United Global Asset

A summary of what happened?

United Global Asset, operating under United Global Asset Management (UGAM), claims to offer comprehensive financial services, including forex and CFD trading. The company asserts regulation by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC) and lists addresses in offshore jurisdictions such as the British Virgin Islands and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. However, multiple concerns and complaints have been raised regarding its legitimacy and business practices.

Regulatory Concerns

• Offshore Licensing: While United Global Asset holds a VFSC license, Vanuatu is known for its lenient regulatory standards, which may not provide robust investor protection. The company’s incorporation in jurisdictions like the British Virgin Islands and St. Vincent and the Grenadines further complicates regulatory oversight. Such offshore registrations can facilitate the transfer of client funds between entities, making it challenging to trace and recover investments in case of disputes.

Client Complaints and Allegations

• Fraudulent Practices: Clients have reported experiences suggesting fraudulent activities. For instance, a review on Transport Reviews describes United Global Assets Inc. as a “scam company,” highlighting issues such as demanding payments via cash apps, failing to provide services after receiving deposits, and unresponsiveness to client inquiries.
  Transport Reviews
• Poor Customer Service: Numerous complaints point to unprofessional behavior, including unfulfilled service promises, lack of communication, and misleading information. One client mentioned that after paying a deposit, the company failed to deliver the agreed-upon services and became unreachable.
  Transport Reviews

Negative Reviews and Public Feedback

• Transport Reviews: The company has received multiple negative reviews on platforms like Transport Reviews, with clients labeling it a scam and advising others to avoid its services. Common issues include failure to pick up or deliver vehicles as scheduled, unreturned deposits, and unresponsive customer service.
  Transport Reviews
• Ripoff Report: A complaint on Ripoff Report accuses United Global Assets Inc. of fraudulent activities, alleging unauthorized transactions and misrepresentation.
  Ripoff Report

The combination of offshore registration, regulatory ambiguities, and a pattern of client complaints alleging fraudulent practices raises significant concerns about United Global Asset’s legitimacy and reliability. Potential investors and clients are advised to exercise caution and conduct thorough due diligence before engaging with the company. Opting for financial service providers regulated by reputable authorities can offer greater transparency and investor protection.

Analyzing the Fake Copyright Notice(s)

Our team collects and analyses fraudulent copyright takedown requests, legal complaints, and other efforts to remove critical information from the internet. Through our investigative reporting, we examine the prevalence and operation of an organized censorship industry, predominantly funded by criminal entities, oligarchs, and disreputable businesses or individuals. Our findings allow internet users to gain insight into these censorship schemes’ sources, methods, and underlying objectives.

What was United Global Asset trying to hide?

United Global Asset‘s attempts to hide unfavourable content through the misuse of copyright notices while allegedly engaging in perjury present serious legal concerns. These actions suggest a calculated attempt to manipulate legal systems to suppress free speech, a fundamental violation of copyright law principles and an abuse of legal processes. The use of such tactics not only undermines the integrity of copyright protection but also potentially constitutes perjury, further entangling United Global Asset in legal accountability. Let’s examine the information United Global Asset may be trying to remove from the internet –

In-Depth Investigative Report: United Global Asset and Allegations of Fraudulent Practices

Introduction

United Global Asset, also known as United Global Asset Management (UGAM), presents itself as a provider of financial services, specializing in forex, CFDs, and asset management. Despite its claims of professionalism and reliability, the company has been accused of engaging in unethical practices, with numerous complaints and allegations casting doubt on its legitimacy. This report investigates the concerns surrounding United Global Asset, focusing on allegations of fraud, regulatory ambiguities, and negative customer experiences.

1. Company Overview and Operations

United Global Asset operates primarily in offshore jurisdictions, with registrations in countries like:

• Vanuatu: The company claims regulation by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC), an authority often criticized for lax oversight.
• St. Vincent and the Grenadines: Known for attracting financial firms due to minimal regulatory scrutiny.
• British Virgin Islands: Another jurisdiction often associated with lenient financial regulations.

Key Characteristics

• Offshore Licensing: While technically licensed by the VFSC, Vanuatu’s regulatory framework is considered low-tier. This raises concerns about the level of protection afforded to investors.
• Global Reach: United Global Asset advertises its services globally, targeting retail investors and promising high returns on investments in forex and CFDs.

2. Allegations of Fraudulent Practices

Client Complaints

• Misappropriation of Funds:
  • Several clients allege that United Global Asset misappropriated their funds. Complaints describe instances where deposits were made for trading or logistical services, but no promised returns or services were delivered.
  • A review on Transport Reviews highlighted a case where the company requested payment via cash apps and disappeared after the funds were transferred.
• Failure to Deliver Promised Services:
  • Clients report unfulfilled agreements, such as not receiving trading services or assets after making payments. This pattern of behavior strongly suggests potential fraudulent activity.
• Unresponsiveness and Stonewalling:
  • Once funds are deposited, many clients report difficulty in contacting company representatives. Complaints describe unanswered emails and calls, leaving clients with little recourse.

Patterns of Fraudulent Behavior

• Demand for Unusual Payment Methods:
  • Reports indicate that the company prefers payments through non-traceable methods, such as cash apps, making it challenging for clients to recover their funds in case of disputes.
• Misrepresentation of Services:
  • Marketing materials and sales pitches often exaggerate the returns on investment and misrepresent the company’s regulatory status.

3. Regulatory Concerns and Loopholes

Offshore Licensing

• United Global Asset’s regulatory oversight by the VFSC raises significant concerns. Vanuatu’s regulatory body has been criticized for its leniency, as financial firms can register with minimal scrutiny or capital requirements.
• The lack of oversight allows firms like United Global Asset to operate with little accountability, making it easier for fraudulent activities to go unnoticed.

Jurisdictional Ambiguity

• The company’s use of multiple offshore registrations (e.g., St. Vincent and the Grenadines, British Virgin Islands) creates jurisdictional challenges. This strategy can hinder legal actions against the company, as victims must navigate complex international legal systems to seek redress.

Absence of Top-Tier Regulation

• United Global Asset is not regulated by trusted financial authorities such as the FCA (UK), ASIC (Australia), or CySEC (Cyprus). This absence significantly diminishes investor confidence and suggests a lack of rigorous compliance.

4. Public Feedback and Negative Reviews

Transport Reviews

• Numerous complaints on Transport Reviews describe United Global Asset as a scam. Clients recount:
  • Failure to deliver agreed-upon services, such as vehicle transportation or financial asset management.
  • Instances of ghosting, where company representatives became unreachable after payments were made.

Ripoff Report

• A complaint on Ripoff Report alleges unauthorized transactions and fraud by the company. The complainant details financial losses resulting from misrepresentation and deceptive practices.

Key Issues Highlighted in Reviews

• Lack of transparency in fees and charges.
• Difficulty in withdrawing funds, with delays extending for months or outright denials.
• Poor customer service, including unprofessional communication and failure to resolve disputes.

5. Case Study: Fraudulent Asset Management Practices

One detailed review describes the following sequence of events:

• The client was promised significant returns on forex and CFD trading, with assurances of secure, regulated operations.
• After depositing funds, the client experienced unexplainable account deductions and disappearing trades.
• Attempts to contact the company were met with delays, and eventually, communication ceased entirely.
• When the client threatened legal action, the company responded with vague promises of resolution but failed to act.

This case underscores a broader pattern of fraudulent practices associated with United Global Asset.

6. Broader Implications for Investors

Risk of Financial Loss

• The company’s operations expose investors to high risks of losing their funds, given the lack of accountability and regulatory oversight.

Difficulty in Recovery

• Due to offshore registration and ambiguous jurisdiction, victims face significant barriers in recovering their funds or pursuing legal action.

Impact on Market Confidence

• The activities of companies like United Global Asset undermine trust in the financial services sector, particularly in offshore jurisdictions.

7. Warning Signs and Red Flags

Identified Red Flags

• Offshore registration in jurisdictions known for regulatory leniency.
• Preference for untraceable payment methods like cash apps.
• Overpromised returns on investment with little to no transparency.
• Difficulty in contacting company representatives after deposits are made.

Advice to Potential Clients

• Conduct thorough due diligence before engaging with any financial firm.
• Verify the company’s regulatory status with trusted authorities.
• Avoid firms operating exclusively in offshore jurisdictions or requesting payments via non-traceable methods.

Conclusion

United Global Asset’s operations exhibit numerous warning signs indicative of unethical and potentially fraudulent practices. From misappropriation of funds to poor customer service and unfulfilled promises, the company has faced widespread criticism from clients and reviewers. Its offshore registration and reliance on lenient regulators further exacerbate the risks to investors.

For potential clients, the evidence suggests that extreme caution should be exercised when considering engagement with United Global Asset. Opting for brokers regulated by top-tier authorities and avoiding firms operating under opaque structures can provide greater safety and transparency.

How do we counteract this malpractice?

Once we ascertain the involvement of United Global Asset (or actors working on behalf of United Global Asset), we will inform United Global Asset of our findings via Electronic Mail.

Our preliminary assessment suggests that United Global Asset may have engaged a third-party reputation management agency or expert, which, either independently or under direct authorization from United Global Asset, initiated efforts to remove adverse online content, including potentially fraudulent DMCA takedown requests. We will extend an opportunity to United Global Asset to provide details regarding their communications with the agency or expert, as well as the identification of the individual(s) responsible for executing these false DMCA notices.

Failure to respond in a timely manner will necessitate a reassessment of our initial assumptions. In such an event, we will be compelled to take appropriate legal action to rectify the unlawful conduct and take the following steps –

Since United Global Asset made such efforts to hide something online, it seems fit to ensure that this article and sensitive information targeted online by these events get a lot more exposure and traffic than what it would have received originally

We hope this becomes an excellent case study for the Streisand effect…The key idea behind the Streisand effect is that efforts to restrict information can backfire, often causing the information to gain more attention than it would have otherwise. This effect is widespread in the digital age, where users quickly notice and spread censorship efforts on social media and other platforms. Trying to suppress something can unintentionally lead to it becoming more visible, which United Global Asset is finding out the hard way.

Potential Consequences for United Global Asset

Under Florida Statute 831.01, the crime of Forgery is committed when a person falsifies, alters, counterfeits, or forges a document that carries “legal efficacy” with the intent to injure or defraud another person or entity.

Forging a document is considered a white-collar crime. It involves altering, changing, or modifying a document to deceive another person. It can also include passing along copies of documents that are known to be false. In many states in the US, falsifying a document is a crime punishable as a felony.

Additionally, under most laws, “fraud on the court” is where “a party has sentiently set in motion some unconscionable scheme calculated to interfere with the judicial system’s ability impartially to adjudicate a matter by improperly influencing the trier of fact or unfairly hampering the presentation of the opposing party’s claim or defense.”  Cox v. Burke, 706 So. 2d 43, 46 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998) (quoting Aoude v. Mobil Oil Corp., 892 F.2d 1115, 1118 (1st Cir. 1989)).

Is United Global Asset Committing a Cyber Crime?

Yes, it seems so. United Global Asset used multiple approaches to remove unwanted material from review sites and Google’s search results. Thanks to protections allowing freedom of speech in the United States, there are very few legal ways to do this. United Global Asset could not eliminate negative reviews or search results that linked to them without a valid claim of defamation, copyright infringement, or some other clear breach of the law.

Faced with these limitations, some companies like United Global Asset have gone to extreme lengths to fraudulently claim copyright ownership over a negative review in the hopes of taking it down.

Fake DMCA notices have targeted articles highlighting the criminal activity of prominent people to hide their illegal behavior. These people, which include US, Russian, and Khazakstani politicians as well as members from elite circles including the mafia and those with massive financial power, are all connected – and alleged corruption ranging from child abuse to sexual harassment is exposed when exploring evidence found at these URLs. It appears there’s a disturbing level of influence being exerted here that needs further investigation before justice can be served. United Global Asset is certainly keeping interesting company here….

The DMCA takedown process requires that copyright owners submit a takedown notice to an ISP identifying the allegedly infringing content and declaring, under penalty of perjury, that they have a good faith belief that the content is infringing. The ISP must then promptly remove or disable access to the content. The alleged infringer can then submit a counter-notice, and if the copyright owner does not take legal action within 10 to 14 days, the ISP can restore the content.

Since these platforms are predominantly based in the U.S., the complaints are typically made under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which requires online service providers and platforms to react immediately to reports or violations. Big Tech companies rarely have systems in place to assess the merit of each report. Instead, all bad actors need to do is clone a story, backdate it, and then demand the real thing be taken down.

Reputation Agency's Modus Operandi

The fake DMCA notices we found always use the “back-dated article” technique. With this technique, the wrongful notice sender (or copier) creates a copy of a “true original” article and back-dates it, creating a “fake original” article (a copy of the true original) that, at first glance, appears to have been published before the true original.

Then, based on the claim that this backdated article is the “original,” the scammers send a DMCA to the relevant online service providers (e.g. Google), alleging that the ‘true’ original is the copied or “infringing” article and that the copied article is the “original,” requesting the takedown of the ‘true’ original article. After sending the DMCA request, the person who sent the wrong notice takes down the fake original URL, likely to make sure that the article doesn’t stay online in any way. If the takedown notice is successful, the disappearance from the internet of information is most likely to be legitimate speech.

As an integral part of this scheme, the ‘reputation management’ company hired by United Global Asset creates a website that purports to be a ‘news’ site. This site is designed to look legitimate at a glance, but any degree of scrutiny reveals it as the charade it is.

The company copies the ‘negative’ content and posts it “on the fake ‘news’ site, attributing it to a separate author,” then gives it “a false publication date on the ‘news’ website that predated the original publication.

The reputation company then sent Google a Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice claiming the original website infringed copyright. After a cursory examination of the fake news site, Google frequently accepts the notice and delists the content.

In committing numerous offences, United Global Asset either premeditated actions or were unaware of the consequences. Despite hiring an agency to make Google disregard any negative information about United Global Asset, ignorance does not excuse this wrongdoing.

Fake DMCA notices have targeted articles highlighting the criminal activity of prominent people to hide their illegal behavior. These people, which include US, Russian, and Khazakstani politicians as well as members from elite circles including the mafia and those with massive financial power, are all connected – and alleged corruption ranging from child abuse to sexual harassment is exposed when exploring evidence found at these URLs. It appears there’s a disturbing level of influence being exerted here that needs further investigation before justice can be served. FSMSmart is certainly keeping interesting company here.

The Reputation Laundering

Rogue Reputation agencies use spurious copyright claims and fake legal notices to remove and obscure articles linking clients to allegations of tax avoidance, corruption, and drug trafficking. Most of these reputation agencies are based offshore, mainly in Russia, India, and Eastern Europe, and they do not worry about complying with US-based laws.

The content in all of the articles for which the fraudulent DMCA notices have been sent relates to allegations of criminal allegations, including corruption, child abuse, sexual harassment, human trafficking and financial fraud against businesses and individuals with ultra-high net worth.

In addition to the misuse of the DMCA takedown process, there is a notable absence of enforcement concerning perjury violations. The statutory requirement related to perjury is designed to deter copyright holders from submitting fraudulent or knowingly false takedown requests, as they may face legal consequences for making false declarations under penalty of perjury. However, to date, there have been no known instances of any individual being prosecuted for perjury in connection with the submission of false DMCA takedown notices.

This lack of enforcement has emboldened copyright holders to exploit the DMCA takedown process to suppress dissent, criticism, or other unfavorable content, without fear of legal repercussions.

Some of the people and businesses who have employed this tactic to remove legitimate content from Google illegally include a Spanish businessman-turned-cocaine-trafficker, Organised crime, an Israeli-Argentine banker accused of laundering money for Hugo Chávez’s regime, a French “responsible” mining company accused of tax evasion, child molesters and sexual predators. United Global Asset is in great company ….

What else is United Global Asset hiding?

We encourage you to ‘Dork‘ Google by searching for keyword combinations such as [United Global Asset] + {Negative Keyword, such as Scam, Fraud, Complaints, Lawsuit, Sanction, etc} on Google. It’s likely if you scroll down to the bottom of this Google search results, you’ll stumble upon this Legal Takedown notice (pictured below)

To make such an investigation possible, we encourage more online service providers to come forward and share copies of content removal requests with industry experts and researchers. If you have any information on United Global Asset that you want to share with experts and journalists, kindly email the author directly at [email protected].

All communications are strictly confidential and safeguarded under a comprehensive Whistleblower Policy, ensuring full protection and anonymity for individuals who provide information.