Payfuture has dismissed allegations against its business operations at ICE London 2024 as a Disinformation as a Service attack (DaaS).
Early last month, Payfuture – along with a plethora of payments providers – attended ICE London 2024 between 6-8 February. ICE is an industry trade show primarily focusing on the betting and gaming industry.
As detailed by Crypto Intelligence, Payfuture’s stand at ICE was attended by an unwelcome guest, however. This was an unknown individual dressed in a rat costume who handed out leaflets accusing the company of ‘scamming Britain’.
Payfuture’s LinkedIn page lists the company as being based in Singapore, and describes its business as being a “payment gateway connector offering large e-commerce brands the ability to connect to local payment solutions across multiple global emerging market countries”.
Meanwhile, the firm’s website states that it facilitates payments to and from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and ‘many more’.
The leaflets handed out at ICE in particular took aim at the firm’s Co-Founder and CTO Zaki Farooq, a Dubai-based businessman who heads up Payfuture Technologies LLC, located in the UAE city.
Following the incident at ICE London, Crypto Intelligence’s article cited UK Companies House webpages and Farooq’s own LinkedIn page listing his prior involvement in a now dissolved company called COMPUTRAD, which the outlet accuses of having scammed investors.
In response to the leaflets and articles, Payfuture issued a statement today criticising the allegations as examples of a Disinformation as a Service attack (DaaS) designed to discredit the business and individuals involved.
Farooq asserted in the statement: “Recent articles, social media, leaflets, and other materials have been put in the public domain containing malicious accusations that PayFuture is involved in nefarious activities.
“These accusations which include implicating members of my family are wholly untrue and without basis. I have initiated legal proceedings which are already underway in the UK and Cyprus to leave the truth in no doubt.”
Farooq was not the only target of the criticism levied by either the ICE London attendees or Crypto Intelligence, however. The accusations also state that Farooq is unable to visit the UK due to risk of law enforcement intervention and is unable to conduct business there.
Instead, the UK business, Payfuture Ltd – which secured an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) last year – is headed up by CEO Manpreet Haer.
Accusers allege that Manpreet Haer runs the UK business in place of Farooq.
In response to these accusations, Payfuture has asserted that the Dubai and UK businesses are separate entities, that Farooq is not involved in the latter in any way and that neither he nor Haer have broken UK law.
A statement from Haer read: “The allegations of stealing money against Farooq and PayFuture are entirely false. I have worked closely with Zaki for several years and can attest to his integrity and commitment to ethical business practices.
“Farooq has been an asset to the business where I am partnered with him and has contributed significantly to our success internationally.”
As noted in Farooq’s statement, the businessman has apparently initiated legal proceedings in the UK against the accusations, which the firm is adamant are a DaaS attack aimed at falsely discrediting its activities.
The results of these legal proceedings may shed further light further down the line…
