I just logged into the OneCoin's back office and noticed that the company had removed the bank account details of the Hong Kong bank. I was pretty much expecting this to happen after contacting the bank and the Hong Kong Police during the last couple of weeks. Both the bank and the police took the case very seriously although I'm not even a Hong Kong citizen.
At first I contacted the bank to inform about money laundering going on in a bank account of its client. The bank responded swiftly and suggested that I'd better contact the Hong Kong police. I took the advise and forwarded the information to the police.
A week went past and this Monday I was asked by the police to provide more information and asked if I were a victim of this crime. Well, I'm not a victim but I provided an info pack about the case and also informed about the ongoing police investigations in Sweden and in the U.K.
I guess they saw the suspicious deposits coming in and confirmed that money laundering in fact was going on. Then it was time - yet again - to freeze a bank account.
Of course I don't know if I played a part in getting police involved. There might be others who contacted the bank and the police just as I did. Anyway it was nice to notice that even a single report to a police can matter when dealing with international ponzis.
These are the bank accounts OneCoin still has:
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| The United Overseas Bank and the Bank of Africa still remain. - But how long? |
I have also contacted those banks way back but received no response whatsoever. I also tried to report to Tanzanian police but the English version of the web site didn't even work properly which was a bit discouraging. Well, maybe I'll try again with Google Translate's help.
Update:
20th October, after 10 pm (Finnish time)
Logging into user account revealed this announcement. So there are "techical difficulties in banking processes" and "some transactions may be delayed". Oh my, might it be because the Hong Kong bank account was frozen?
Thumbs up and keep on doing the good work!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Just a while ago I tried to contact also the Tanzanian police but the shitty web page didn't deliver my message. So now I tweeted them and asked for an e-mail address.
DeleteReally good work Ari. Please continue. I try to do my small share of this work too.
DeleteTime to contact the UK branch if you're not having luck with the Singaporean one:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.google.com/maps/place/United+Overseas+Bank+Ltd/@51.5121,-0.0930808,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x862a7daa2cc06457!8m2!3d51.5121!4d-0.0930808
I'd rather contact Singaporean police. I wouldn't trust a bank that doesn't reply to a money laundering suspicion.
DeleteHowever contacting Singaporean police is a bit tricky since the police report insists that you have to be a citizen to leave a report / tip off. I couldn't find any option for foreigners to use so I used the Police's Twitter to inquire about contact info.
Actually, I got a response direct from UOB in Singapore. They're aware of OneCoin and currently investigating. Watch this space.
Delete"Please be assured that we are aware of this case and in the midst of investigation."
Well, that's great. However for some reason the bank account has been available for ages event though the Chinese authorities have made arrests and clearly have considered OneCoin to be a scam for a quite some time. How come the account has not been frozen?
DeleteWhat about Finnish Embassy in Singapore? They might help to contact to Singapore police.
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DeleteI have already managed to file a report to Singaporean police. And it's more an internal issue for them to solve so I think contacting the Finnish Embassy would be pointless.
DeleteWhat is all this about? As you mention, the Hong Kong account is not new and works. I transferred money from my belgian account to that account in HongKong... unfortunately, I got my money back. So, my money arrived in the bank. The account is simply under review. But nothing alarming at all. This account is getting too much money at once due to package purchases and the Supersplit (superadvantageous split!) of Onecoin. The BankWorld cannot cope with the idea that all that money will arrive in the new Cryptocurrency World. Obvious, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteThe Hong Kong bank account was available only about two weeks. The Singaporean account has been working about six months.
DeleteThe reason you got your money back was due the freezing of the bank account because of suspected money laundering.
No legitimate company in the world has any problems whatsoever receiving huge deposits, and banks are more than happy to receive large amounts of cash. However there's an obvious reason why OneCoin has had already 11 bank accounts frozen and it has nothing to do with banks not coping with cryptocurrency. In fact OneCoin isn't even a cryptocurrency. It has no users, no merchants and no transactions. There's also an obvious reason why OneCoin uses shell companies to obtain new bank accounts.
I have already reported about the UOB to the Singaporean police. However since it wasn't an urgent crime report I'm not sure how long does it take for the police to respond. So today I filed a report also to the Singaporean regulator: http://www.mas.gov.sg/Contact-Information.aspx
ReplyDeleteHopefully this nudge will put the wheels of justice to motion.
It would be good if the Hong Kong bank informs banks in Singapore about OneCoin, now that they have done their own research.
DeleteI would have to assume that the bank in Hong Kong was acting through co-operation with the local police. Also any information spread to Singaporean banks is useless if there are rotten banks included. I'm suspicious about the bank OneCoin uses in Singapore because it has been contacted at least by two persons (me included) about the suspected money laundering and nothing has happened. I myself didn't even get any response.
DeleteI'd say that the police and the bank supervision is the better way to go.
Contacting a journalist in http://www.straitstimes.com could help to create presure. I think it biggest English newpaper/newsite in Singapore.
DeleteSelina Lum seems to be one of criminal reporters. selinal@sph.com.sg http://www.straitstimes.com/authors/selina-lum
Raising awareness is not so much of the problem in Singapore. The problem is to get the bank and the police to launch action against the money laundering.
DeleteHowever in addition to contacting the police I have also filed a report to Singaporean financial regulator. It may take a week or two before anything happens so I'd wait patiently for now :)