emgoldex-logoObserving a recent spate of investor recruitment taking place in Dubai, local media began to investigate EmGoldex.

Observing EmGoldex affiliates on social media claiming that ‘Emgoldex’s parent company, the Germany-based Gold and Silver Physical Metals KG, registered an online store in Dubai with the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), Gulf News approached the DMCC for comment.

The DMCC informed Gulf News that neither EmGoldex or Gold and Silver Physical Metals KG were registered.

a DMCC spokesperson denied that the companies [Emgoldex and Gold and Silver Physical Metals KG] are registered with the government regulator of commodities trading.

“Emgoldex is not a DMCC-licensed company. DMCC has taken steps to prevent further misuse of our name.”

What those steps entail remains to be seen, but it’s worth noting that up until recently, EmGoldex themselves were claiming to purchase gold in the UAE.

buy-gold-uae-false-claims-emgoldex

Following clarification by the DMCC, those claims have since vanished.

Further research by Gulf News uncovered an EmGoldex marketing video on YouTube, showing

a trade licence, certificate of incorporation, and certificate of registration of Emgoldex.

The video also claimed it is the online portal of a big Dubai-based gold manufacturing company duly licensed by the DMCC.

With the DMCC registration revealed to be bogus, Gulf News contacted the manufacturing company featured in the video.

Gulf News called the company and an official requested that its name not be mentioned in this article as “we are not having any ties with Emgoldex. It’s all a lie”.

Gulf News also made enquiries with the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange;

Gaurang Desai, Interim CEO of DGCX, said: “Emgoldex or its German parent company. Gold & Silver Physical Metals KG, are not registered broker members or partners of the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX).

“DGCX is regulated by the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) in the UAE. All the broker members of DGCX are licensed by SCA and are required to maintain strict compliance with SCA-approved DGCX by-laws.”

SCA’s list of registered gold traders or brokers does not include either of the companies as well.

On any level, it appears EmGoldex has no ties whatsoever to Dubai or the UAE.

This is important because

Mohammad Rashid Ali Lootah, Executive Director of Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection (CCCP) sector in the Department of Economic Development (DED), Dubai, said neither of the companies is registered with DED.

He said no online store, especially those that sell or trade gold, can operate in Dubai without a licence. The penalty for doing so varies but starts from Dh5,000.

Now of course EmGoldex have no physical presence in Dubai, being run out of Europe, so local penalties are likely to be of little worry for them.

Gulf News found that the purported office of Emgoldex in Jumeirah Lakes Towers belongs to a consulting company. The receptionist of the company said Emgoldex used to rent that space but they “left for Russia some time ago”.

The point of all of this though is that the lie EmGoldex is buying gold in Dubai or anywhere within the UAE is shattered.

Hardly surprising when you go over EmGoldex’s business model, which has nothing to do with gold itself.

As Gulf News point out:

To receive a “credit bonus” of Dh15,000, a client needs to refer two more clients and fill a table with 14 clients under him.

There is no clarity about where this so-called credit bonus of Dh15,000 awarded to clients is coming from.

Gold only enters the equation if an EmGoldex affiliate opts to be paid in gold rather than cash. Other than for perhaps a few token slithers of gold to hold up in YouTube videos, nobody chooses this option.

The fact meanwhile remains, whatever gold might be purchase is done so with newly invested funds, paid out to existing investors.

That EmGoldex affiliates can choose to be paid their Ponzi ROI in gold is ultimately neither here nor there.

The scheme relies on a constant influx of new investors, however Dubai EmGoldex affiliates insist they don’t recruit:

Don, another team leader who refused to have his last name published, said: “We are all clients. We refer and invite other clients. We do not recruit.”

Riiiiiiiiiiiight.

Whether investors in Dubai and the UAE will get any support from EmGoldex appears unlikely, with an official in Seychelles claiming

these Emgoldex clients and team leaders are fraudulent operators who are using their name without authorisation.

EmGoldex had a similar response when the Philippine SEC issued an investment warning against the scheme earlier this year.

Left unsaid is the fact that these “fraudulent operators” are indeed registered as EmGoldex affiliates and signing up new recruits to EmGoldex itself.

EmGoldex only run one website, so any claims of alternative businesses existing and using their name are baloney.

Figuring they were onto something after revealing EmGoldex’s purported tied to the UAE to be non-existent, Gulf News took it upon themselves to further investigate the scheme beyond Dubai.

This investigation uncovered

  • the International Organisation of Securities Commissions issued an EmGoldex investor alert late last year, and also placed the scheme on their watchlist and
  • the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority lists EmGoldex as a firm investors “should avoid doing business with”

Gulf News are aware of the Phillipine SEC warning, noting that in response EmGoldex investors claimed ‘they do not have to be registered in the Philippines as they are registered in Germany.‘

Gulf News checked with the Handelsregister, a public registry of companies kept by local courts in Germany, and Emgoldex is not listed.

The alleged parent company of Emgoldex, however, Gold and Silver Physical Metals KG, is registered but no other information as to the status of the company could be shared.

This registration appears to be paper-thin at best, likely existing only to facilitate the laundering of EmGoldex Ponzi funds, by keeping EmGoldex’s name out of banking channels the anonymous owners of Gold and SIlver Physical Metals KG are using.

Gulf News repeatedly emailed and called the published phone numbers of Gold and Silver Physical Metals KG for two weeks at different times but the number seemed to be not working.

How not surprising.

The scheme is relatively new in the UAE. Emgoldex clients on social media appear to be happy to get their payouts easily. So far, there are no reports of anyone not getting his payout.

But residents who declined to invest in Emgoldex said it is only a matter of time until the market gets saturated and the chain breaks.

As EmGoldex continues to migrate to new territories and lure new suckers in, it appears there’s still life in this Ponzi scheme yet.

Eventually we might see regulators in Europe take action beyond issuing warnings, but until then EmGoldex’s owners remain at large.

Stay tuned…