A global scam network is preying on investors. We identified the businessmen who appear to be behind it.
A global scamming network has robbed ordinary investors of more than a billion dollars. BBC Eye identified a shadowy network of businessmen who appear to be behind it.The caller introduces himself as "William Grant", from the trading firm Solo Capitals. He says he has a "great promotion" to offer.But William Grant is persistent. "I only have one question," he tells the old man.Jan Erik, a 75-year-old pensioner in Sweden, is about to get scammed - again.
The network is known to police as the Milton group, a name originally used by the scammers themselves but abandoned in 2020. We identified 152 brands, including Solo Capitals, that appear to be part of the network. It operates by targeting investors and scamming them out of thousands - or in some cases hundreds of thousands - of pounds.
From their first phone call, victims can be directed into regulated companies or sometimes unregulated, offshore entities. Some victims who signed up to regulated brands within the Milton group are directed by their broker to place trades designed to lose the customer money and make money for the broker - a practice which is illegal under UK regulations. Some victims are instructed to download software that allows the scammer to remotely control their PC and place trades for them - also illegal.
But the BBC's deposit money was already in the system. We were able to track it as it was divided up into small fractions and moved through many different Bitcoin wallets, all seemingly associated with the Milton group. Experts told the BBC that genuine financial institutions do not funnel money in this way. Louise Abbott, a lawyer who specialises in cryptocurrency and fraud, examined the flow of the money and said it suggested "large-scale organised crime".
Soon they were speaking nearly every morning, and Jane was revealing specific things she needed money for - expensive repairs to her roof, a buffer for her pension. Hunt used them against her, she said, telling her certain trades would "get her that roof" and "help her future". In September 2020, Jane agreed to put £20,000 into BProFX, and Hunt coached her through various trades over the next few months. But somehow she kept losing money.
"The day I realised was my birthday," she said. "It was the pandemic, and my family had organised a little outdoor get together and brought me a cake, and I was trying to be happy but I just felt so humiliated. I felt like I didn't want to be on the planet anymore."Putting the pieces together Many of these non-Milton companies led back in some way to one figure: David Kezerashvili, a former Georgian government official who served for two years as the country's defence minister.David Kezerashvili, a former defence minister of Georgia, appears to be involved in the Milton scam.
But several former employees of Milton-linked companies told us confidentially that they had had direct dealings with Kezerashvili and knew him to be involved in the Milton group. When the BBC examined social media profiles belonging to the four senior Milton group men, it became clear from pictures posted of wedding parties and other social events that they all had close social ties to Kezerashvili. Kezerashvili is Facebook friends with at least 45 people linked to the Milton group scams, and one of the four senior figures identified by the BBC is his cousin.
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