Russian Crypto Payment Processor Payeer Lost Estonian License And Switched To Lithuania!

Charlene Lensburg
Tue, 14 Feb 2023 14:09:23 +0000
Crypto Payments, Estonian FIU, FNTT Lithuania, Anton Stjopotskin, Capital Letter, Deal Trade, Ekaterina Olegnova Gorshkova, FXTradePremium, Optimus Markets, Paycorp, Payeer, Spintop Capital

FinTelegram has reported several times about crypto payment processor Payeer which is controlled by Russian nationals. We have already discovered Payeer as a payment processor in scams several times. The Estonian FIU announced that Payeer had lost its license. The Estonian FIU exposed deficiencies, and the license would have been invalidated. However, Payeer decided to renounce their license to avoid the revocation. Now, the scheme operates with a crypto license in Lithuania!

Short Update

Due to the amendments to the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act, Payeer had to apply for a license renewal in June 2022. After repeatedly extending the deadline for eliminating the deficiencies, the Estonian FIU found that the controlling individual is not a proper operator. On 17 January 2023, Payeer decided to give up the license – and switch to Lithuania.

According to FIU Estonia, the owners of Payeer are not eligible for a license. In this respect, it is surprising that the competent regulator in Lithuania, the Financial Crime Investigation Service (FNTT), has accepted the registration of Payeer UAB as a crypto payment processor.

The managing director of the Lithuanian entity is the Russian national Ekaterina Olegovna Gorshkova.

Key data

Trading name | Payeer

Business activity

high-risk payment processor, crypto exchange,
merchant service prodiver

Domain

https://payeer.com
https://payeer.cc

Legal entities

Payeer OÜ (Estonia)
Payeer UAB (Lithuania)
PayCorp Limited (Vanuatu)
Fincana OÜ (old)

Related individuals

Anton Stjopotškin, Estonia (UBO)
Joseph Olatilewa Jaiyeola, Estonia
Ekaterina Olegovna Gorshkova, Russia
Liubov Svezhentseva, Russia (old)
Dmitri Allikas (old)
Stanislav Lattu (old)

Jurisdictions | Estonia, Vanuatu, Russia

Regulators

FIU Estonia renounced in Jan 2023
FNTT (Financial Crime Investigation Service) Lithuania
VFSC

PayRate42 rating | Orange Compliance (Payeer profile)

Related scams

Capital Letter, FXTradePremiums, Deal Trade
Optimus Markets, Spintop Capital
and counting

The Short Narrative

Shortly after our March 2021 report on Payeer was published, the company swapped its Estonian legal entity. Fincana OÜ, which until then had been listed as a co-operator alongside Paycorp Limited on Vanuatu, was swapped for Payeer OÜ. The FIU has licensed this Estonian entity since March 2021 until it was archived in January 2023.

Similarweb statistics for crypto payment processor Payeer (Feb 2023)

Since then, Payeer has been operating its crypto payment services through Payeer UAB in Lithuania (company register data), where the company registered – and was accepted – by the relevant authority. As director of the Lithuanian entity is the Russian Ekaterina Olegovna Gorshkova.

According to the latest Similarweb statistics, Payeer has the most website visitors from Russia in the last 28 days before February 12, 2023. More than 30% of the approximately 4.5 million visitors come from Russia despite the Western sanctions. More than 97% of visitors to the Payeer.cc website come from Russia. They are redirected to Payeer.com.

Changing Control

Until June 2022, the Russian Liubov Svezhentseva has been registered as a director alongside the Estonian Dmitri Allikas. On 3 June 2022, Svezhentseva was replaced by the Estonian Anton Stjopotškin as the ultimate beneficial owner (UBO) following FinTelegram reports.

Payeer users seem to be happy. On Trustpilot, Payeer holds an impressive 4.8-star rating with a corresponding “Excellent” trust level from more than 3,200 reviews.

The Russian Clients

Payeer on Express Wallet

Most Russian-speaking traffic comes from high-risk merchants in the financial and gaming sectors. Payeer is one of the payment processors, for example, in the huge earning platforms Ad Asd, Express Wallet, or Taxi Money. The online gaming platform Golden Farm is also one of Payeer’s clients. These platforms are visited by millions of Russians every month.

According to Similarweb, around 30% of Payeer‘s referral traffic comes from Russian earning and investment platforms.