Blue Trading Broker Scam – First Updates And Preliminary Conclusions - Dispatch Weekly

Due to the fact that Blue Trading‘s payment recipients (beneficiaries) have become known, we can conclude that there are close connections to the illegal broker schemes of E&G Bulgaria and Veltyco Group. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that the very same shell companies and their bank accounts used for bank wire transactions appeared in all three schemes. Consequently, the first conclusion is that the Blue Trading broker scam was supported by the same payment service providers (PSP).

Among other things, we were able to ascertain that the already known shell companies in Germany are used in the same way as the already known bank accounts at the German Postbank. We also know the Dutch axle from the illegal broker schemes of E&G Bulgaria and Veltyco. And again Cologne in Germany seems to be at the center of these illegal activities as it was with E&G Bulgaria and Veltyco brands:

• SecurityPort GmbH (Cologne)
• StronIT GmbH (Cologne)
• TrustSecure GmbH (Cologne)
• P2P GmbH (Cologne)
• B2G GMBH (Cologne)

After barely 48 hours of research we are still at the very beginning of our investigations and need some time before we can turn hypotheses into proven facts. Currently, we assume that the payment services providers are the usual suspects with Russian and Eastern Europe provenance but we have to prove that and establish the connections.

Blue Trading And Onyx Capital Are Closely Related

The domains www.bluetrading.com and www.onyxcapital.com were both registered in 2002 and both have Mexican connections. It appears that the domains were acquired in 2017 by the operators of Blue Trading and Onyx Capital. Experts and experiences scammers know that older domains have a higher authority with Google and investors. Both domains have been registered under the Finch Group.

Another fact that supports this proximity thesis and the close relationship of Blue Trading and Onyx Capital: both domains were excluded from access by the WayBackMachine of the Internet Archive. An unusual procedure that indicates a common plan to defraud investors and then vanish into the dark (Russian) side of the web.

Ultimately, neither Blue Trading nor Onyx Capital present any real persons with social media connections and traceable references. This is especially remarkable because Blue Trading has offered so-called “Managed Accounts” or PAMM accounts. This means that the individual retail investors did not really invest themselves, but their money was managed by the people of Blue Trading and/or Onyx Capital (and other partners). Typically, the experience of these fund managers should be presented on the website.

According to the information available to us, the two remaining bosses of the E&G Bulgaria network, Gery Shalon and Vladislav Smirnov ordered that the investors of their different illegal brands have to lose their money. This was a result of the enforcement action against E&G Bulgaria and the Veltyco network and the arrests of its respective heads Gal Barak and Uwe Lenhoff. The intention of this “let them lose their money” is to prevent further criminal investigations and enforcement actions.

Investors losing their money in high-risk trades can (a) neither request withdrawals nor can they (b) report fraud. They simply lost their money with a high-risk investment opportunity. A thoroughly intelligent strategy from the fraudsters’ point of view.

In fact, Blue Trading has closed down on or around Feb 24, 2019. It looks like coordinated action.