The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority BaFin warns against WhatsApp groups, which are allegedly operated by justTRADE and led by Tobias Albrecht and his assistant Lieselotte Thalheim. BaFin is not aware of the existence of these persons. According to information available to BaFin, recommendations for the purchase of financial instruments and cryptocurrencies, which can allegedly be traded via h5.ecoinf(.)vip and fake justTRADE apps, are offered in various WhatsApp groups. The offers do not originate from justTRADE, JT Technologies GmbH or Sutor Bank. This is a case of identity fraud. The unknown operators are providing financial, investment and crypto-asset services without the required authorisation.
In these WhatsApp groups (e.g. VIP justTRADE) the operators offer participation in a supposed special investment programme and promote the project „GreenTech Invest“.
Anyone conducting banking business or providing financial, investment or crypto asset services in Germany may do so only with authorisation from BaFin. However, some companies offer these services without the required authorisation. Information on whether companies have been authorised by BaFin can be found in BaFin’s database of companies.
The information provided by BaFin is based on section 37 (4) of the German Banking Act (Kreditwesengesetz – KWG), section 10 (7) of the German Cryptomarkets Supervision Act (Kryptomaerkteaufsichtsgesetz).
Please be aware:
BaFin warns consumers about investment fraud being committed via WhatsApp and Telegram.
You can view BaFin’s current warnings about companies operating without the required authorisation and find out how to protect yourself from fraudsters on the financial market in the “Recognising financial fraud” section of our website.
