Card payments are the most important and popular online payment systems. Only by checking the billing descriptors (set by the acquirer) can you identify the processing acquirer. EFRI identified the following billing descriptor used by Payvsion when processing the card transactions for Gal Barak and Uwe Lenhoff. EFRI is looking for scam victims that lost money via Payvision. Here are the identifying billing descriptors.
Gal Barak, the Wolf of Sofia, was the mastermind behind the cybercrime organization E&G Bulgaria through which many broker scams like OptionStarsGlobal, Safemarkets, XTraderFX, or Golden Markets were operated. Payvision was one of the main payment facilitators for Barak scams. An analysis of court records by the European Fund Recovery Initiative (EFRI) revealed the billing descriptors used by Payvision when processing payments for the Barak scams. If one of the following billing descriptors (next to the amount paid) shows up on your credit card statement, your payments to the scammers were processed and facilitated via Payvision:
- OptionStarsGlobal: OptionStarsGlobal, 442080687603 BG; OptionStarsGlobal, 442080687603 BGR, OptionStarsGlobalFBX*OptionStarsGlobal 442038070647 GBR; OSTARS 442038070647; OSTARS 44203767791
- Safemarkets: Safemarkets TallinCity, Safemarkets 10117 TallinCity EST; safemarkes TallinCity EE
- Xtraderfx: Cryptopoint 442033183272; Cryptopoint 442033183272 GBR; xtraderfx W3 GAY 442033183272 GBR; Cryptopoint, W3 GAY 442033183272, GBR; xtraderfx,442033183272; xtraderfx/+442033183272; xtraderfx 442033183272 GBR; INTL xtraderfx 00507750420; xtraderfx; VISA xtraderfx;
- Option888: Option888, Haslemere; Option888 Gzira MLT; Option888 Gzira MT; Option888 BIRKIRKARA; Option888 BIRKIRKARA 046; 0ption888, GU27 zLA Haslemere, 6BR; Option888 London
- Tradovest: Tradovest 442037691058; Tradovest Doncaster; Tradovest
- Tradeinvest90: Tradeinvest90 442080685120
- Goldenmarkets: Goldenmrks
Scam victims who have one of the billing descriptors listed above on their credit card receipts thus know that their payment to the scammers was processed through Payvision. They should report directly to EFRI (office@efri.io) or via FinTelegram. EFRI will include the victims’ submissions and losses in the claims against Payvision.
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If you have any information about Payvision and its activities, please let us know through our whistleblower system, Whistle42.
