In its advanced update, the Texas State Securities Board (TSSB) has issued cease and desist orders to Arkbit Capital for engaging in unlawful crypto mining. The regulators noted that Arkbit Capital’s cloud mining activities violated the law.
The TSSB financial examiner, Alexis Cantrell, led the investigation to examine whether Arkbit Capital operations conformed with the law. Cantrell and his team noted that the Arkbit Capital team engaged in fraudulent activities.
Arkbit Capital Accused of Defrauding Customers
The probing team observed that the image and video used to promote Arkbit’s investment plan were misleading. The TSSB confessed that the video used in Arkbit advertising was aimed at duping the customer into their fraudulent schemes.
The video under investigation demonstrated that Arkbit Capital’s top executive making a presentation at the crypto conference in Austin, Texas. The probing team noted that the video was fake and that no Arkbit officials had attended the meeting.
Also, the market regulators observed that Arkbit Capital and its affiliate company ABC Holding LLC, ABC Mining, claimed to operate an Arkansas headquartered data center. The regulators stated that Arkbit Capital had deceived customers that it was running a cloud crypto mining facility.
Rise of Online Scams
In the report, the probing noted that Arkbit Capital assured their customers that their investment would increase by 1.6 to 2.8% for three months. The Arkbit team promised the customer that if they invested between $50 and $49,999, their returns would double.
Apart from fake promises, the TSSB noted that Arkbit Capital violated US regulations by using CoinPayments.Net as its payment option. Earlier, CoinPayment.Net prohibited US users from using the platform.
To bypass the CoinPayment policy, the Arkbit team used an account registered by an Indian resident, Paras Khiversara to create an account on the payment processor. Arkbit fraud charges ignited heated debates among the crypto community.
Global Regulators Warns Community on Fake Crypto Investment
Elsewhere, the Director of Enforcement at TBBS, Joe Rotunda, requested the public to be careful when investing in investments promoted on social media. Mr. Rotunda urged the public to conduct due diligence checks before investing in any project.
The executive noted that companies are using deceptive approaches to hype their products to attract large following. For the past few months, customers have lost massive amounts of funds to ponzi schemes.
In March, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) took legal action against CryptoFX for defrauding Latino investors. Correspondingly, the New York jury charges two influencers promoting the fake trading platform IcomTech.
