Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
The German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) has issued a cease and desist order against the OneCoin MLM scam posing as a cryptocurrency, and all its subsidiaries.
According to BaFin’s statement, Onecoin Ltd, Dubai, and OneLife Network Ltd, Belize, must also to dismantle their internet based “OneCoins” trading system and to end all sales promotion activities in Germany immediately. The cease and desist orders, effective from April 27, are based on the conclusion that those companies are acting in violation of German financial services regulation. Their activities require a license from BaFin, which they do not have.
Additionally, BaFin has issued a cease and desist order against One Network Services Ltd, Sofia/Bulgaria for the latter’s involvement in the unauthorized trading of “OneCoins” by Onecoin Ltd, Dubai, and OneLife Network Ltd, Belize.
The latest cease and desist orders against OneCoin come weeks after BaFin issued the same order against IMS International Marketing Services – the payments provider of the OneCoin scheme in Germany. Between December 2015 and 2016, IMS has collected from German investors €360 million in fees on behalf of OneCoin. As part of the actions against IMS, BaFin blocked €29 million left in the company’s accounts and ordered it to return the money to the investors.
BaFin notes that Onecoin Ltd, Dubai, OneLife Network Ltd, Belize and One Network Services Ltd, Sofia/Bulgaria, are part of a network of companies that mines OneCoins – a special type of cryptocurrency that could bring big profits to those who sign up for the training “seminars” of the company. The company claims it has mined 749,970,000 OneCoins and has “ global customer base of millions of people in over 195 countries and six continents and is independent of governments”. The scheme is ran by the Bulgarian Dr. Ruzha Ignatova and has the penchant of throwing lavish parties across the world to promote itself and attract gullible investors.
The scheme repeatedly turns up in the sights of various financial regulators, most recently of Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA). There have been warnings against it from Belgium, UK, Latvia, Bulgaria, Hungary, investigations in Sweden and publications in various European media telling of the scam and likening the OneCoin to “Monopoly money”.
