Match systems - the most effective scam and extortion systems you ever seen
KTo begin with, let me introduce myself. My name is "K," and I work in the risk department of a major cryptocurrency exchange with offices in Moscow and Dubai. As part of my job, I regularly investigate cases involving cryptocurrencies that have come after thefts and wallet hacks, as well as other illicit activities in the industry. Victims of hacks often reach out to us seeking assistance in recovering their funds. I must say, it's a challenging and thankless task. If anyone has ever dealt with debt collection, collectors, bailiffs, and courts in life, they'll understand me. We have contacts with several agencies like this, and we collaborate with some of them on a percentage basis. It was in the process of working with such a client who fell victim to scammers that I first learned about the Match systems, also known as Plain chain.
In this material, I will uncover who is behind this structure, explain the scheme they operate, and discuss why it poses a danger to my colleagues and the entire market.
Why am I doing this? Because I simply cannot tolerate such audacity and blatant scams. Moreover, my motivation is to clean the market of such activities; otherwise, I wouldn't have chosen to work in risk management and wouldn't have studied for it. The people I will talk about deceive others, flaunt their wealth and connections, but in reality, beyond simple scams, there is nothing there. It was the arrogance of the company founders that sparked my interest, and what I managed to find truly surprised me. I often interact with exchanges in Dubai and Moscow City, so gathering information about Match systems was not particularly difficult for me. Many people in the industry are aware of how they operate. I'm sure most people in the industry won't be surprised by what I'm about to reveal.
Let's start with what Match systems are and what services they offer. So, Match systems, also known as Plain chain, position themselves as blockchain investigators – people who help trace wallets and transactional connections between them in various blockchains using various software. Their main service, which generates revenue for them, is recovering stolen funds for a percentage fee. The reward amount ranges from 5 to 50%, depending on the stolen amount, the complexity of the case, and the resources involved. Representatives of Match systems often take an advance payment, usually around 10% of the total amount. Interestingly, they never refund the advance, citing "we did what we could, here's a statement of fund movement." This is Scam number 1. Blockchain analysts at Match systems encounter such cases every third time, and advance amounts range from $1500 to $5000. Usually, victims of scammers easily part with such amounts in exchange for the hope of getting something back. But that's just the beginning...
So, upon receiving a request for investigation and fund recovery, Match systems employees create a Telegram chat, assigning it a serial number (there are already more than 600 of them, meaning more than 600 potential scams of Scam 1 or Scam 2 later on). The chat invites victims to fill out a form with the following details:
1. Telegram contact person (profile link)
2. Approximate amount of damage (in dollars)
3. Start date of the incident
4. End date of the incident
5. Address(es) of the wallet(s) from which the theft occurred
6. Transaction hashes through which the theft occurred (if available)
7. Addresses of the perpetrator's wallets (if available)
8. Detailed description of the situation
9. Information about the perpetrator (if available)
10. Location (city, country) where the theft occurred
11. Location (city, country) where the victim resides permanently/temporarily (or resided at the time of the incident)
12. Desired outcome (criminal liability, fund recovery, other)
13. Additional materials on the case (correspondence, screenshots, documents, etc.)
Here comes the interesting part. Ordinary blockchain analysts, earning a salary of $1500-2000 plus a percentage of the recovery amount, armed with answers to the questionnaire above, manually trace the path of the stolen crypto. The path may encounter mixers, bridges, swaps, anything, but what matters to us is where the perpetrator intends to cash out. If the funds land on any exchange, which often happens, they can be frozen and later confiscated in favor of the victim. Importantly, stolen assets may end up on the exchange not directly from the initial perpetrators but from entirely innocent third parties. However, this becomes irrelevant in the scheme. What happens next? It's pure magic from the masters of extortion and deceit. Attention, here comes the most intense part.
So, having extensive experience in law enforcement (more on this separately), Match systems employees send a decree on the arrest of digital assets (cryptocurrencies or digital currencies) as part of an inspection or within a criminal case, and sometimes even with a court decision.
"Well, so what?" you might ask, "it's a document, and everything seems legal." Indeed, the mentioned document serves as a basis, at the very least, to freeze the account and proceed with the investigation. If, for example, the account is linked to the perpetrator, disputing it would be futile, and the affected client will get their money back, or at least a portion of it. But if the account is not connected, there's no arguing against the document, and the exchange tends to trust documents over users. As experience shows, Match systems still demand money from their clients to expedite the process and ensure they get their percentage. Obtaining such a legal or law enforcement document within the context of a genuine court case is extremely difficult. From my experience, it takes at least 3 months, especially considering that Russian courts and law enforcement aren't particularly supportive of such matters.
Here we are, someone from Match systems presents these papers within just 1-2 WEEKS after realizing that the money is on a particular exchange. We are smoothly moving on to Scam number 2 - FORGERY or simply FAKING. This is where a wide range of forgeries comes into play, as real people are always behind the documents in any structure, and you can't pull this off without accomplices. This is precisely what employees of law enforcement agencies, now turned founders of Match systems, engaged in. Sometimes, when the situation doesn't require genuine signatures and names, Match systems simply fabricates court documents. By the way, many of these documents end up in exchanges like Garantex, Huobi, and Binance, among others.
By the way, one of the individuals whose name regularly appeared on Match systems' documents was arrested. Investigator Antonina Shakhina from Moscow is accused of forging a court decision to freeze an account on the cryptocurrency exchange Garantex. She shared the money from it—several million rubles—with Match systems. The founders and architects of the scheme, Georgiy @CryptoLawWorld, Andrey @andkutin, and Ays @ajsdan, are currently trying hard to conceal their involvement in the case, hiding behind the employees of the Garantex exchange and the detained investigator, whom they skillfully manipulated, knowing about her pregnancy.
What the founders and employees of Match systems are engaged in is a serious criminal offense that harms innocent people for the benefit of the commercial interests of former and current wolves in sheep's clothing. I recommend that the risk departments of cryptocurrency exchanges, first and foremost, visit the court websites and verify whether the judges mentioned in the fake documents they are being presented with actually have such cases in progress. You'll be surprised. Did it never seem strange to you that such documents appear in unbelievably short periods? Or are you just getting a share of the profits? :)
On the Match systems website, there are also numerous services related to their developments that they actively try to promote in the former USSR space, albeit without much success. Let's take a look at what these services entail. First and foremost, to get a demo of their transaction monitoring product, you have to wait longer than they take to create fake documents for exchanges, but that's not the point here. The product is impractical for real use; it contains outdated databases from the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) and the Federal Security Service (FSB), and the analysts themselves use paid versions of software from Crystal and Chainalysis for investigations.
ABC-Control database is nothing but illegally obtained databases from the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), Investigative Committee (SK), and Federal Security Service (FSB), as well as purchased databases of dirty addresses from the Darknet. Crystal represents data for which Match Systems themselves pay and do not have the right to engage in reselling these data in such a format.
Match systems exclusively earn money through pseudo-detective and investigative activities. It seems that Match systems understand that the document forgery business may not be sustainable in the long run, so they are trying their hand at a startup. Scam number 3 - "look investors, we have revenue (obtained from Scam 1 and Scam 2) and our own software (actually non-functional and disguised as other solutions, as well as unlawfully obtained databases from MVD, SK, FSB), please give us money." By the way, the separate company Match systems was created in Singapore with an office in Dubai for Scam number 3, while all the employees effectively continue to be based in Moscow and work in Plain chain, which they originally were, attempting to sell their services to Russian banks and government agencies. The CEO of the Russian LLC is nominal, here is the extract: [link provided].
Additionally, there is a company in Kazakhstan [link provided], and its CEO is already one of the founders - Kutin.
With a complicated background incompatible with venture investments, Match systems fictitiously split to conceal the founders' connection with Russian law enforcement agencies. If by any chance venture funds read this, then Scam 1 + Scam 2 + Scam 3 = a bold "RED FLAG."
And finally, who are these wolves in sheep's clothing, deciding to enrich themselves on the imperfections of cryptocurrency compliance systems, the oversight (or collusion) of exchanges, and attract money from investors by telling tales of a successful software startup "from Singapore."
Founders:
1. Dorzhinov Ays Nikolaevich
15.05.1985
+79093973444
@ajsdan
2. Andrey Olegovich Kutin
27.11.1992
+7 963 726-79-96
@andkutin @anrygotoni @chainblader
3. Georgiy Rakhaev
@CryptoLawWorld
4. Roman
@d3adb33f
5. Джозеф
@AML_spider
Other team
@m_shanan
@AnastasiaLP
@bbatyrbaev
@plainc
@matchsystems_info
@lucaberg
@chain_manager
@Tywin_win
Most employees and founders have direct ties to law enforcement agencies in Russia. This is where all the schemes and data originate. "Dirty" address databases are leaked unlawfully. Where did I get all the information and who helped me make sure that we are dealing with scammers and wolves in sheep's clothing? You won't believe it - the victims. Scam 1 - people who paid advances and received nothing. Scam 2 - people unlawfully deprived of cryptocurrency "thanks to" fake documents. Scam 3 - some representatives of exchanges in Dubai who wanted to know my opinion about this company.
As far as I know, checks are now underway for a number of episodes of fake resolutions of investigators and court decisions, and the information has already spread. I am sure that for some employees of Match systems, this is not a surprise, and they are aware of the schemes, which means they are accomplices, and their data will also be sent everywhere to the maximum. Those who do not consider themselves accomplices and would like not to be associated with scammers, not to get into mailings, please provide all the information you know about the criminal activities of Match systems and confirm that you have left the company.
In the meantime, I am sending copies of this material to clients, partners, existing, and potential investors to warn them about the criminal consequences of Match systems' activities and the individuals mentioned. I have already reported separate incidents to cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance (Commex for Russia), Garantex, Huobi, Bybit, OKX, Whitebit, and others, exchange offices, exchange aggregators, as well as analytical systems Crystal and Chainalysis (their data is used for unauthorized purposes and resold verifications) in the Tether Foundation (the compliance department is flooded with fake documents from Scam number 2). I have also reported separate incidents to OFAC and Interpol.
In addition, a request to active community members to spread this material as much as possible and stop the actions of scammers. If the founders remain free, everyone should know them by face and, if possible, avoid interaction.
Yours, "K"
Full original investigation in russian with pictures https://telegra.ph/Match-systems---sistemy-ehffektivnyh-vymogatelstv-i-skamov-10-02