Bitcoin Forum

Summary:
During the ICO, Storiqa Support personnel claimed there would be no KYC ever. Close to the end of the ICO they created a "token sale policy" document claiming they want KYC details including Social Security Numbers and Passport info from everyone who bought into the ICO. They tried to pass this document off as an agreement everybody had made when buying into the ICO but this document did not even exist until the ICO was almost ended. When confronted about this they produced a older document, but turns out this document was modified as well and therefore proves nothing. Now Storiqa wants to hold all investor money hostage until given personal information. I believe they pulled this Bait and Switch Scam knowing they would not have sold half the tokens they did, had they enforced KYC from the beginning.
 
In addition to flat out lying about some of their advisers (who themselves deny being Storiqa advisers (https://www.reddit.com/r/Storiqa/comments/7nt1j9/possible_scam_maynard_webb_ceoo_of_ebay_bradley/)), failure to honor referral bonuses and having performed no known customer service....

During Storica's ICO signup there was nothing in the agreement which stated KYC (know your customer) would be required.

Even the admins claimed there was no KYC:

https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/H5md154S.jpg

https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/H5mdprz.jpg

The day after the ICO they announced they would now have KYC and started throwing around this PDF document here: https://crowdsale.storiqa.com/static/docs/token_sale_policy.pdf

https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/H5meW3L.png

"12.1. STORIQA Group maintain a Know-Your-Customer (DzKYCdz) policy, collect and process
information Buyers provide directly to Company when Buyers use our Services. Types of
personal information which Company will collect from Buyers when Buyers visit or use our
online services include your name, nationality, country of residence, postal address, social
security number, passport data, telephone number(s), e-mail address and other. "

Storiqa is trying to claim KYC was always posted on their site. Here is the "agreement" they keep throwing around: https://crowdsale.storiqa.com/static/docs/token_sale_policy.pdf
Here is another copy in case they take down this document: https://filebin.ca/3qEEeB10hfIl/token_sale_policy.pdf

But the pdf metadata says otherwise. This PDF was created RIGHT BEFORE THE ICO ENDED (Jan 26).

https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/H5lJ0kls.png

The document itself states that  it was made much earlier than it actually was:

https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/H5mqust.png

Where was this document linked to the site during the ICO?

This sort of thing is really deceptive because they knew a lot of people would not participate in the ICO had they required KYC when signing up for their site. Instead they elected to surprise everyone after they had taken money. They are literally hodling everybody's money hostage in exchange for all their personal info (including SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS) and have said there will be NO REFUNDS. So for all of you who can't satisfy their requirements of personal info YOU'RE FUCKED.

They have literally zero reason to require this info. First of all it is a utility token, not a security. Secondly, they do not accept fiat payments. Thirdly, they are RUSSIAN. I could understand this if it were somebody opening an online store but just for buying utility tokens? No way.

I wonder if they can produce a token sale policy that was created before the ICO began?
I wonder if they are registered with the SEC?
Why should anyone give their private identifying info (SSN, Passports, etc) If they themselves cannot be transparent as a company?

If anybody thinks it is safe to give your information to random online people asking for it, think again.......... Criminals use stolen ID selfies to create fake accounts on exchanges to launder money! Do you want to go to prison because your identity was stolen and used to launder money? I wouldn't be surprised if Storiqa intends to use your information to create fake exchange accounts to use to make even more money selling endless STQ tokens on the open market. Think about it for a second. The KYC info they are asking for (pic of you holding your ID, etc) is the EXACT SAME THING exchanges ask for! Paranoid? Better safe than sorry!

https://themerkle.com/new-paypal-phishing-site-demands-users-submit-a-selfie-while-holding-an-id-card/
https://www.hackread.com/android-malware-selfies-steals-credit-card/
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2018/01/16/netflix-phishing-id/


Unfortunately they have managed to prevent caching of their website from archive.org and google so there is no way for them to prove it was there before but just in case they do end up scamming people here is a list of their server IPs. Storiqa website is hosted in Germany on Amazon servers . They managed to use cloudflare for one of their subdomains but neglected to hide them all. Isn't it a little strange they have a vpn server?

https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/H5qlQRh.png

Edit: Added Jan 31
They posted this today:  https://medium.com/@storiqa/four-questions-about-kyc-a75c1ceae05b

"We are not going to run away (to Bahamas, for example) with all the money (in that case we would not even need KYC)."
... Says the Russian company with their site hosted in Germany hidden behind hashflare and their office in 'Hong Kong'.

When we take a look at their "Hong Kong" office address we find that many businesses are 'headquartered' there:

https://pmccapital.info/
https://nklsystem.com/contact
http://www.lei-lookup.com/#!recordPopup;lei=254900AHSPYG9DNQUA31;
http://firstccss.com/
etc, etc

"You can be sure that your personal data will be used only for STQs purchasing confirmation."
Yes but the United States government has actively warned it's citizens against giving up their personal information especially to Russians.


"4. Why do I need KYC? I don’t want to share any personal information!
KYC is a defensive mechanism for both the company and the clients. By sharing this data, all the token holders confirm that they are the true owners of their personal accounts and the wallet, to which we send STQ. It will grant that you are the person that receive your tokens."
Crypto is by definition SECURITY IN AND OF ITSELF. Why do they need to confirm "true owners" when the wallet itself IS THE IDENTITY OF THE TRUE OWNER? This statement makes literally ZERO SENSE AT ALL. Cryptocurrencies were specifically designed to allow trustless transactions THIS IS WHY WE USE THEM. If they want to know their customer WHY ARE THEY USING CRYPTO TOKENS? Just use fiat! How is this a defensive mechanism used to protect anybody?

So they posted an older document showing the paragraph was indeed in there but there was a typo.
But again, where was this document linked in the site? All they had linked during the ICO was a whitepaper.
archive.org/waybackmachine does not show this document linked anywhere on the site https://web.archive.org/web/20180121005340/https://crowdsale.storiqa.com/
Why did they not apply KYC when users registered? Why did they lie about it in telegram?


Update:
2-1-2018

Storiqa has restricted their reddit page to approved users only. Afraid people might learn the truth?

https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/H5Gm7iq.png

YUP....NOT GOOD!  

Here's my experience with their live support:

/* Chat started Storiqa Support Team joined the chat

You — Please update your info:
When will tokens be released?

Storiqa Support Team:
closer to feb 13

You — Please update your info:
Will they automatically go to my wallet, or will I have to do anything special?

Storiqa Support Team:
you need to pass kyc as a start

You — Please update your info:
I have contacted the authorities in my jurisdiction and they have advised me not relay my personal information to a non-regulated foreign entity....how do I get a refund?

Storiqa Support Team:
We do not have refund

You — Please update your info:
What do I do?

Storiqa Support Team:
Can not advice you

You — Please update your info:
Scammed?

You — Please update your info:
In Telegram they said KYC wouldn't be required for ICO....just platform usage.

Storiqa Support Team:
No, they said "KYC not needed now, we're working on it. will be closer to sale ends"

You — Please update your info:
So, you will keep my $5,000 if I don't give you my Social Security Number?

Storiqa Support Team:
If you don't pass KYC. Do not worry, we will keep it confidential

You — Please update your info:

You are Russian ---> My government told me not to give my Social Security Number because you are not an authorized agency!

Storiqa Support Team:

We advised you to contact a lawyer before you invested.

*/ <<Storiqa abruptly closed chat just before I copied that last line but the rest I copy pasted as they were being posted >>

Live support chat is now disabled, for me, on their landing page, and I have been kicked out of Telegram for pointing out their scammy post-investment KYC requirement.

I think I did not understand ... Is the company by demanding KYC a SCAM?! Funny

What balls these people have!!

They posted this today:  https://medium.com/@storiqa/four-questions-about-kyc-a75c1ceae05b

"We are not going to run away (to Bahamas, for example) with all the money (in that case we would not even need KYC)."
... Says the Russian company with their site hosted in Germany hidden behind hashflare and their office in 'Hong Kong'.

When we take a look at their "Hong Kong" office address we find that many businesses are 'headquartered' there:

https://pmccapital.info/
https://nklsystem.com/contact
http://www.lei-lookup.com/#!recordPopup;lei=254900AHSPYG9DNQUA31;
http://firstccss.com/
etc, etc

"You can be sure that your personal data will be used only for STQs purchasing confirmation."
Yes but the United States government has actively warned it's citizens against giving up their personal information especially to Russians.


"4. Why do I need KYC? I don’t want to share any personal information!
KYC is a defensive mechanism for both the company and the clients. By sharing this data, all the token holders confirm that they are the true owners of their personal accounts and the wallet, to which we send STQ. It will grant that you are the person that receive your tokens."
Crypto is by definition SECURITY IN AND OF ITSELF. Why do they need to confirm "true owners" when the wallet itself IS THE IDENTITY OF THE TRUE OWNER? This statement makes literally ZERO SENSE AT ALL. Cryptocurrencies were specifically designed to allow trustless transactions THIS IS WHY WE USE THEM. If they want to know their customer WHY
 ARE THEY USING CRYPTO TOKENS? Just use fiat! How is this a defensive mechanism used to protect anybody?

That is why this thread says "possible" scam.

And they are demanding KYC POST-ICO, which is obviously SCAMMY. Even if they don't intend to run off with all the money it is still a scam to deceive people into investing thinking there was no KYC.

Cross posted to Reddit group https://www.reddit.com/r/shamcoin/ (hope you don't mind).

"7.3. Company reserves the right to refuse or cancel the Token purchase requests at any time
at Company's sole discretion, including cases when the information provided by Buyer upon any
requests is not sufficient, inaccurate or misleading, Buyer is deemed to be a Restricted Person, or
Buyer has not complied with any of the requirements of the Web Application.
7.4. In the case specified in Article 7.3 hereof, Company may, at its sole discretion, either:
7.4.1. retain all the funds paid by the respective payer; or
7.4.2. refund to the payer of the funds in accordance with the Clause 11 hereof."

So they think they can keep your money and not give you any tokens, for no reason at all. This sort of thing seems to appear a lot in ICO exit scams.

Yes....they specifically told me they were keeping my money if I didn't provide them with their requests.  Either they are a scam or they are incompetent ---> either way, we're screwed.  There is no reason for them to be requesting our sensitive personal information if we did not send them one of the regulated currencies....Further, if KYC were required every time we made a transaction on the blockchain, then each transaction would take days, not minutes.

If I sold you my car, then after you handed me the money, I told you that I also needed proof that you've never broken a law and if you didn't provide the proof I would keep your money and the car ----> would that be scammy?


Giving unregulated entities, from countries that are demonstrably known for identity theft, your sensitive personal information is fucking stupid ---> period.  No matter what fucking planet you came from!  Would you also suggest giving the Nigerian princes you find in your email spam folder your sensitive personal information?

This comparison makes no sense.

My point of view is: A serious company, which intends to act as a large company, must necessarily at some point demonstrate the origin of the resources for legal purposes in their country .... We are talking about COMPANY and this in no way can be 100% anonymous.

When we invest in an ICO, we are becoming more than shareholders because we are founding the company's capital.

Another point is: If the company is a fraud, why the hell would KYC require it? If I were a fraud, by now I'd be on some island with all the money.


Next time, if you do not want to present your confidential documents, buy the tokens on the market and forget the ICO.

If they were a serious company, then they would provide refunds to those they "unintentionally" deceived, right?  They wouldn't be saying, "Give us all of your your sensitive personal information or we'll keep your money."  Only a complete dumb phuck would accept that as a legitimate proposition.  Losing control over your identity is serious....you lose everything you have AND everything you may have in the future under your name.  Are you mature enough to understand those consequences?

"Another point is: If the company is a fraud, why the hell would KYC require it? If I were a fraud, by now I'd be on some island with all the money."  <----Good question ---> KYC is NOT required, they are lying to you!  And, they are probably already on an island with all the money....LOL

Huh? I don't think you understand what KYC is.

/r/Storiqa was flooded with threads of people trying to sell their accounts.

All got deleted.

Changed the title of this thread from "possible scam" to "BAIT AND SWITCH SCAM"  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bait-and-switch)because that is exactly what they did.

Storiqa has restricted their reddit page to approved users only. Afraid people might learn the truth? Afraid to provide assistance to worried customers?

https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/H5Gm7iq.png

In my opinion what storiqa doing is like pure blackmailing. At the beginning, they didn't say anything about KYC and after ICO they are forcing KYC.
I would not have invested (maybe) if I've seen KYC requirement at the beginning. Now I feel like I had taken a stupid decision to invest in storiqa.

It's embarrassing when a successful ICO plays with their investors at the end of ICO. Let's see what happens and where it ends.

I am hoping they can do some PR to fix this mess. All we want is answers. They could just fess up and admit they made a mistake but all they have said so far is no refunds, banned people who ask questions, try to fight with everyone and basically act like that redhead kid in school who used to steal everyone's lunch money.

I invested in this company to open a online store but it's looking like they are going to worse to deal with than ebay and amazon combined.

This is the only person I've seen on Youtube with a cogent voice on this topic: https://youtu.be/L4jsM6dKxN8  The rest of them are all shills!  And, yup, I was prevented from posting on the Storiqa SubReddit too.

If anybody thinks it is safe to give your information to random online people asking for it, think again..........


https://themerkle.com/new-paypal-phishing-site-demands-users-submit-a-selfie-while-holding-an-id-card/

https://www.hackread.com/android-malware-selfies-steals-credit-card/

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2018/01/16/netflix-phishing-id/

The dumbphucks in the Storiqa SubReddit threads needs to see these articles....I was restricted from posting in the Storiqa Subreddit....but these phishing scams look exactly like what these guys are planning....I can see these guys opening several exchange accounts with our ID's in order to launder the very money we gave them for the ICO into clean accounts....These guys need to be stopped.

They don't need KYC!  That's the problem with their logic....this is an identity phishing scam!  The exchanges require the KYC because the exchanges are the entities which interact with the regulated financial markets....not the decentralized blockchains running nodes on proxies!  KYC is required at the moment we engage the financial markets, not before....If it were required before we engaged the markets, then every time we transmitted a transaction onto the blockchain, we would have to request KYC and that would slow transactions down to a crawl.  IT'S A SCAM!

Say I gave them my identity, they gave me the token, and I immediately sent them to somebody else....how does KYC even come into play there?  It's a farce! ----> KYC is not required and they want our identities for some other reason!

If anyone has any hard evidence of anything underhanded could you post your findings to the /r/shamcoin reddit page too; the are using AI to build up list of possible scam/shams and use the mechanism to automatically point out similarities of future suspect ICO's

https://www.reddit.com/r/shamcoin/comments/7uyvyy/sham_analysis_storiqastq/

And, what about this?

http://i65.tinypic.com/2f0g9x5.png

Raised: $21,637,287
Tokens sold: 4,792,895,197

($21,637,287)/(4,792,895,197 token) = $0.00451445026/token average

And,

http://i68.tinypic.com/2ak0l5i.png

Raised: $24,403,867
Tokens sold: 6,123,618,287

($2,766,580)/(1,330,723,090 tokens) = $0.00207900503/token average

How does the average price decrease when it's supposed to increase? Price dropped from $0.00451445026 per token to $0.00207900503 per token?  Really?  The price dropped?


Proofs:

Between the top image and the bottom image they raised: ($24,403,867) - ($21,637,287) = $2,766,580
Between the top image and the bottom image they sold (6,123,618,287) - (4,792,895,197) = 1,330,723,090 tokens.

So, how do they explain selling 1,330,723,090 tokens for ($2,766,580)/(1,330,723,090 tokens) = $0.00207900503/token?

Even with the discounts bonuses and referral commissions, the math doesn't even come close!  This demonstrates a 400%-500% token inflation....WTH?

THEY NEED TO EXPLAIN THAT ONE TOO!  How come so many more tokens were given away at the end then were supposed to be?

So, I have bought 8000 tokens. I was just waiting for them to be sent to my ethereum wallet.

This is all new to me. What actions am i suppossed to take?

Where must I go in order to receive my tokens?

I have no intention to give any  personal information.

Well, fortunately I didn't invest much.

i don't know about this....its so fishy....
Even their form doesn't seem secure...
if they had ask for any document with picture and selfie i might show name and pic, but all that data?
Even some orders online don't get that much data from me...

Yes, it's fishy.

They haven't gone to the Bahamas yet because they're still collecting our data in order to a) use those data to formalize online loans in our name b) sell them to the ones that will.

By the way, I've been trying to add this token to my Coinomi wallet and it gave an error: "wrong decimals". Any ideas?

Has anybody else failed to receive their referral bonuses to their account?

"An-n-n-n-n-d,.... it's gone!"

Investing in Storiqa:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DQndGpd1qM

Hey,

I got my tokens and a lot of people are saying it will do well.

Hopefully they fix everything and price moves up.

Quite alarming tho

I also received my STQ a few days ago.
Everything was fine until the end of ICO, but when they forced about kyc suddenly after the kyc I became somewhat upset.
For me, that is unprofessional, because if you want kyc then you need to start it from the beginning but not after completing the ico successfully.

Now I'm waiting for March when STQ will be listed in exchanges, and I hope STQ will be a success after whatever happened.

Whatever you do don't sell the coins until 2019 until the full release of the product.
There may be even people who deliberately spread FUD to collect the token dirty cheap, who knows?
There were haters right from the beginning like thehackingteam (who is a scam itself!)
Besides,the CEO Ruslan is very aggresive about this business. I think he can make it. We saw he will do whatever it takes to make this happen.
This may be silk road v2 maybe who knows?
A marketplace where knockoffs that cannot be sold at ebay or amazon are freely sold, maybe  ;) -don't underestimate this, it is a multibillion market!
The idea is nice, the development team is very good, management is aggressive & capable, and they have more than enough cash to make this happen.
So, why not?

"So, why not?" ---->  Could you really imagine Ross Ulbricht building a KYC/AML database for everybody that used his site!  Wow!  That would've been absolutely brilliant!  Man, these Russians do know what they're doing, huh?

The elephant in the room here is that the Russians cheat at everything they do (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eO8ZHfV4fk&feature=share ) ....it's part of their culture. Now it's being exposed that the Russian GOVERNMENT has been phishing for identities and using those stolen identities to attack the West (https://www.wired.com/story/russian-trolls-identity-theft-mueller-indictment/ )(https://www.justice.gov/file/1035477/download )


What part sounds good again about giving your sensitive personal information to an anonymous entity which is also hiding behind a cloudflare proxy and located in a country whose government actively engages in identity theft?  Add to that the fact that they've already been caught TWICE using stolen identities and we can conclude that there is an extraordinarily brilliant community handing over their personal information to these people.  

Okay, I'm in ---> but I do not have access to the internet so can I have a residential mailing address to send my "stuff?"
 

Fair enough. Totally understandable.

....... BUT .............

Then, why does KYC exist in the first place? I mean, isn't it the US government made it mandatory?

From the below article:

" the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reportedly preparing to prosecute ICOs which are held without KYC procedures.  "

" cryptocurrency exchanges are beginning to exclude cryptocurrencies that did not properly implement KYC processes "


https://www.ccn.com/five-reasons-kyc-crucial-ico-investment/

Etc. Etc...

So, who is to blame here Storiqa or the US legislation?

(I agree that they should have told it before and they plain lied about it later, although I don't think they had bad intentions, it was a screw up)

When regulated financial institutions are involved then KYC/AML may be required; for example, if we used our credit card, made a bank transfer, or sent a check to purchase tokens from the ICO, then KYC may be required.  Those funds are regulated and insured....But when we use a cryptocurrency to purchase cryptocurrency from an anonymous unregulated market hiding behind a cloudflare proxy, then that's not protected, nor regulated.

To be sure! ----> "Investors should understand that to date no initial coin offerings have been registered with the SEC. The SEC also has not to date approved for listing and trading any exchange-traded products (such as ETFs) holding cryptocurrencies or other assets related to cryptocurrencies.[2] If any person today tells you otherwise, be especially wary." (citation: https://www.sec.gov/news/public-statement/statement-clayton-2017-12-11)

okay, but you ignored the remaining 4 of the reasons... and if you dig the interwebs I bet you can find more.

Btw, didn't they outsource the KYC?

I am not afraid of ID theft (one of the rare uppers of being a citizen of a 3rd world country, sigh...) and I submitted right away so I am a little ignorant here.

This is the problem.  KYC/AML is required when we interact with the regulated FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, i.e. when we use a credit card, bank transfer, check...etc.  Storiqa's ICO did not interact with any FINANCIAL MARKET....we were not allowed to use a credit card, bank transfer, check...etc to purchase the Storiqa token.  So, there is absolutely no reason for them to be requesting KYC....our bank accounts were in no way connected to the purchases.  When we do interact with a regulated FINANCIAL INSTITUTION, then that institution will request KYC ---> not some random anonymous entity hiding behind a cloudflare proxy ---> an insured or bonded, regulated, and licensed FINANCIAL INSTITUTION.  Do you see the problem?

And, no they didn't fully outsource the KYC---> our information first goes thru the "Storiqa" site (https://www.scamadviser.com/check-website/tokensale.storiqa.com), then from Storiqa to "ICObox (https://www.scamadviser.com/check-website/icobox.io), then from "ICObox" to (PRESUMABLY ---> because that's what they TELL US) to "Onfido" (https://www.scamadviser.com/check-website/onfido.com).  So, all three of those sites have access to our information....AND two of the three are flagged  "HIGH RISK!"

What if they used your information to open accounts to launder money to sanctioned countries or terrorists?  Then, you would be the person indicted and held to answer in court....see the problem? 

Identity phishing SCAM.

Well now we KNOW it was a scam. Storiqa disappeared with all investor funds. What I find incredibly suspect is the fact they were emailing everyone who had an account on the site asking for personal details right before they disappeared. What are they up to with all this information?

Also check this out, class action lawsuit against Storiqa.
https://ico-class-action.org/class-actions/storiqa

STQ REBRAND AS SWYFT. THEY SWAP 10000 STQ FOR 1 SWYFT. MAKE MARKET SMALL AND THEN DUMP MORE EVERYDAY. MIKE HARVARD IS NEED TO BE TAKEN TO COURT. PLEASE HELP US.

The rebranding actually started happening in November last year.
I must admit i participated in their ICO and has over 100,000 of STQ tokens but i was fortunate to sell them off before things fell apart. This is one of the scam ICOs I am not proud to have participated in.

I stopped following this shit coin a long time ago - and never heard of their swap game.

Yes, you did exit at the right time and did a wonderful thing but I was not lucky enough to exit and I'm still hodling this coin at hitbtc.
IIRC, then I was not able to withdraw the coin because of the fee. I had over 34k and the fee was over 34k, so I left it for hitbtc as for their one of the dinner item.

Anyway, is there any improvement after the swap or it is still as shit as before? And is the swap still ongoing? Give me some good news lol so that I can trash this trash. haha

Things don't seem so good mate.
First, HitBTC is a scam exchange itself.
Secondly, you have to swap 10,000 STQ for 1 SWYFT as someone pointed out above my first reply. That means your 34k STQ will be equivalent to approximately 3.4 SWYFT  ;D

1 SWYFT is currently worth $0.16. The total won't even buy you beer or Tea in a third word Country

Thanks for the info mate.

Yeah, I agree, Hitbtc is one of the greatest shit exchange in cryptoverse. I don't use it, joined at that time for storiqa, and one of my other token.

Well, the good thing is whatever amount I have invested (I don't remember the exact figure) is now a little over $0.54... It was really a bad investment... No worries, life means to move on.

#BeSafe