In a world where accumulating wealth seems increasingly difficult, we have seen the emergence of countless offers so juicy that they seem too good to be true. And, in fact, they are: easy money is synonymous with loss of your investment. That has been the case of dozens of Cubans who, trusting in one of these offers, are now looking for answers.
They invested in a scheme known as Trust Investing, which offered among other things returns of up to 200% in a few months on the invested capital. Now, they try to raise their voice so that the company stands up for its funds, which could be lost, blocked and even missing.
Testimonies about this situation, there are plenty. Dozens of emails with the complaint have reached us at the . newsroom. A WhatsApp group that has more than 150 people, to which we have had access, brings together many affected.
Users have been reporting the fact for months. And even before them, various accusations were already weighing on Trust Investing, a platform born in Brazil that offers alleged investments with cryptocurrencies in more than 50 countries, according to their own statements.
On its website, the scheme is described as a financial management system “with a cryptocurrency market monitoring team working in conjunction with experienced traders.”
But analysts and firms such as Tulip Research, independent organizations such as the NGO Bitcoin Chile or specialized Cuban media refer to the company as a pyramid scam, Ponzi scheme or at least warn about the risks of these investments, as happened in the case of the Bank. Central of Cuba.
The Cuban entity alerted in a statement in May this year about Trust Investing and 5 other schemes that were operating on the island outside of legality.
The operations carried out by these schemes have little or no transparency and are hidden behind an apparently technical phraseology, but devoid of content. All this, without there being a real economic value or good to back it up.
Central Bank of Cuba.
Trust Investing Warnings
Any time an offer looks too good to be true, the alarm bells go off. And controversy has been with Trust Investing for a long time. In fact, this same year several people linked to the company were arrested in Cuba. Among them, Ruslan Concepción, director in the Caribbean country of the company, as reported by this medium.
However, both Concepción and the other participants in the scheme were released a few months later, without being tried. The accusation against them was not related to any fraud, but to the execution of illicit economic activities, which could refer to an offer of investments without authorization.
Another anomaly that casts doubt on the legitimacy of this company is that it has two different web pages. And, among them, they contradict each other on matters such as the headquarters where it is registered (Panama or Estonia, as the case may be), but they coincide in terms of its directors: Diego Chaves, Claudio Barbosa and Fabiano de Lima.
Trust Investing has two versions of the website that are contradictory regarding the location of its registration as a company.
Despite all the controversies and accusations about this company, its users assure that until April of this year there were never problems for the issuance of payments of their respective interests.
“This company since its inception has suffered several accusations through different channels that it is a scam, but no one has ever shown any evidence,” said one of the victims, identified as Kemil García. Despite the accusations [Trust Investing] he always complied and paid all his affiliates, “he added in contact with ..
García himself said that at the end of April the problems began, for example, late payments. According to him, especially towards Cuban clients. And Cuba is, in his words, “the country with the most affiliates” Trust Investing.
Hacking, auditing, “fraudulent balance” and administrative withdrawals
The reality is that the problems started at least since January of this year for Trust Investing globally. At that time, those responsible for the scheme assured that they were victims of a small hack that affected the passwords of a handful of its users. And although at that time no lost balance was reported, there were already those who predicted the beginning of a scam.
In the case of Cuba, the problems began in April, according to several of the affected users. The company’s spokespersons claimed to have suffered a hack on their platform. This time, much more serious, because it generated “fraudulent balances” in the accounts of its Cuban users. Nevertheless, there is no evidence of this attack.
Reynaldo Rey, affected who contacted us by email, commented that Trust Investing spokesmen have assured on more than one occasion that the problem was already resolved. And, even so, withdrawals for Cuban users do not arrive.
They began to make accusations that some Cubans were stealing the company’s internal balance to sell it, and that is why they decided that they were not going to temporarily pay the Cubans to carry out an audit and be able to determine who were responsible and take action.
Reynaldo Rey, affected by Trust Investing in Cuba
Amid the alleged audits, more and more Cuban affiliates began to notice that, not content with not being allowed to withdraw their funds, the balance of his accounts on the platform was beginning to disappear. As a concept for these subtractions, they found a “management adjustment.” Could it be that they were being accused that this balance was stolen? They wonder.
Sample of the balance discount for the concept of “administration adjustment”. Source: affected user.
The support of the leader of Trust Investing for Cuba ceases
Ruslan Concepción spent months in jail for an alleged investment offer without authorization from the Cuban State. He was released without trial or conviction in a procedure for which many still have questions. But after his release from prison, his voice changed tune regarding Trust Investing.
In a Facebook post on October 21, Concepción faced the representatives of the company and asked for answers for the affiliate network in the Caribbean country. Likewise, the until then proud representative of the scheme on Cuban soil questioned the balance withdrawals from the accounts of its affiliates.
In the opinion of Concepción, who also claims to speak on behalf of other leaders and members of the user community in Cuba, the balance discounts are riddled with errors.
We consider that the discounts executed should be analyzed in more detail and depth, emphasizing that investors do not lose their legal profits obtained by the services provided by IT, nor are affiliates discounted what should not be discounted, guaranteeing the initial capital investment as a scoop.
Ruslan Concepción, leader of Trust Investing in Cuba.
Repayment plan, Trust Investing’s answer
Just a few days ago, Trust Investing representatives published a video dedicated to the Cuban community. In it, they alleged that it was necessary to be patient with the alleged audit (which has been going on for months) and regretted the accusations. “We have received threats, they have called us scammers, they have offended us. But we have stayed with the good, “said Fabiano Lima, the company’s marketing director, in that material.
We have done an audit that has taken almost 5 months. And we have seen that there has been more than 70 million dollars in illicit balance that was sold to the Cuban network. Many bought without knowing it, innocently. However, they have been penalized for the time it took for the audit.
Fabiano Lima, Marketing Director of Trust Investing
Lima added that they plan to reimburse anyone who wants to leave the platform. However, they will only return the investment to those who have not already received their investment. Those who have already managed to recover the amount invested, will not receive anything. “We are not going to pay profitability,” emphasized the executive, despite months of unfulfilled returns with their Cuban clients.
Trust Investing spokespersons presented the results of their visit to Cuba in about two and a half years. According to Diego Chaves, they have paid about 155 million USDT (Tether) after attracting a total investment of 120 million. The director of the company added that they have about 400,000 affiliates in Cuba, of which a little more than 250,000 have already received 100% of their respective investments back.
In the same video, the directors of Trust Investing took the opportunity to announce a new plan that their clients can opt for. That plan consists of an alleged recycling project of which each user can be a part as an investor and whose details they added days later in another transmission. “It can give a profitability of up to 700% in a period of 6 years”, in the words of Fabiano Lima.
What will be the problem in a couple of years with these new investments? That is the question that dozens of Cubans are asking themselves who today cannot recover the money they invested in this scheme that now offers new products.
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