OneCoin lose credit card processing merchant
If you thought OneCoin’s bitcoin announcement was a conveniently timed distraction from a Chinese crackdown on the scheme… you’d be half right.
Turns out there might be a much more serious problem for OneCoin behind the decision.
According to OneCoin, the decision to start accepting bitcoin investment
was made after careful monitoring of the market trends, which show that more and more people are seeking alternatives to bitcoin, since the currency has shown a rapid decline after crashing in value in 2015.
Putting aside the fact that the value BitCoin has doubled in the last twelve months, the real reason OneCoin are now accepting bitcoin is because they just lost their credit card processing merchant.
As of May 1st, 2016, new and existing OneCoin investors who attempt to deposit funds into the scheme via credit card are advised the service is “temporarily out of service”:
Since late 2014, OneCoin has been laundering invested funds through China UnionPay. Among other things, China UnionPay provided OneCoin their credit card processing service.
A secret report leaked to the Chinese media reveals the People’s Bank of China, the central bank of China ‘with the power to control monetary policy and regulate financial institutions‘, recently issued a directive aimed at combating cryptocurrency fraud.
As part of the bank’s “strengthening of bitcoin risk prevention work” policy, Chinese “banks and third-party payment processors” had been ordered to “close all account transactions associated with bitcoin platforms” by April 15th.
It is believed the directive applies not only to bitcoin but all cryptocurrencies.
How concrete the April 15th deadline was is unclear, but it explains why OneCoin are no longer accepting credit cards and have instead opened up bitcoin.
China UnionPay have cut OneCoin off and desperate times call for desperate measures.
Up until recently China has been somewhat of a wild west for cryptocurrency transactions. This has meant MLM Ponzi schemes abusing the niche have been able to flourish through Chinese financial institutions.
Faced with the prospect of establishing new banking relationships elsewhere, OneCoin no doubt now finds itself between a rock and a hard place. Previous efforts to establish banking channels outside of China by OneCoin have lasted a few weeks at best.
In conjunction with Chinese authorities actively investigating the scheme and arresting investors, the loss of credit card processing will no doubt see new investment funds flowing into the scheme drastically reduced.
What that means for existing OneCoin investors, whose ROI payouts rely on ever-increasing new investment, remains to be seen.
since late 2014, onecoin has boasted about its tie up with china union pay, as a sign of its legitimacy. with china union pay withdrawing its credit card processing facilities, and the slew of problems onecoin has had with other international banks, i wonder what ruja is going to do.
will she trust her moolah with some shady offshore bank? that seems to be the only route available to her, but how are affiliates going to explain why the Next Big Thing after Bitcoin has got it ass chased out by bank after bank, to land in some dubious offshore bank?
i think onecoin is not issuing its Onecoin Mastercard anymore either, so that’s another effort at pretended legitimacy gone bust.
if ruja thinks she can skirt the chinese crackdown by accepting bitcoin, she has a fat head.
with china tightening screws on ‘bitcoin platforms’ and onecoin already in their sights, all it will take is a ‘onecoin warning’ from a chinese regulator, to end ruja’s ponzi career in china. when china goes, her whole ponzi kingdom will fall on itself in a domino effect.
ted nuyten of businessforhome, should contact onecoin ‘corporate’ immediately, and publish ruja’s statement on china union pay and mastercard immediately.
with problems mounting for onecoin, nuyten has a limited window of opportunity to make money off covering ruja’s ass. i mean, once onecoin collapses, she wont be needing nuyten no more will she?
In fact as far as I can remember choosing credit card as payment method has offered just a blank page with nothing to choose from. If I recall it correctly China UnionPay has had its own slot in the payment selection – which they have now deleted after the latest events. (Just to be clear, I’m not 100 % sure about my memory on this… maybe someone else can also verify this?)
Nevetheless this doesn’t change the fact that China UnionPay is not available anymore. I just wanted to point out that credit card option has been off limits from the early days of Onecoin… I don’t even know if it ever really was an option available.
The members have been complaining about not being able to pay with credit cards for ages.
I had three different people email me about the credit card thing in the last 24 hrs.
Checked social media and there was chatter there too. The Chinese-language news about China UnionPay fit.
OneCoin just lost its primary payment processor and CC merchant. Hence the bitcoin announcement.
Investment is going to tank this month if people have to use bitcoin (who is going to send them bank wires lol).
More good news! I hope Ken Labine ends up behind bars after this ponzi fiasco!
No matter how many bad things are said about Onecoin, and not matter how much documentation we have supporting that Onecoind is a ponzi scam, we will not be able to convince brainwashed people.
It is actually very simple to determine if a scheme is a pyramid scam. If you can answer ”No” to one of the below questions you are in a pyramid scheme.
-Is most of the volume coming from customers (both wholesale and retail)?
-Can you retail the product?
-Does the product have real marked value?
-Can you make a living without recruiting anyone into the scheme?
-Does the company restrict front loading (huge starterpacks)?
-Does the company have customers at all?
The problem is that most Onecoin partners will take the above test and they will most likely answer ”No” to all the questions. They will then convince themselves, that the above does not apply to Onecoin and will then go out and recruit another partner into the scam.
Imagine what it must feel like to get your friends and family into this, especially after having answered ”no” to all the above questions. I simply do not get it and I am very angry!
I have therefore send both an email and a letter to National Fraud & Cyber crime reporting center in the UK, so that they are warned about the upcoming event in London.
They have previously shut down ponzi schemes and I have encouraged them to take action against Onecoin. They can be very aggressive so let´s hope they show up and arrest leaders and founders. I will make sure they get plenty of documentation supporting the fact that Onecoin is a scam.
This has to stop now!!!
Here is the spin Ken Labine shill John Reilly is putting on answering the question, “Why are credit cards no longer accepted?” as posted to Ken Labine’s timeline:
What utter crap!
SD
If an Onecoin Indonesian team “Onecoin is fully legal in US, China and EU and soon”!
80% mined ? I thought it was 30%…
Whats really going on here?
So no one caught that?
Riiiiiiiiiiiiight.
Good Idea, I will send email across as well hope this ends now.
Yeah, right.
I have been meticulously hyper-posting in EVERY Onecoin group on Facebook and YouTube (as will add Disqus and other platforms) since April 9th when I was filibustered from “debating” Mr Can Le’Beans. He pissed me off and that was the last straw.
While I do that, I encourage others to work on forwarding the conglomerate of reports to authorities, world wide.
I have all the social media platforms covered, but I can’t do everything.
Behind MLM and other consumer rights activists and individuals have done an amazing job this far, and provided amazing source material and evidence, which is crucial to our efforts.
Let’s see if we can have Intetpol lie in wait for these crooks in London!
Additionally, I have successfully gotten a hold of at least 3 of the “Partners” of OneWorld Foundation who have confirmed THEY HAVE NO “PARTNERSHIP” WITH ONE WORLD FOUNDATION!
I am working on revealing the facts to each and every charity OWF is falsely claiming partnerships with.
….will keep you updated.
Their cancer will metastisize from within.
Interpol was informed in March. I hope more people have informed them lately.
So, just hope and see if they take action… PonziRuja and her lackeys.
Belief of a vision is faith.
And what exactly is not the company’s problem? People choose faith INSTEAD of fear? Why is that a problem? Sounds like you WANT faith, so why is that a problem? Are you even making sense?
Can this guy speak proper English that actually make any sense?
As covered by Oz and others, ponzi schemes and pyramid games come and go. Nothing new there.
However, this particular group of Ponzi Pumpers are interesting to watch. There’s NO DOUBT at this point whether or not OneCoin is in trouble – – serious trouble.
A good percentage of THEIR OWN investors are now crying foul on the main OneCoin Facebook page for all to see.
I understand it’s hard for people like Ken Labine, Kevin Foster and others to come to grips with the fact that they have been advising their friends, family and social media contacts to invest in a worthless ponzi scheme.
I GET THAT!
What I don’t understand is the depths in which they go to look the other way and not acknowledge what is now OBVIOUS.
Here is a little taste of that denial from one of our favorites – Kevin Foster:
All of this denial will just make the eventual collapse that much worse. Some of these people quit their jobs already. Some of them bought things they couldn’t afford. Some of them convinced family members and life-long friends to ante up and invest in a company that is located in Bulgaria.
The current OneCoin Pitch:
How much will that one sentence cost our favorite pumpers?
In my opinion, in some cases, EVERYTHING!
While we’re on the subject, the whole faith/fear dichotomy is just a rehash of the negativity/positivity Ponzi rhetoric.
Remember that shit from Zeek Rewards? And TelexFree? And… well, you get the point.
Bad Joke.
infomoney.com.br/minhas-financas/consumo/noticia/4925073/concorrente-bitcoin-chega-brasil-com-promessa-maior-seguranca
That’s got to be one of those spammy press-release sites…
Next thing we’ll have Ted Nuyten copy-pasting an article about it.
Hi Behindmlm admin.
I just want to say thanks for the effort you put in. I have learned a lot from this site and although i have never fallen victim to one of the numerous scams that this site reports on, my family on the other hand are falling hook line and sinker for scheme after scheme: MMM, Zewang and Onecoin to name a few. Trying to warn them and refusing to join them has only resulted in more family drama.
The most common attack against the credibility of this site is always that since you are earning ad-revenue it is in your best interest to have click-bait articles.
Although I genuinely believe that behindmlm only presents well researched facts i would like to know what is your official response to that statement.
Would you be willing to share if ad-revenue on this site is enough to pay for the sites upkeep or do you make a bit extra on top of that. Does the admin have full time jobs?
are there any other revenue generating models that might eliminate the “click-bait” claim, donations for example.
This is a strawman argument and has nothing to do with the integrity of the information published on this website.
The internet is powered by advertising. When was the last time you visited a website and dismissed otherwise rational and well-researched information… because of advertising?
Ponzi pimps bring advertising up like it’s some sort of trump card that legitimizes financial fraud. It doesn’t.
Revenue generation in any form sourced from participants that is paid out to participants is incompatible with legitimate MLM.
Infact it’s incompatible with any legitimate business model.
@Herman, you may want to relate to your family members involved in the schemes that ad-share ponzis don’t last very long, and that by their very nature must collapse by way of any number of excuses in order to avoid investigations of their fraudulent operations.
They pretty much collect stolen money, close down, then pop up again to collect more money under a different disguise until the authorities catch up to the scheme operators and the pushers of the scheme.
Most victims live in denial that they’re involved in a scheme until they lose their money to the perps when they find out they can’t withdraw their part of the money they’ve generated from other unsuspecting victims.
Sounds like the problem is three fold – family members, who are completely brainwashed, and are not figuring out the common denominator.
I refer you to this site (with no ads). If you’ve seen it already, maybe it will be new to someone else reading this post.
mlm-thetruth.com/5-stepdo-it-yourselfevaluation/
It explains the problems with endless chain recruitment and also provides an evaluation tool. In fact, “A summary of this “5-step Do-it-yourself Evaluation” was also published in the newsletter for the National White Collar Crime Center and presented at an Economic Crime Summit Conference in Dallas.”
Here’s a snippet from one of the questions that should hit close to home. I hope you check it out and are able to share it with family. I doubt it though, but maybe some day after OneCoin collapses.
“Visualize yourself recruiting a chain of recruiters recruiting recruiters, including friends and loved ones, just to enrich yourself. Wouldn’t you rather preserve and protect, rather than exploit, those relationships?”
Side note in response to your politely posed question:
The time and skill it takes to research, publish articles, and run a site certainly is deserving of compensation above and beyond site expenses.
This is a job – a real job. The amount of money he makes is none of anyone’s business; however, I’m sure his revenue pales in comparison to the amount of money Oz has saved others by writing these reviews.
@Herman, almost all news outlets I am aware of use ad revenue as a business model and have for centuries.
In my opinion, OZ more than deserves to make a living (should that be the case) from the social benefit provided by his reporting. You certainly don’t see him accepting ads for SCAMS here, do you?
You don’t see him promoting a competing method of “making money online through internet marketing” do you?
For every online outlet providing factual references for people vetting “online opportunities”, there are tens of thousands of con artists marketing enticing, too-good-to-be-true SCAMS.
Can you name more than five or ten anti-scam websites? I would like to see all of them growing and prospering … successfully supported by ads for legitimate products and services.
SD
@ Herman
Note: Oz, Dave and shipdit have already covered this issue adequately but here’s just another version of the same story.
Let me get this straight.
So, it’s ok for Ponzi Pumpers like Ken Labine to use Facebook (ad-revenue model) to drive traffic to their YouTube (ad-revenue model) videos to sell the OneCoin investment (with the 500% Annual Rate of Return) and earn Commissions, Overrides and Bonuses.
They have no trouble using the Ad-Revenue Model THEMSELVES but scream foul when the same platforms are used to expose them.
Got it. 🙂
And, in my opinion, the regulators are now using those same Ad-Revenue Platforms to build their cases against our Ponzi Pumping Pals.
It’s not a matter of IF, it’s just a matter of WHEN!
Disclaimer: The following information is meant to illustrate the sheer insanity behind the OneCoin model, platform and concept.
OneCoin – The Future of Payments. Catchy little phrase, eh?
Dr. Ruja (pronounced Ruse-Ya) is just trying to save the world by creating yet another way to pay for our stuff. The Euro and Dollar are now worthless and we need another currency. Enter the new and exciting world of Crypto-currency!
I don’t know about the other readers of this board, but I often find conversations with friends drifting off to that age-old question about how do we pay for our stuff.
Most of my friends currently use Cash, Money Orders, Wire Transfers, AutoPay via Checking Accounts, PayPal, Credit Cards and Debit Cards issued by MasterCard and Visa (get 1% cashback from Visa) – – but it’s simply not enough.
If only there was a way……
READER ALERT – before reading any further, we suggest you enter a Self-induced Dream State, have kool-aid handy and an open (blank is better) mind. Oh, and since our charge card account just got yanked, Bitcoin is our preferred method of payment.
Thanks, OneCoin Management.
Once upon a time, there was a lady from Bulgaria who magically created an alternative payment platform that would also:
* yield 500% Annual Rate of Return,
* payout overrides, commissions and bonuses of tens of millions per month,
* tell investors that 500,000 merchants would accept the payment platform after 30% mining completed (and then never mention it again)
All of this, in spite of the fact that they just lost their credit card processing merchant and 3 of their top investors just got arrested in their #1 market (China).
To add to the insanity, the Promoters end up getting paid in Euros/US Dollars which they can use to payoff their Visa/MasterCards/PayPal balances when they made their initial investment in OneCoin.
Yep, back to square one!
WTF?!?
Wake Up People! It was ONLY a dream. However, for some, the nightmare is just beginning.
Hi guys and girls.
Onecoin is having a huge event in London on June 11. After what happened in China, they will find it difficult to build in most parts of Asia.
They are not targeting Europe, and they are apparently having great success in many EU markets.
They are clearly violating many rules in UK. UK have strict rules on front loading, which means that a new partner (ponzi pusher), cannot invest more than 200 pounds initially. A 27.500€ pack clearly exceeds that 🙂
I see that there are a lot of formere Onecoin members in the UK, who have turned against the company. Many of them are upset, because the company promissed, that they would launch thousands of shops when 30% of the coins were mined. This has not happened and will of course never happen.
So if you have any contacts in the UK, which might have connections to regulatory agencies, not is the time to join forces and give them a surprice at the event. Here are some of the illegal things they are doing.
-Exceeding maximum first order
-All volume is coming from new people entering the business
-Product is not retailable
-No customers
-It is a closed wholesale club, which is not allowed in UK or the rest of EU.
-Think they are a Fund transmitter company, which will require a license
-Illegal income claims & false marketing
I am sure that someone else can add 100 other things to the above list.
Actionfraud is a police unit in the UK, which deals with scams. They will be very interested in a company like Onecoin and they should stop them before thousands of people in the UK and the rest of EU loose huge amounts of money.
I think that most of EU will attend this event and Ruja will also be there.
Hi everyone, is it possible to make contact with Facebook Admin about possibly removing the Onecoin page?
By allowing this page on their site they are supporting criminal activity, I have been going out of my way the past few days to post negative but factual comments on the page but today they blocked everyone posting negative comments.
Perhaps if the right people were aware of what Onecoin is and what it is doing around the world they would close the page.
Apparently I should never write when angry, since I made a lot of spelling mistakes in my last post. Not was obviously supposed to be now 🙂
Spiegel (German newspaper) has also written about Onecoin, so it seems that more and more EU markets are starting to discover Onecoin. You can try and google “Spiegel onecoin” and you will find interesting information. It is however in German.
It is time for Onecoin to launch the many shops which will accept Onecoin. Just imagine how that would work. You own a shop and someone from Onecoin calls you. He starts talking about how much this currency will be worth, so you decide to google about it. Spam, ponzi, spam, ponzi…
Good luck Onecoin!
Just take a look at this YT Video from I think 2014
Dr. Ruja in action talking about an IPO and BIGCOIN..
youtube.com/watch?v=T7L6AdMQEcM
How come people join this fake coin with things like that on YT ?
Are they really looking to find out how fake it is?
or
Are they trying to hope that it all works out for themselves?
cache that video 🙂
nice find!
Research this is going to be messy. BigCoin in Europe was definitely pushed by Prosper Inc, which would included Jarle Thorsen, Sebastian Greenwood, and Ronnie Skold. But there is also a “MyBigCoin” in the US, and an actual altcoin called BIGCOIN circa 2014.
From what I can gather, BigCoin was registered in HongKong by a “John Ng” and was heavily promoted by Greenwood, et al. In 2013 Throsen and Greenwood split and with Ruja as the public face (much like Skold was left to run BigCoin/Prosper) started OneCoin which basically is a clone of BigCoin.
Info on BigCoin is sparse due to a very common name.
@ K Chang & others
Replacement for BIGCOIN in Hong Kong owned by John NG, here are some interesting links, decide for yourself:
Chief Operating Officer, Dr Ruja Ignatova, Master Dis Sebastian Greenwood, President Nigel Allan, John NG, Bjorn Thomas
worldlawdirect.com/forum/internet-hyip-scams/84465-warning-big-scam-onecoin.html
Note: This was published on Dec. 10, 2014 – over 2 1/2 years ago. And, she is still out there doing her thing.
It was smart on her part to stay out of the USA, IMO.
Article up later today on the BigCoin origins.
And I thought I’d be able to catch up on reviews today… FML! (just kidding)
Had the cold/flu all week, it’s been a bitch.
Richard Marks, Onecon ponzi pimp it off Florida with about 1,700+ in his down line is claiming that not only is China Union Pay restoring Onecon merchant services account, but that they received approval to issue 5,000 new credit cards to Onecoin, beginning Monday.
I find this very suspect and difficult to believe, however I will still greater clarity on this (or I suppose simply wait until tomorrow to see if it is just another lie).
China Union Pay…Special Report – How China’s official bank card is used to smuggle money!!!
I find it absolutely hysterical that the Union Pay news was broke at the great Onecoin meeting in Macau and that Macau seems to be the place where Chinese money is being channeled illegally!!
uk.reuters.com/article/uk-china-unionpay-special-report-idUKBREA2B00B20140312
scmp.com/news/china/economy/article/1852342/china-launches-crackdown-against-illegal-banks
I guess we shouldn’t have expected anything different considering we are talking about Onecoin!!!!
What is the advantage of keeping OneCoin off an External Exchange… I would rather OneCoin be on the External Exchange from day 1 so the whole wide world then has the choice to buy the coins without having to buy one of their packages…
I’m not interested in MLM I just want to buy Coins…
@John Davies
RE: “What is the advantage of…”
The advantage is that you can trick people into thinking the coin will succeed in a closed system and bilking a million people for a billion dollars, actually, just like Onecoin has done.
Buy coins via Shapeshift.io (any) or coinmarketcap.com (top 15) where there is an actual vetted product that you can read all about and do your Due Dilligence on in order to make an informed investment (win or lose).
THE POINT IS, YOU HAVE TO READ! MOST OF THE VICTIMS OF THESE SCAMS DO NOT LIKE READING!
No offense, but your thinking is a little bass ackward.
All OneCoin is is an MLM/Ponzi. The ‘product’ is recruitment and has nothing to do with real cryptocurrency.
The so-called coins don’t really exist. It is a fake product to make the MLM scheme and money shuffling look legitimate.
You might want to translate this new BG article about Ruja:
capital.bg/biznes/kompanii/2016/05/13/2759325_doktor_ruja_i_pazaruvaneto_na_imoti_ot_nishto/
OneCoin spent $35 million on property last year?
Guess that’s where everyone’s money went… and what’s the bet Ignatova’s mum and other relatives are living in the properties?
Google translate is a bit iffy, not enough for me to publish an article around.
If anyone wants to send in a translate (I know the article is a bit long) it’d be much appreciated.
Basic gist as I understant it:
-Ignatova has invested millions of OneCoin funds in real estate, through a bunch of shell companies registered in Germany, UAE and elsewhere
-Merchants aren’t coming till late 2016 or 2017, despite OneCoin previously claiming they have 500,000 merchants “ready to go”
-Ignatova is not willing to speak to Bulgarian media because she doesn’t want to answer difficult questions, so instead we get the canned softball interviews uploaded to YouTube
It looks like that site has numerous articles on OneCoin, and not exactly flattering ones.
It was posted here by the journalist. Maybe you can talk with him: murobbs.muropaketti.com/posts/1717304527/
Amazing!? OneNet.
Scamqueen.
I followed this link
Which led to a video n post #8204. This video makes me a little sick thinking how she’s showing off how she’s spending everyone’s $. It’s in your face and she’s loving it.
I think all they’re doing is the same as they were doing with their bank accounts.
That is not registering with OneCoin, but rather the shell companies they’ve set up.
The non-Chinese banks caught on pretty quick and shut down their accounts, that’s why we had banking roulette a over the past 6 months.
Will be interesting to see how long it takes for UPI to catch on that OneNet is just OneCoin.
Onecoin…. well, I am giving it a go because I want to make some good money before it closes its doors.
Good luck, almighty foolish one.
You are only 2 months late as April Fool’s Day has come and gone. Just like the money invested in this non-registered security. All gone.
Note: Non-Registered Security. That’s what it is in the USA folks.
By the way, case law supports the comment above. And, 90% of all posts by USA sales reps attest to the MAIN method of marketing being Selling Un-registered securities.
The FTC is tough but the SEC, well….. let’s just say they are a bit more strict in dealing out their punishments.
Note: Canada has their own SEC called the Canadian Securities Administrators. And yes, they do have an office in Alberta too. 🙂
I bet their phones have been busy of late.
securities-administrators.ca/aboutcsa.aspx?id=80
Your two years late, and you’re not a co-Founder like Seb Green-whatever. You’re not going to make anything now except off whoever you recruit personally.
Let’s hope you don’t do it locally so they know where to find you.