Malta regulator warns of ‘deceitful’ Bitcoin Revolution scam’s return

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The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has issued a warning against Bitcoin Futures, an entity that appears to be replicating an earlier BTC scam that was first discovered in January and reported on again in August.

In a statement, the MFSA explained, “Such entities have been constantly resurfacing on the internet as adverts, and are operating under various names. These fake adverts claim to provide a ‘Way to build your life better’ and a ‘Unique opportunity for Maltese,’ and are currently operating through the following internet addresses: https://bit.ly/2IS0YeT and https://bit.ly/2IOE7ks.”

This will be the third warning regarding the Bitcoin Revolution. The first of these appeared in January when the financial regulator warned that a company was operating in Malta without a license. They warned that this was a new type of “get rich quick” scheme.

In August, a replica of the scam appeared again. At the time, the MFSA warned, “Bitcoin Revolution promotes itself by means of adverts and pages on various social media platforms linking the website to local personalities without their consent. Moreover, the website falsely reports profits made by these individuals.”

Now, a third iteration of the scam appears to be making its way in Malta, prompting a new warning. The regulator is hoping that this will deter investors from being defrauded, but they have warned that these types of scams are likely to resurface over and over.

According to the MFSA, they use the same tactics, simply switching the name to avoid detection. They warned consumers to watch for slogans like “A way to build your life better” and a “Unique opportunity for Maltese.” These are the types of things that have been used in the previous two instances but they warn that these companies should not be trusted.

They also explained that a commonly used tactic is to promote themselves using fake articles that are posted on news sites. These articles appear to give them an air of legitimacy, especially when they use local celebrities to promote the site.

Early last week, Belgium’s Financial Services Markets Authority (FSMA) issued a warning against nine companies that are attempting to operate as a financial services provider without receiving permission to do so. To date, the FSMA’s list has grown to 131 companies.