A recent crypto scam involved an elderly Irish woman in her sixties, who was nabbed by authorities in Ireland who pretended to be a financial investor, which violates Ireland law.
According to reports, the woman allegedly conned almost $1.1 million out of an investor by posing as an unauthorized investment intermediary.
The Investment Intermediary Act
In instances where individuals operate (or in this case, pretend to operate) in an intermediary capacity, the Investment Intermediary Act of 1995 (“Act”) comes into effect.
Pursuant to Section 9 of the Act, no entity can act as an investment business firm or claim to be such, inside or outside Ireland, apart from authorization from the Central Bank.
In this case, the woman was arrested because of the type of scam she was running – in this case, she offered to invest the victim’s fund, pretending to operate in an intermediary capacity. For those entities that do function as intermediaries, the Central Bank requires them to follow procedures assigned to “retail intermediaries,” which take up to 90 days.
Otherwise, the applying individual or entity must completely stop in its tracks.
For example, the Act authorized A.G.S. Financial Services Limited and ABM Financial Advisers Limited to act in such a capacity. Ironically, the woman’s activities were under scrutiny by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) for several months prior to her arrest.
