Data dump ‘spills the beans’ on Mirror Trading International

A group called Anonymous ZA has dumped what it claims to be the entire transaction history of Mirror Trading International (MTI) into the public domain.

The company has been accused of being a Ponzi scheme – a claim denied by management.

MTI disputes the accuracy and completeness of the data dump.

The Financial Services Conduct Authority (FSCA) says it is aware of the data leak and is looking into it.

Last month, FSCA said it was investigating the activities of MTI for conducting unlicensed forex trading and its claims of returns as high as 10% a month.

The FSCA advised MTI members to ask for their money back.

MTI’s head of marketing Cheri Marks confirmed there was a security breach of the company’s administrative portal.

“Yes, it was a criminal act. Yes, we will be pressing charges and everyone publishing the personal information illegally obtained we will refer to our legal counsel. The security breach has been fixed and the information leaked is inaccurate and incomplete at best.”

Marks said MTI was fully compliant with all relevant laws and was the subject of unwarranted smears and rumour mongering over its referral marketing methods (where commissions of 10% are paid for introducing new members). These commissions are paid by MTI and are not deducted from members’ deposits.

“We have 170 000 members worldwide, with roughly 17 000 bitcoin. There is nothing in law that prevents us from using referral marketing. No one has ever asked for a withdrawal and not received it. We get people daily asking us for withdrawals and we honour all of them without fail.”

She added FSCA had been given access to live trades to prove profits are generated by trading rather than new bitcoins receipts, as claimed by some. “We don’t make promises about returns and we explain the risks, which is what any responsible company should do.”

But FSCA is sticking to its guns. “Our advice had not changed since we issued our statement on MTI last month,” says Brandon Topham, head of investigations at the FSCA. “We recommend clients ask for their money back without delay. Our investigation into the company is ongoing.”

Because MTILeaks was able to grab what it claimed was the entire transaction history, apparently without hacking, pointed to “low budget” and shoddy website security according to one source, who asked not to be named.

But what was inside the database may be of greater interest: it suggested the company had taken in deposits of more than R4 billion since inception and paid out R309 million to the founders.

Total withdrawal requests by members reportedly total R2.9 billion, leaving “money in the bank” of R1.3 billion after withdrawn amounts and cancelled withdrawals were accounted for.

One MTI client says he was able to verify forex trades reported by the company as accurate.

The company says it has stopped trading in forex in an effort to remain compliant with regulators and switched to trading bitcoin using computerised algorithms, which also raised eyebrows in the crypto community.

We recommend clients ask for their money back without delay.

Brandon Topham Head of investigations FSCA