BaFin, Germany's Federal financial supervisory authority, has launched an investigation into A.K.P.U Group LLC, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (A.K.P.U Group LLC) for the unauthorized provision of banking and financial services in Germany.

According to Article 37 (4) of the German Banking Act (KWG), any company providing banking or financial services in Germany must be authorized by BaFin, but A.K.P.U Group LLC is not authorized.

Seychelles firm Bright Space Ltd was mentioned on its old company website, kingdom investments.io. Is its operating entity. But the company also does not hold such a license. Neither company is regulated by BaFin.

BaFin also learned that (former) customers of the platform had been referred to the website kingdom- Investive.io. At the same time, customers who visit the website kims-ltd.co are automatically redirected to the KIMs-Ltd.co.uk page. kims-ltd.co.uk is operated by Kingdom Investments Management Limited, a company registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

According to the investigation, there is no indication of any actual cooperation between Kingdom Investments Management Limited and the operators of the kingdom investments.io platform or the kims-ltd.co website. Instead, Kingdom Investments Management Limited is likely to have had its identity stolen. The FCA has issued a warning on its website that "clone companies" from Kingdom Investments Management Limited are operating illegally in the market. In the warning message, the FCA clearly listed the illegal websites investkingdom.net and investkingdom.co.

From the information provided on the website of kingdom- Investitions.io, as well as information and documents in BaFin's possession, it appears likely that A.K.P.U Group LLC is conducting banking or providing financial services in Germany without authorization.

BaFin said investors can find information on whether a company has been authorized by BaFin in its corporate database. In addition, BaFin, the German Federal Criminal Police and the German State Criminal Police recommend that investors should exercise a high degree of caution when making online investments and do the necessary research in advance to avoid being cheated.