Yesterday a reader brought to my attention a page on Intelligence Prime Capital.
The page is titled “Regulation” and claims Intelligence Prime Capital is a “heavily licensed and regulated investment firm”.
While that sounds impressive, unfortunately it’s all baloney.
Intelligence Prime Capital charges up to $99 a month, on the promise of an “up to” 45% monthly return.
This is a passive investment opportunity, which constitutes a securities offering.
If someone refuses to admit that basic fact, stop the conversation and move on. You’re being blatantly lied to from the get go.
Accepting Intelligence Prime Capital is an MLM company offering a security, this means it needs to comply with securities law in every country it solicits investment in.
At time of publication Alexa ranks top sources of traffic to Intelligence Prime Capital’s website as the US, Colombia and Mexico.
Intelligence Prime Capital is not registered to offer securities in any of these jurisdictions.
Instead, the aforementioned “heavily licensed and regulated investment firm” page details irrelevant and meaningless shell company registrations.
Ireland
Intelligence Prime Capital claims IPC Trade EU is registered with the Central Bank of Ireland.
IPC Trade EU is not Intelligence Prime Capital, making the registration meaningless on face value.
A search for “ipc trade” on the Central Bank of Ireland’s website returns no results:
Cyprus
Intelligence Prime Capital claims DT Direct Investment Hub Ltd. is registered with the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission.
DT Direct Investment Hub Ltd. is not Intelligence Prime Capital, making the registration meaningless on face value.
Cyprus is known for having no active regulation of MLM related securities fraud.
Because of this, Cyprus is a favorite jurisdiction for scammers to both incorporate shell companies and register them with the Cyprus SEC.
DT Direct Investment Hub is registered with the Cyprus SEC.
It was registered in 2017, four years before Intelligence Prime Capital existed.
A visit to DT Direct Investment Hub redirects to DupliTrade. DupliTrade is some forex bot scheme.
I stopped here because again, neither DT Direct Investment Hub or DupliTrade have anything to do with Intelligence Prime Capital.
Poland
Intelligence Prime Capital claims IPC Trade EU Ltd is registered with the Polish Financial Supervision Authority.
The address provided for IPC Trade EU is a virtual office address.
A search for “ipc trade” on the Polish Financial Supervision Authority’s website returns no results:
Australia
Intelligence Prime Capital claims IPC Capital Markets Australia Pty Ltd is registered with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
The corporate address given for IPC Capital Markets Australia Pty Ltd belongs to WeWork.
Australia is a scam-friendly jurisdiction with no active MLM related securities fraud regulation.
Because of this, Australia is a favorite jurisdiction for scammers to both incorporate shell companies and register them with the ASIC.
A search for “ipc capital markets” with ASIC returns no results:
British Virgin Islands
The British Virgin Islands needs no introduction as a scam-friendly jurisdiction.
Any MLM company representing it has incorporated in the BVI should immediately set off alarm bells.
Intelligence Prime Capital claims IPC Trade Ltd is registered with the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission.
A search for “ipc trade” on the BVI Financial Services Commission’s website returns no results:
Japan
Intelligence Prime Capital claims IPC Trade Japan K.K. is registered with Japan’s Financial Services Agency.
The provided corporate address for IPC Trade Japan K.K. doesn’t appear to be valid.
A search of the FSA’s regulated entities lists reveals IPC Trade Japan K.K. is not registered as a Financial Instruments Business Operator, Registered Financial Institution or Securities Finance Company.
South Africa
Intelligence Prime Capital claims IPC Capital Markets Pty Ltd. is registered with… well they say it’s “part of the South African market”.
This is a meaningless statement. Securities in South Africa are regulated by the FSCA.
A search for “ipcapital” against the FSCA’s list of registered financial providers returns no results.
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi isn’t as bad as Dubai but the UAE in general is rife with fraud.
Intelligence Prime Capital represents IPC Trade Middle East Ltd is registered with the Abu Dhabi Global Markets Financial Services Regulatory Authority.
The provided corporate address for IPC Trade Middle East Ltd is a virtual office.
A search for “ipc trade” on the FSRA’s website returns no results:
Israel
Intelligence Prime Capital claims Atrade Ltd is registered with the Israeli Securities Authority.
Atrade Ltd is not Intelligence Prime Capital, making the registration meaningless on face value.
A search for “atrade” against the ISA’s list of regulated companies returns no results.
Conclusion
One common theme I found with Intelligence Prime Capital’s bogus regulatory registrations is they are using made-up company names, piggybacked with actual Ava Trade registrations.
Ava Trade is trading platform. I’m not making any representations as to Ava Trade’s legitimacy. It’s not an MLM company and I haven’t looked into it.
As far as I know though, Ava Trade doesn’t have anything to do with Intelligence Prime Capital.
BehindMLM readers have already noted Intelligence Prime Capital has ripped off Ava Trade’s website design:
It now appears they’re ripping off their regulatory registrations too.
The bottom line is, much like the business itself, Intelligence Prime Capital’s regulatory representations are a sham.
Thus far Russia is the only jurisdiction to issue Intelligence Prime Capital with a securities fraud notice. We expect more warnings will follow as other jurisdictions investigate the company.