The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI), Securities Division has received several complaints regarding Excellence and Innovation Fortune Business School (“EIF”) at Excellencenet.com, a company claiming to be an institution of higher education that specializes in providing enrolled students lessons in financial investments. The curriculum is focused on cryptocurrency trading. EIF utilized the ICHCOIN cryptocurrency exchange via the website https://h5.ichcoin.net/ and a mobile app, where the transaction of funds occurred in each reported case.
In review of the ICHCOIN platform, several red flags were identified, including:
- ICHCOIN claimed to launch their platform in 2017 but ICHCOIN.net was registered on December 7, 2023.
- ICHCOIN also had a link to a page with “Enterprise Key Information” that contained various documents and information from legitimate entities, primarily dated in December 2023, to demonstrate their legitimacy. For example:
- They falsely claimed to be a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) with the SEC. However, a search on the SEC website, where ICHCOIN is listed as “ICHCOIN TECH CORP” (also under the names Wealthtutor Corp and Indicator Global Inc.), shows the company claims to be an Exempt Reporting Adviser (ERA). ERAs are not registered with the SEC and are not subject to the same regulatory requirements as RIAs.
- They provided an IRS Employer Identification Number but a separate screenshot on the same page showed that the legal name tied to that EIN was actually “ATX Quantum Advantage LTD.”
- ICHCOIN utilized the CRD number 323744. A CRD number is an identifier unique to each registered securities professional. The CRD number used by ICHCOIN originally belonged to an individual that has not been registered since 1987.
- In the user agreement on the ICHCOIN website, there are several references made to an entity called “poccoin.” Online posts allege that Poccoin was a cryptocurrency scam.
Investors that filed complaints about EIF and ICHCOIN reported that they were added to a Telegram and/or WhatsApp group where they were provided lessons on cryptocurrency trading by Professor “Linton Quadros,” the founder of EIF, and daily trading signals. None of the investors that have made reports about EIF to DFI have been able to retrieve their investments.
One investor was provided 500 USDT by those behind the scheme to “test” the ICHCOIN platform. The investor’s purported account on the site showed a 100% return in a week as a result of following the daily trade signals provided through the WhatsApp Group. Over a two-month period, the investor invested approximately $300,000.
After two months, the investor was offered an opportunity to invest into “MDV”, an Initial DEX Offering (IDO), that was set to go public a few days later. In order to reach the capital requirements of this IDO, the assistant “Evelyn Smith” helped the investor apply for a $450,000 short-term loan through a “C2C Merchant” associated with ICHCOIN. The investor was told the loan could be paid back once the IDO went public. This investor was also asked to send a picture of their driver’s license, a screenshot of their credit report and a signed loan document. The investor supposedly received a 450,000 USDT deposit into their ICHCOIN account. However, a review of the blockchain does not show a record of this transaction.
Once the IDO went public, the investor sold their shares of MDV for USDT on the ICHCOIN platform. When the investor went to pay back the short-term loan, they were informed that their funds on the ICHCOIN platform could not be used to pay the loan back. In response to this, the investor received an elaborate explanation from Professor Linton Quadros saying that the terms of the loan contract prevented the investor from using the funds in their ICHCOIN account to repay the loan due to “default risk.” Until the loan was repaid, the investor was told that their ICHCOIN account would be frozen including the funds the investor invested personally. The investor was given a deadline to repay the loan and when they were unable to come up with the funds to repay it, Evelyn Smith told the investor that someone would come to their home. The investor also received a final demand notice on ACA International letterhead threatening legal action if the loan wasn’t repaid in 5 days. The investor reached out to ACA International, an Accounts Receivable Management company, and was informed that the letter was fake.
A separate investor reported a similar experience. They, too, were placed in a WhatsApp Group and received “investment courses” with Professor Linton Quadros. The investor sent 3 separate wire transfers to EIF amounting to $12,000 and saw their purported account balance on the ICHCOIN platform grow to $25,000. Within the wire instructions, the investor was told not to disclose to their bank that the wire transfers were for cryptocurrency investments and to inform bank staff that they were just using the funds for “normal financial purposes.” When the investor asked to withdraw their funds, ICHCOIN told them there was a 60-trade requirement and that an additional $25,000 needed to be invested to join the “VIP Investment Group” prior to receiving any money. The investor did not make the additional investment and has not been able to recover their funds.
Another investor that received EIF courses on cryptocurrency trading through WhatsApp and Telegram sent $100,000 to the ICHCOIN platform and was led through several successful trades. On the next trade, all their money was lost so EIF offered to give them a loan to recoup their losses. When the purported loan generated positive earnings, the investor was told the loan needed to be repaid but the funds from the ICHCOIN account could not be used.
Although the details provided about EIF are only allegations at this time, consumers should be aware of companies operating in this manner. Several other websites were identified that appear to resemble and/or outright share EIF’s website content, including the following:
- Wealth Forge Institute: https://www.forgewealthinstitute.com
- Alpha Elite Capital: https://aecbusinessmanagement.com/
- Lane Wealth Club: https://lanewealthclub.com
- Trading Excellence Academy: https://teabusinesscollege.com
- Goldfinger Asset Management Institute: https://www.goldfingerassetmanagementinstitut.com
- The Golden Finger Trading Academy: https://gamibusinesscollege.com
These allegations have not been verified by DFI.
This appears to be what is commonly called Advance Fee Fraud, which can take many forms. This also appears to be a common fraudulent scheme where those claiming to be “professors” or “schools” use social media, such as WhatsApp, to guide or teach a group of investors on cryptocurrency trading strategies. The purported trading usually occurs on fraudulent trading platforms.
DFI urges consumers to exercise extreme caution before responding to any solicitation offering investment or financial services. Investment professionals need to be licensed with DFI to offer investments to Washington residents. In addition, most investment products sold need to be registered with DFI. To check the licensing status and to find out if there are any complaints against an investment professional or investment product, please visit FINRA Brokercheck or contact the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, Securities Division at (360) 902-8760. If you live outside of Washington State, contact your state securities regulator.
If a consumer believes a person or company has violated state law or acted improperly regarding an investment product or service, they may file a formal complaint with the Securities Division.
Additional Resources
Virtual Currency, Cryptocurrency, and Digital Assets Information for Consumers