Commission (IFSC), Belize’s financial regulator, has warned users against dealing with the company.
XMAXBiT claims to be an “international registered company”, with accompanying legal documents to prove its credentials on its website. A ‘Certificate of Incorporation’ purports its validity as a company in Belize.
The certificate is a ‘complete forgery” wrote Neri J.Matus, IFSC director general in his warning, before adding:
This entity is not licensed/regulated by the International Financial Services Commission or any other competent authority in Belize to conduct any type of trading business. All persons concerned are warned to take note and exercise extreme caution.
On its website, XMABIT says it was founded in January 2010. Investor returns will be made in bitcoin payments, the company added.
“Our profile of work is effective investments in cryptocurrency (LiteCoin, Bitcoin) and mining,” the company wrote.” Since that time, we got wide experience in this scope of action and also we launched a service of wholesale changing of internet-currency.’
On its website, XMAXBIT pins three certificates, issued in Belize, Seychelles and the British Virgin Islands. While its Belize credentials now stand debunked, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in Seychelles also issued its own “scam alert” earlier this month with reference to the fraudulent company.
A Wider Problem
While quick and supposed ‘multiplying’ return schemes have been around for decades, digital currencies have frequently been misused by these schemes in recent years.
The trend has led to regulators and authorities warning its citizens against using digital currencies like bitcoin altogether. Notable examples include multiple MLM schemes in Vietnam. In a landmark case of a federal securities fraud involving bitcoin, a Texan native identified as the operator of a bitcoin-based investment scheme obtained 146,000 bitcoins from investors.
More recently, multiple European regulators have warned users about Onecoin, an altcoin that is evidently gaining interest in the mainstream.
“We believe consumers should be wary of dealing with OneCoin, which claims to offer the chance to make money through the trading and ‘mining’ of virtual currencies,” the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority wrote.
That warning followed others from Austria and Belgium against using OneCoin.
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