South Africa-Based Scam Trading Firm has Folded its Operations

Mirror Trading International (MTI) was a self-proclaimed cryptocurrency investment platform based in South Africa. The company invited investors to stake their virtual assets into the pool and draw out unrealistically high returns daily. However, in terms of volume and duration, the scam firm managed to stay operational for many years and rake in a huge amount of black money.

At first, the Financial Services Conduct Authority (FSCA) of South Africa declared the project a scam in 2020. A new article published in the CoinDesk warned the users of the platform to liquidate their investment as soon as possible. Another detailed technical analysis conducted by blockchain transparency aggregator Chainalysis revealed the reality of the criminal institution.

MTI was able to Dupe Investors from Many Developed Countries

A survey conducted by Chainalysis of the users based on their demographics revealed that how MTI was able to attract investors from many regions. The highest concentration of users in MTI hailed from Mexico and other countries like the USA, UK, and Canada are higher than consumers in South Africa. The experts at Chainalysis also revealed that users had been investing their crypto holding in MTI since 2018.

Within no time, the platform was able to acquire around 23,000 Bitcoin valued in billion as per the current market rates. To make their business model seem more legitimate, the fraudulent organization had also listed 150 employees on their LinkedIn company page. Later on, the FBI joined the investigators at FSCA to acquire more information about the criminal syndicate.

There had been speculations in the market that MTI has been duping their investors with a falsified presentation of their company. The company website page claimed that they are using the sophisticated AI program to create an infallible investment algorithm for the benefit of the investors. However, the detailed investigation revealed that these claims were highly speculative.

Furthermore, the MTI management asked the investors to invest $100 in Bitcoin and promised them a daily return of 0.5% on their holdings. Later on, the investigation also brings forth evidence that proved the connection of the firm with financial crime syndicates. The investigators revealed that the MTI has been facilitating fraudulent operations like money laundering and rendering services that resemble gambling and mixers. The scam organization officially went out of commission in July this year.