Karatbars fraud warnings issued in Germany & South Africa
Regulators in Germany and South Africa have issued fraud warnings pertaining to involvement in Karatbars International.
In Germany Karatbars has caught the attention of the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), the country’s top financial regulator.
In a November 11th press-release, BaFin announced it had issued Karatbars with a cease and desist on October 21st.
On the same day BaFin issued it’s warning, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority in South Africa issued a securities fraud warning of its own.
The FSCA claims it
it was informated that Karatbars International GmbH is has been offering investments to customers via WhatsApp.
Karatbars International GmbH is based in Germany and is not authorised to render financial advice to intermediary services in South Africa.
Both regulatory warnings come as affiliate investors realize they were duped by Karatbars’ recent KBC ICO.
Details of Karatbars’ cryptocurrency offering were first reported back in February 2018.
Following a highly promoted hype event back in July of this year, KBC followed the typical MLM altcoin trajectory.
In the lead up to the event, Karatbars owner and CEO Harald Seiz promised investors they would be able to exchange 100 BC for 1 gram of gold.
That, along with the usual representations of KBC mooning, never happened.
KBC has predictably dumped and is currently publicly trading at just over two cents.
Seiz and Karatbars top affiliate promoters are believed to have taken in millions during KBC’s ICO.
Update 26th April 2022 – BaFin has finalized its cease and desist order against Karatbars.
Nowhere in these announcements was there any mention of fraud. And in Germany, it is Karatbit Foundation in Belize which is mentioned, not Karatbars International which is legally registered.
Second, yes you can convert the coins into gold. Check videos of people who have visited the head office in Stuttgart. The coins can be converted there into either gold or euros.
With the now delivered ATM machines worldwide, there too you can convert. In Gold Independence Day, the participants also converted their coins into gold. Why are you spreading lies?
Both BaFin and FSCA are securities regulators. Offering securities and not registering with them = securities fraud.
KaratBit Foundation == Karatbars International == any other shell companies they operate through.
A handful of pre-selected top promoters “converting” KBC into gold for marketing videos after the event is well short of what Harald Seiz was pitching.
You do not need registration to sell tokens, which is what the coin is. Its an Etherium token. Karatbars has already officially rebutalled this by pointing to laws which have been stipulated by the financial regulators in Germany themselves.
These people like yourself do not understand the business.
Like the AMF situation in Canada, (Ozedit: unsubstantiated derails removed)
And no, Karatbit Foundation is the official issuer of the coins. Not Karatbars International. You cannot simply invent laws, you have to go by the book.
You will see, nothing will come out of these investigations and inquiries.
Irrelevant in an MLM pump and dump securities offering.
No it hasn’t. Securities are regulated by BaFin and BaFin has given Karatbars the boot.
Feel free to provide an official regulatory document “rebutalling” Karatbars’ ban in Germany.
Karatbit == Karatbars International. Regulators don’t care who fronts what shell company and through what bank accounts funds are laundered through, it’s all the same scam.
You only need look as far as the current OneCoin proceedings to see that.
No money is being laundered anywhere.
(Ozedit: unsubstantiated claims removed)
And your comment is not relevant as regulators are designed to take care of operations only within their own countries. You cant have regulators in Germany for instance making decisions about the British market.
Sure it is. Otherwise there’d be no need for shell companies.
Two recent cases in the US come to mind, OneCoin (EU) and Traffic Monsoon (US but mostly scammed offshore investors).
Regulators issue cease and desists against offshore scams all the time. Not withstanding securities are regulated the world over.
(Ozedit: offtopic derails / unsubstantiated claims removed)
And mentioning onecoin as an example is not a good comparison. Many companies have several branches and sister companies in different companies.
That Karatbars have several companies underneath it which operate in different countries does not automatically make it a scam. Then you went on to suggest Karatbars is involved in money laundering.
Are you serious? What ever happened to the principle of innocent until proven guilty? Where is your evidence?
The difference is Onecoin was found to be guilty of a crime. This has not happened with Karatbars. (Ozedit: unsubstantiated claims removed)
Get your journalism sensibilities up to speed.
Sure it is. Karatbars started off as a pyramid scheme but now it just another MLM Ponzi points pump and dump scam.
Indeed, but those with fraudulent business models (securities fraud) only set up such companies to launder money through.
Harald Seiz can’t just deposit stolen investor funds into a regular bank account. Again, refer to OneCoin for an example of how scammers launder funds.
Karatbars’ business model is hardly a secret. That makes the company’s business opportunity a scam, securities fraud not withstanding.
False. OneCoin hasn’t been found guilty of anything. Its business model however still means it’s a scam.
Such as it is with Karatbars, who aren’t registered to offer securities in any jurisdiction.
is this safe bussiness
Safe as in you’ll lose your money investing in scams? Sure.
I invested in Karatbars and got a lot of my family and friends in Karatbars, I bought the CEM, planning on getting gold out for a return on my money. We were supposed to be able to change KCB TO KBC And start getting cashgold out of the CEM machine.
Now Karatbars has announced they are NOT HONORING 100 KBC FOR A GRAM OF GOLD.
I am very disappointed and wondering just how legit this whole thing is.
Another red flag there are several different companies and branches, each of them seems to be a DARK CLOUD above Harold Sietz, the CRO of Karatbars.
I hope I am wrong. If someone can shen any light on this please let me know. (Ozedit: email removed)
You were sold a lie so Harald Seiz can get rich.
KBC is a worthless shitcoin you are now left bagholding. Sorry for your loss.
@Larry Payton (#11)
Supporting what Oz says:
moneyweb.co.za/news/karatbars-swims-in-murky-waters/
There has been a new development in South Africa. On December 13, the FSCA issued a press release declaring that the company’s activities in the country aren’t within their jurisdiction.
It’s the top one on this page: (www.)fsca.co.za/Pages/Media-Releases.aspx
Thanks for the update!
Good evening. So you are saying every investor has been scammed???
If Harald Seiz has been scamming/defrauding everyone across the globe and his affiliates are still signing up new members to obtain commissions then how and when will this business be stopped in it’s tracks and Harald Seiz made to pay back the money he has stolen from everyone who has made an investment in his fraudulent scamming business.
2 guys from SA that I invested with went to Stuttgart in September to meet with him and to demand our money back but he refused to make any exceptions for anyone.
15 000 clients in this business are fuming and have taken a big loss and Harald Seiz is smiling all the way to the bank. He should be held accountable and sued by investors for their money back.
He owes me over R500 000.00 which I procrastinated over for sometime and then gave in. I want a refund with interest.
He would have to pay every person back no less than 25 000.00 Euros. That is the law.
We were also recently informed that his company was listing on the Frankfurt, New York, London and Johannesburg stock exchanges and to date we have heard nothing to this affect. What of it???
How do we proceed from here? Please update us so we know how to proceed.
Thank you.
Not every investor. Top promoters who made more recruiting than they invested are net-winners. This includes Seiz, as owners of Ponzi schemes always keep the majority of invested funds.
Legal questions are for lawyers.
Is there a class action lawsuit against Karat Bar and Harald Seize?
Not that I’m aware of.
Feeling so angry no word. Surely this man must be investigated or arrested or something. do you not hold him resposible for crime?