Centra Tech Fake Debit Card

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Centra Tech

Centra Tech pretended that they could provide a service for spending cryptocurrency through a credit card, including fake partnerships with Mastercard and Visa. There was no such service, however investors happily sent them vast sums of money based on the claims.

This exchange or platform is based in United States, or the incident targeted people primarily in United States.

About Centra Tech

"Centra Tech began operations in 2017 as a crypto-financial services company. The company claimed to offer a debit card that converted cryptocurrencies to dollars. During its ICO, they made several false claims, among them an existing partnership with MasterCard Incorporated and Visa Inc for legitimacy."

"Centra Tech, Inc. has developed platforms that connect world commerce and cryptocurrencies. The Centra Card will make it convenient for card holders to spend their cryptocurrencies in all fiat currency transactions creating a true bridge to the world and cryptocurrencies. The CCE (Currency Conversion Engine) Module will enable customers to convert their blockchain assets to market value fiat to a obtain near-perfect exchange rates."

"The company claimed to be working on a debit card that would pioneer the retail use of digital currencies." "Our customers will be able to send money using Centra Tech, Inc.'s mobile app in 8+ major cryptocurrencies to 100+ countries worldwide with-out being charged fees." "Customers will be able to manage their Centra Card through the Centra Wallet available on iOS App Store & Google Play Store as well as desktop/web version."

"To better market themselves, the market sought the services of boxer Floyd Mayweather and music producer DJ Khaled. The two prominent figures helped give the company some credibility."

"FARKAS and his co-defendants represented, in oral and written offering materials that were disseminated via the internet: (a) that Centra Tech had an experienced executive team with impressive credentials, including a purported CEO named “Michael Edwards” with more than 20 years of banking industry experience and a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard University; (b) that Centra Tech had formed partnerships with Bancorp, Visa, and Mastercard to issue Centra Cards licensed by Visa or Mastercard; and (c) that Centra Tech had money transmitter and other licenses in 38 states, among other claims." "The whole experience will improve the online buying experience while eliminating the costs associated to interbank exchange rate fluctuations and excessive fees making your cryptocurrency spendable in real time."

"In July 2017, Farkas and his partners, Raymond Trapani and Sohrab Sharma, held an ICO, or token sale, raising the $25 million from investors who had believed Centra Tech's claims." "So many lies went into enabling the company to raise more than $25 million in its ICO."

"In 2020 Robert Farkas, one of the co-founders of Centra Tech, was sentenced to a year in prison after he pleaded guilty to securities fraud and wire fraud. Before the reduced sentence, he stood up to ten years in prison. He also had to forfeit $347,062.58 and a Rolex watch he purchased with fraud proceeds."

"Centra Tech's co-founder has been sentenced to eight years for conducting an illegal initial coin offering (ICO) that fleeced investors of $25 million."

"The U.S Marshals Service sold ethereum (ETH, 5.14%) cryptocurrency seized from Centra Tech for about $33.4 million."

"Following entry of a final order of forfeiture, these funds and other forfeited fraud proceeds will be available for potential use in a remission program that the Department of Justice intends to create to compensate victims of the Centra Tech fraud."

This exchange or platform is based in United States, or the incident targeted people primarily in United States.

The background of the exchange platform, service, or individuals involved, as it would have been seen or understood at the time of the events.

Include:

• Known history of when and how the service was started.
• What problems does the company or service claim to solve?
• What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
• Audits performed, and excerpts that may have been included.
• Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
• How were people recruited to participate?
• Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.

Don't Include:

• Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
• Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.

There could be more than one section here. If the same platform is involved with multiple incidents, then it can be linked to a main article page.

The Reality

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

• When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
• Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
• How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
• Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

What Happened

The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.

Key Event Timeline - Centra Tech Fake Debit Card

Date	Event	Description
July 25th, 2017	Main Event	Expand this into a brief description of what happened and the impact. If multiple lines are necessary, add them here.

Technical Details

This section includes specific detailed technical analysis of any security breaches which happened. What specific software vulnerabilities contributed to the problem and how were they exploited?

Total Amount Lost

The total amount lost has been estimated at $25,000,000 USD.

How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?

Immediate Reactions

How did the various parties involved (firm, platform, management, and/or affected individual(s)) deal with the events? Were services shut down? Were announcements made? Were groups formed?

Ultimate Outcome

What was the end result? Was any investigation done? Were any individuals prosecuted? Was there a lawsuit? Was any tracing done?

Total Amount Recovered

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?

Ongoing Developments

What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?

Individual Prevention Policies

No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.