Binary options sinks to new low: Web of crime extends past binary brands, uses name of deceased accountant

At the end of 2016, at the very height of the rise to mass media prominence across all continents from Asia to Europe, one particular physical address stood out as a front for several fraudulent binary options brands.

During the past few years, it has been quite obvious that many very unsavory binary options brands, and in some cases unregulated FX firms with no connection to a live market which live from the losses of clients that they trade against, their owners and operators coming from the Israeli lead buying and affiliate marketing/gaming background rather than genuine FinTech or investment banking as per those in bona fide jurisdictions with an actual career to their name, are all using the same address, that being 2 Woodberry Grove London, N12 0DR United Kingdom.

At that time, long before the long arm of the law had begun actively arresting binary fraudsters attempting to make their way to America from Israel, with Lee Elbaz, the CEO of Yossi Herzog’s binary options enterprise Yukom Communications having been greeted by the FBI and now faces up to 40 years in jail, and Mr Herzog himself having had his collar felt in Israel by the FBI during recent raids across the country, binary fraud was at large.

The arrogant nature of the semi-literate crime gang that occupies Ramat Gan’s ‘Bursa’ area in Israel continued to propagate what the City of London Police termed “The biggest internet fraud in history” two years ago meant that no regulatory or litigious banning would curtail them.

In December 2016, it came to light that 2 Woodberry Grove, a house in North Finchley, a neighborhood in North London which is populous with Israeli emigrants and firms that provide services to them, was harboring several active binary options companies, with an 85 year old lady, Barbara Kahan, listed as their directors.

Ms Kahan is listed as the founding director of 25,802 companies in the United Kingdom, and is present on all of their documentation which is filed with Companies House, several of which are Israeli owned binary options firms which have registered corporate entities in the UK.

At the time, Ms Kahan was considered to be an 85 year old lady, however research by FinanceFeeds has determined that she had actually passed away on August 6th 2000 but the binary firms, along with associated entities also owned by Israelis that range from property rental fraudsters to false accountancy firms are still using her name to create new businesses.

Contacting customers of other services offered by companies at that address, FinanceFeeds approached a gentleman who rents a residential apartment from a landlord who has his company registered at that address.

“My landlords have been using the companies services for many years and her name was used multiple times” he said. This particular tenant had arranged meetings with said landlord, who had pulled out of the meetings each time.

Ms. Kahan was until recently still registered as a director of A1 Company Services, a specialist in company formation that operates from the Finchley address.

Businesses in every sector from rubbish clearers to online pornographers, financial scammers to perfectly legitimate retailers and restaurateurs have been served and established by this firm of consultants, using her name to register their businesses.

This method of creating a track-covering series of layered companies fits what Haggai Carmon, a former US undercover intelligence agent has described as the way that binary options fraudsters structure their businesses, that being shell companies providing services to other shell companies, entities in various offshore jurisdictions owned by entities that are holdings companies and then using a series of smoke and mirrors to deflect the authorities and any recourse reminds him of “a sophisticated espionage or terror organization.”

By the end of 2016, British government ministers were worried that the process is an open door for improper businesses, terrorists and money launderers. Britain’s company formation procedure is one of the easiest in the western world, however with such layering and with the name of a deceased person being used as an official director, without Companies House even noticing, there is very little recourse.

Fraudsters operating unregulated bucket shops from Israel often use a UK address, this being a common practice in order to attempt to give their businesses an air of legitimacy.

They then use call center agents who approach customers with false names that appear to be British, and lie about their location.

How this has escaped the eye of the British government is a mystery.

As far back as 2012, commenters on a BBC documentary were looking closely at the activities emanating from the address concerned.

“Of special note, at 20 mins 40 seconds, the revelation that the insurance company specifically requested that Barbara Kahan’s name was left out of an abuse inquiry report (she was the author of Pindown report, known for fighting against abuse-in-care cover-ups).”

“I can’t get my head around why she is so important to all of their cover-ups, maybe she just knew too much or just got too close, but below I am quoting a post I made last year with a bunch of research I had done on her name being used for mass fraud since her death (she was even director of David Cameron’s Big Society Fund, which is mighty fine work for a dead woman…)”

“I think the programme highlighting that, even back twenty years ago, it was so important to shut her up, stop her being named as associated with an inquiry (because she was trustworthy, her name added more validity to the report) validates that research on the boiler-room scam and its links to abuse/blackmail/cover-ups/secret services is certainly an angle worth pursuing.”

“Why have they sullied her name in death by making her the posthumous patsy for mass fraud?!” concluded the commenter.

Other reports allege cover ups for persons with different names, with full descriptions of the activities concerned.

If this was not enough, British mainstream newspaper The Guardian featured Ms Kahan’s obituary, which can be viewed here.

This type of disingenuity is extremely problematic for retail customer who genuinely thought that they were investing in a financial product and could be put off trading with genuine electronic trading companies, despite there being no relation whatsoever between genuine trading and binary options.

To make matters worse, those foaming at the mouth to enter the crypto and ICO mania that has taken hold of so many people’s sensibilities recently should consider that a large number of supposed crypto entities and a vast amount of ICO frauds are being perpetrated by the exact same people who brought the world the ghastly binary options ruse.

If that is not enough to put the brakes on it, then who knows what is.