“Do not invest in USI-Tech” warns Saskatchewan securities regulator
Despite assurances to the contrary, USI-Tech continues to run foul of securities regulation in Canada.
The latest is a cease and desist issued by the Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan (FCAA).
In a January 26th press-release, the FCAA warns the public “do not invest with USI-Tech Limited”.
This is easily the most blunt language used by a securities regulator cautioning investment in USI-Tech yet.
“Investors can lose a lot of money if they trade with unregistered dealers and advisors,” FCAA Deputy Director of Enforcement Ed Rodonets said.
“Although Forex and cryptocurrency can be legitimate products, unscrupulous individuals often use these terms to convince investors to place their money in illegal activities.”
Similar regulatory warnings have been issued across Canada over the past month by British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Manitoba.
At issue is USI-Tech’s BTC Package Ponzi offering, which the FCAA correctly identifies as a security.
(USI-Tech’s) website provides a securities or derivatives trading platform to the public as well as facilitates securities or derivative trading by website users.
Residents of Saskatchewan have been contacted by USI-TECH Limited and have participated in conference calls in which USI-TECH Limited solicited individuals to purchase securities or derivatives.
USI-TECH is not registered to trade in securities in Saskatchewan.
People or companies need to be registered in order to sell securities or derivatives in Saskatchewan.
USI-Tech has been ordered to immediately cease operating in Saskatchewan until February 15th.
Pending an ongoing internal investigation, the FCAA’s temporary cease and desist ‘may be further extended as necessary‘.
Two days ago USI-Tech co-founder Horst Jicha reassured Canadian affiliates they “will now be able to buy BTC packages”.
Jicha also claimed “USI-Tech never had a problem in the USA and Canada”.
The FCAA is urging ‘anyone contacted by USI-TECH or any of their representatives‘ to contact the FCAA Securities Division.
Update 22 February 2018 – The FCAA has extended the USI-Tech cease trade order until summer, 2018.
So their only issue is that they aren’t registered? What would registration require?
Among other things disclosing the exact corporate structure of the company and proving (at least on paper) an external ROI revenue source.
Rather than provide this in the US USI-Tech instead shut down and chose to ignore the Texas cease and desist.
They’ve also failed to register with securities regulators in any of the other Canadian provinces that have issued cease and desists (AFAIK), so don’t get your hopes up.
In my opinion they are indeed scamming their entire usa and Canadian base and had a ponzi based comp plan from the start. Whether their entire operation was a fraud is still to be seen.
JD, i think if you start as a Ponzi then that makes the entire operation a fraud. Dont ya think?
JD also claims that Charles Scoville isn’t a scammer & shows zero understanding as to what step Traffic Monsoon is at in the judicial process.
facebook.com/groups/736037403251550/permalink/744480219073935/
When you knee deep into your favorite ponzi scheme you just don’t want it to be the truth!!
How much more proof do you need?
New to the game, I thought I had done a reasonable job of “Due Diligence” before putting a big chunk of cash into USI-Tech but about a week after that I realised what a crap job it actually was and I starting withdrawing instead of rebuying.
Admittedly it was over the “crazy” period of Nov and Dec so it was taking a while for blockchain confirmations but for recent withdrawals, they are not even getting processed – the “support” (what a joke!) responses still blame a slow blockchain but it has nothing to do with blockchain issues if the transaction hasn’t even been started.
So they seem to be getting closer to the collapse and it looks like I will lose about 90% of what I put in . . a tough lesson alright . .
What excactly was the due diligence that you did? i checked it out in july 17 and in 30 mins i found so many red flags that i thought they would have collapsed a long time ago.
At the time though on youtube was hundreds of positive recruitment videos from affiliates posting their links and saying how they thought it was a scam at first but they did their due diligence and its not, so sign up under me blah blah blah. and if there was a negative video it was trashing one MLM and then saying that the had the real deal auto trading software.
youtube is for cat videos and natural disasters not for taking trading advice from somone trying to rip you off.
i hope you didnt lose too much money in this. I know some people who are in denial right now and it will be terrible for them when they come to terms with the family and friends they pulled into this.
To answer that question you first have to ask what the general public think “due diligence” actually is.
Fraudsters know only too well that very few potential victims have even heard the term “due diligence” much less have an understanding of what it is.
That’s why they go out of their way to flood the ‘net with their version of “due diligence”
Consequently, a large number of “true believer” victims really DO think they HAVE done adequate due diligence.
And, I’d be willing to bet that none of his “due diligence” led him to this page: pyramidschemealert.org/10-big-truths-about-multi-level-marketing/
He probably only researched the brand/product and not the negative action associated with it. Think about it this way:
If someone asked a person to go into business with them “stealing” diamonds. For honest people, should the focus be researching what type/brand of diamonds, or the consequences and definition of “stealing” them? See link for MLMing definition.
Well:
– I said I was “New to the game”
– I put “Due Diligence” in quotes (because I realised afterwards that it wasn’t)
– and then said my “Due Diligence” had obviously been a “crap” job
so yes, I had just been watching cat videos after all . . but I was never a “True Believer” – more “too quick on the trigger finger”.
Obviously I never came across pyramidschemealert or this site before handing over the cash.
Yes, I’m an idiot . . thanks for rubbing it in . .
P.
I have been in USI-TECH for over 6 months now. I was referred by a friend who literally was making 1400 USD a day with their product. He basically withdrew one payout per week and reinvested the rest.
The truth is I don’t know if they are a scam or not. Of course I am hoping not, as I want my money back.
They will not answer my question, I have asked it a hundred different ways. “Will I get my money back” pretty simple. There are huge red flags, and at the same time they have continued to pay on the BTC packs, and genuinely appear to be doing their best.
One thing I know is that if you aren’t involved in the company you have no business making bold claims about what they are or what you know for certain, because you don’t.
Just like people don’t know what the crypto market is gonna do tomorrow, although heaps of people claim they do.
Haters gonna hate, and where they all live is on online, in anonomous forums, where they can make their ridiculous claims about how the world works with no proof whatever to prove their claims.
Just as the market as a whole, time will tell. I am holding judgement about USI-TECH until this all shakes out. Until then it seems both sides of the argument appear to have quite valid points.
Sure you do. Have you been able to verify external ROI revenue being used to pay you or your friend?
You don’t need to be in a scam to identify a scam. That’s just what scammers running around on Facebook tell you to keep you believing.
They’re also quite fond of:
Sounds like you’ve been trained well.
Oh and you can’t prove a negative. USI-Tech has represented they’re using external ROI revenue to pay affiliates. The onus is on them to provide actual evidence verifying their claim.
Seeing as USI-Tech did a runner instead of providing evidence of external ROI revenue to US authorities, don’t hold your breath.
PS. Your money is gone. Horst Jicha used it to pay for a private dental checkup. Your best bet is to start demanding your friend reimburse you for recruiting you into this mess.
Sorry phillip if that sounded a little to blunt from me, i wasnt meaning to rub it in. but was interested in where you looked and why you didnt find the information that you needed.
Im thinking its got a lot to cognative bias your brain has decided what it wants and only finds information that verifys the way you want to feel.
And James saying somone cant comment because they didnt invest in this company is nuts , youre basicly saying dont do any due diligence until its too late. Wait till youve been ripped off then you can angily vent about it.
2 sources that you should never get your information from: facebook and youtube.
there are cases though when you are right but you have to weigh up opinions.
like the opinion of a FB mum saying that a friend of a freind who is high up in the medical field says that lemons are an effective cancer treatment because of some coincendental event where somone went into remision after eating 800 lemons a day vs every oncologist on earth saying the most effective treatment is radio therapy / chemo.
the FB mums opinon should by the last advice you would want to take. But if there where thousands of easily accesable sources that you could verify this with credible scientific study (not david wolf or Dr OZ) then maybe you would be on to something.
im not a trading expert but i understand the fundementals of economics. trading is zero sum for you to make money another has to lose.
there is no such thing as auto trading bot software that can always return a postive, if there was, the platform would have all the worlds money in 30 days (arbitary number).
@Bret
As regards MLM and so called “Opportunities” positive information on those two sources should be viewed with circumspection.
Critical and / or negative information / warnings can be extremely helpful and lead to a greater awareness of scams.
bret,
Thanks for clarification – I appreciate it.
Of course there is always an element of CB in all decision-making (everyone likes to think they make completely rational decisions but research shows that they are nearly always emotional ones – blame Evolution).
Of course, in these situations, people who want quick results also want the information that is found first to be true . . but I am usually pretty good with my “Baloney Detector” (Carl Sagan is a hero of mine). I just should have looked harder and deeper . .
OF COURSE you can determine something is a scam without being financially committed to it yourself – my old expression: “You don’t necessarily have to be able to swim yourself to be able to coach swimming champions” applies to lots of things.
Your comment about FB and YT is a generalisation but well taken in this context – more so for FB than YT I am guessing (I am not a fan of FB at all and only created an account for a chatbot exercise).
This problem is now precipitating a lot of serious research – with so much information being crap (the new buzzword being “fake news”) – how do ordinary, non-technical people find out what is true? (“You are entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts” – Sagan again?).
I started off doing BioMedical Research and then spent 30+ years in IT and am trying to get around to finishing a PhD in Population Genetics and I STILL have a hard time separating out the BS – there is so much of it around in every sphere . .
As well as a financial interest, I also have a philosophical commitment to the success of crypto – so I think contracts should be taken out on the scammers who are damaging its chances of success . . we are trying to fix economic problems – not create more of them . .
indeed and scammers such as yourself hate being exposed. so hate on. lol
If I may take the liberty to defend you, the intention of my post was to point out that people don’t even know to look at MLMing as a whole – especially newbies.
They focus on the company itself and the intent of my post was to point out that mistake. If people don’t know any better, how can we expect them to look in the appropriate places.
What I hoped to achieve is that the next time you or anyone who is approached by an opportunity and plan improve your due diligence, that you’ll include general research about the scam of MLMing.
I do understand the need for people to require specifics about each scam, and that is where Oz provides an invaluable service. This two pronged approach should stop people from joining, but friends, family, and internet con men can be very persuasive unfortunately.
This is exactly my point. One does not need to be a diamond expert when stealing diamonds. They only need to be a good thief.
For what it’s worth James did respond but it had nothing to do with USI-Tech so I nuked it.
Typical deflection of someone who knows they can’t verify USI-Tech’s claims of external revenue.
If you are intent on participating in scams, stick to the Facebook echo-chamber James.
James, you wouldn’t happen to live in Texas, would you?
You don’t have to pay money in to USI Tech to see the red flags of a Ponzi scheme. Many smart people walked away from men like Bernie Madoff and Allen Stanford; if it sounds too good to be true, it’s not true.
Claiming that USI is continuing to pay on your “bitcoin packs” = those are just numbers on a screen, James. Just numbers on a screen.
Madoff and Stanford sent their victims statements showing rosy monthly returns. And anyone who pulled more money out than they out in (“net winners”) were sued by the trustee/receiver to return the difference.
The courts didn’t care if those folks already spent the money. Some ended up forfeiting very nice assets – new, cars, boats, jewelry, art, and so forth.
I know you desperately want to believe USI Tech is a legitimate company and your money is not completely gone. I know you don’t want to explain to relatives and friends who may have placed their trust in you that their moeny is all gone.
Real investment is boring and tedious. It’s plodding along and puting money in a 401(k), or buying publicly-traded stocks (with reams of data about the company available online) and taking dividends over time and reinvesting them. Sometimes you get lucky and find a company that hits it big; sometimes you don’t and buy a dog that languishes in your portfolio.
The US Govt has not been idle. They are initiating litigation and aggressive enforcement of the applicable laws and regulations. This scam has many similar mechanisms and claims as USI Tech.
techcrunch.com/2018/01/24/mybigcoin-crypto-coin-scam-cftc/
Quick hints for scam detection (MLM or HYIP):
1. Promises X% a day => It’s a scam.
2. Involves trading and never has losing days => Scam.
3. Involves trading but somehow needs an MLM structure => Scam.
4. Claims it’s a ground floor opportunity, but you can easily find hundreds of people promoting it on FB or YT => Scam.
5. Promotional material shows pictures of expensive boats, cars, beach scenes, hot young girls in bikinis, etc. => Scam.
6. Talks about income potential more than product info => Scam.
7. Is founded overseas by mysterious people with questionable track records – very likely a scam.
8. Requires autoship or regular purchases => Scam.
If you can get through the first 8 without eliminating it, then you can START some real due diligence. Most times, it will be unnecessary since they are usually eliminated by then.
Good checklist!