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The Bafin logo in front of the authority's headquarters in Frankfurt am Main: Warning of dubious financial services
Photo: Boris Roessler / dpa
The German financial regulator Bafin has been officially warning about offers from MPC Bulgaria Ltd on its website since Wednesday afternoon. in Varna, Bulgaria. SPIEGEL reported on Friday about the dubious project called the “Swarm,” which used an account belonging to the company. “There is a suspicion that the company is offering financial services without permission,” writes Bafin in its current warning.
In the “Swarm” project, a fictional character named Ger-D advertises investments in digital art. He and his management team promise immense increases in value for new members. Interested parties should previously transfer their initial investments to an account of the company MPC Bulgaria, whose sole owner is the Saarland entrepreneur Gerd Krauss, who is registered in the Bulgarian commercial register.
Retreats and defense in the “swarm”
Those responsible for the “swarm” left a SPIEGEL inquiry about their offer unanswered last week. There were reactions internally shortly afterwards. Members were instructed to immediately stop all transfers to the account in Bulgaria. They are currently only supposed to submit their contributions in the form of cryptocurrencies.
more on the subject
Lured with digital art: The crazy promises of a financial swearer By Roman Höfner, Max Hoppenstedt and Marcel Rosenbach
Last Saturday evening, Gerd Krauss held a Zoom call in response to the reporting and read out a prepared statement. Among other things, he announced that he would no longer be holding any events in Germany. He will also move the headquarters of his “swarm” to the Philippines. At least two important German-speaking management figures have now announced internally that they will no longer conduct German-language Zoom calls.
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