GPay Limited Crypto Exchange Shut Down By UK Regulators

GPay Limited crypto exchange which traded as XTraderFX was shut down by UK Regulators after investigation leading to a $1.5 million scam, as we are reading further in the upcoming cryptocurrency news.

The company has been on the radar of the Financial Conduct Authority over the past two years but the High Court hearing, before the Deputy Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Baister, forced it to close last week:

 “This firm is not authorised by us and is targeting people in the UK. Based upon information we hold, we believe it is carrying on regulated activities which require authorisation.”

The investigators discovered that about 108 victims lost more than $1.5 million in total as a result of using the GPay Limited crypto exchange. The URL address www.xtraderfx.com now leads to another secure connection failed screen. The users became suspicious when asked to submit copies of their photo ID, debit/credit card, or utility bill, following a withdrawal request. While this is standard practice, especially from reputable crypto exchanges and had close ties to regulators as users usually have to deal with KYC and AML requirements during sign up.

David Hill, the chief investigator for the Insolvency Service, explained that the crypto exchange operated by GPay was actually a scam. Hill stressed the importance of conducting suitable checks on any trading platform mainly when bigger sums of money were involved:

 “We welcome the court’s decision to wind up GPay as it will protect anyone else becoming a victim. This scam should also serve as a warning to anyone who conducts trading online that they should carry out appropriate checks before they invest any money that the company is registered and regulated by the appropriate authorities.”

The XtraderFX crypto trading platform using social media adverts in order to lure the beginner traders who were looking to get rich fast. The adverts used by XTraderFX featured images and the name of Martin Lewis from moneysavingexpert.com who is a known consumer champion in the UK Finance world. Lewis commented about Facebook and the time he became aware of the fraud back in 2018 but they lacked action which forced him to launch court proceedings against the social media giant on the ground of defamation.

Lewis claimed that more than 1000 scam adverts with his name and picture appeared on the social media platform even after he reported the problem. The problem was resolved by an agreement to withdraw all legal action if Facebook donated $3 million to Citizens Advice in order to deliver a new UK Scams Action project.