New Zealand’s watchdog warns users of another crypto platform

• New Zealand watchdog, the FMA, issued a warning against another crypto business.
• The platform in question goes by Profit Bitcoin — an unregistered platform filled with false claims.
• With NZ Prime Minister photo it claims that its members can become millionaires in only two months.

New Zealand’s financial watchdog, the Financial Markets Authority (FMA), published another warning. The warning once again targets cryptocurrency users and investors, warning them of another crypto platform.

This time, the platform in question goes by the name of Profit Bitcoin, and the agency claims that it resembles scams.

NZ watchdog warns about a fraudulent platform

The global economic meltdown caused by the coronavirus is pushing more people towards crypto. With a situation like that, regulators are putting in extra effort to identify and eliminate as many dangers as possible. While they cannot do much to stabilize crypto prices and reduce risk and volatility, they can still hunt down scammy businesses.

Profit Bitcoin seems to be yet another one of those, according to the FMA. The financial watchdog reported that the platform used a photo of New Zealand’s Prime Minister to promote its scheme. The Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, has no connection to the project, as far as the FMA is aware. But, the platform still used a photo and the quote as part of its false claim.

The warning claims that “We have been made aware that Profit Bitcoin is advertising on Facebook by promoting false news about the government’s initiatives along with an image of New Zealand’s Prime Minister.”

The platform offers false promises and exaggerated claims

The platform itself offers trading services, and it claims that its customers profit with a minimum of $13k per day. Furthermore, the website, theprofitbtc.com, claims that customers only need to work around 20 minutes or less per day, on average. It justifies this by saying that the software handles most of the work, so users do not have to do much themselves.

These, and similar claims, serve to lure traders in, the FMA warns. One claim even states that members can become millionaires in only 61 days. Of course, the platform is also not registered as a financial service provider, which FMA mentioned as well. However, it would have to register in order to offer its services legally.

The regulator is also keeping an eye on established platforms, to ensure that they too are not conducting scams. This is why the regulator recently also sent a warning against Tiger Brokers (NZ) Limited. The platform is not running a scam, but it does lack appropriate AML protections.