The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) of New Zealand has informed of getting complaints about IGOT bitcoin exchange. Its clients claim they have problems with repayment. 

The warning is published on the FMA website. It also implies that the regulator has requested an explanation from the bitcoin exchange in connection with users’ complaints. 

IGOT exchange is registered in Australia. In line with the New Zealand law, it does not need to pass any additional registration procedures to carry out financial services in the territory of New Zealand.

According to IGOT exchange, the delays in repayments were caused by a DDoS attack. The attack “choked” the system with thousands of bitcoin microtransactions as low as 0.000001 BTC.

“We hope to return to a normal service very soon. Please keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter feeds for updates as the situation changes,” the exchange says.

However, the exchange customers have a reason to doubt the statement is fully correct. IGOT already reported a similar DDoS attack back in April, in response to users’ complains about months-long difficulties with translations and withdrawals.

According to the official information, IGOT was established in Australia in 2013. Besides Australia and New Zealand, the exchange platform works with clients from Europe, Asia and UAE. The exchange claims its services, including buying and selling bitcoin, money transfers, trade in futures and bitcoin acceptance service for merchants, are available in 40 countries. 

However, most of these claims are not true, according to the investigation carried out by the Silicon Angle news site in 2015. IGOT offices in Singapore, Hong Kong and Slovenia do not exist, the media noted. The date of the company foundation is apparently not correct — it was registered only in June 2014. And its founder, Rick Day, an ethnic Indian, is completely missing from the Internet and social networks, apart from IGOT-related materials, which makes him likely to be acting under a false name.

Elena Platonova