Finanztest is a monthly finance niche magazine published by Stiftung Warentest, a German consumer organization.

In the September issue of the magazine, Stiftung Warentest has published a warning against investment in OneCoin and SwissCoin.

For those unfamiliar with the companies, OneCoin and SwissCoin both offer affiliates investment in virtual points.

The points are marketed as cryptocurrency, despite the fact that they have no value outside of the respective OneCoin and SwissCoin income opportunities.

According to Stiftung Warentest, investment in OneCoin and SwissCoin is both risky and dubious.

The consumer organization claims that both market themselves as alternatives to bitcoin, despite the obvious differences.

In both there are central points which control the system.

The owners use multilevel compensation systems to motivate affiliates to market their products (through) training packages sold to interested parties.

The lack of a legitimate use for both OneCoin and SwissCoin’s points as well as centralization also came under fire.

Stiftung Warentest notes that no one has to accept a virtual currency (such) as OneCoin and SwissCoin (for) payment.

For both there is currently no free market.

OneCoin claim the centralization of their points is a strong suit, despite abundant evidence showing they can and do seize affiliate OneCoin balances at will.

For investors there is a risk of total loss.

Because the risks are high, the financial test does not recommend at this time of the purchase of OneCoin and SwissCoin.

Locally Stiftung Warentest has ‘a very well known and established reputation as an independent and reliable organization‘.

Good ratings and verdicts are often given great prominence in product advertising and on product packaging.

In contrast, bad ratings and verdicts frequently lead to a decline in sales and thus sometimes legal action against SW by the manufacturers.

According to SW, they are sued ten times a year. The foundation has never actually been ordered by the courts to pay compensation and usually wins any legal action taken against it. (Wikipedia)

At the time of publication Germany is currently the largest source of traffic for OneCoin’s OneLife website.

SwissCoin meanwhile does not appear to be all that active in Germany.

What effect Stiftung Warentest’s warning might have within OneCoin’s and SwissCoin’s respective German markets remains to be seen.