Cybercrime Southeast Europe Newsletter No. 39

Dear clients,

We want to inform you about a serious scam that has recently shaken the region. The company BETL, which presented itself as a producer and renter of portable phone chargers, has turned out to be a classic financial pyramid. Thousands of citizens from Bulgaria, Serbia, and neighboring countries have lost their investments, with total damages estimated at over $1.2 billion.

What Happened?

BETL promised investors a quick return on capital through daily dividends while attracting new users with promotions such as “Christmas events” and special bonuses for investments. However, at the beginning of December, the platform became inaccessible, accompanied by a notice stating that “verification” of user accounts and deletion of “fake profiles” was underway. Users were required to verify their identity by making a payment of exactly $99 via personal Revolut accounts or in cryptocurrency USDT, causing further dissatisfaction and suspicion.

An investigation revealed that the company was registered in the UK under the name Muzaffar Ahmed Riaz, but there is no concrete information about the owner or evidence of legitimate business operations. Contact information includes free Gmail addresses and Telegram links, which are red flags for a scam.

Evidence of Fraud

Financial transactions indicate that large sums collected in early December were transferred to unknown addresses, most likely to exchanges, allowing organizers to withdraw the funds. The scam was further confirmed by an analysis of BETL’s application, which uses Chinese CDN servers, pointing to a possible Chinese origin of the organizers.

How to Identify Such Scams?

BETL is another example of a hybrid pyramid, where a product like wireless chargers serves merely as a smokescreen to conceal the financial fraud. We remind you that any company offering “guaranteed and quick returns on investment” with unresolved ownership and legal structures is almost certainly a scam.

Connection to the DGPT Scam

Finally, we wish to note that last week we reported on a similar case involving the DGPT scam, which employs comparable methods and structures. Unfortunately, these two scams seem to be competing to harm as many people in our region as possible.

We urge you to remain cautious and contact us if you have any questions or suspicions regarding potential investments. Together, we can put an end to such fraud.

 Kind regards,
Zoran Miljaković
Attorney at Law