The BETL pyramid: Thousands of Bulgarians lose money in the scheme

Blue Electric Technology Limited (BETL), a company operating a financial scheme targeting Bulgarian investors, has stopped paying dividends as of December 5.

The fraudulent nature of the operation was first reported by BNT on November 30.

The company is registered in the UK, it has no legal registration in Bulgaria.

It was discovered that BETL uses the photos of unsuspecting Swiss and Spanish citizens, falsely portraying them as high-ranking British executives of the company. In the UK, the company is registered by a person called Muzaffar Ahmed Riaz.

BETL has exploited the concept of renting external mobile device batteries, attracting around 30,000 investors in Bulgaria, according to data from a secret Telegram channel accessible only to investors. The scheme also operates in Serbia and Albania, but without official registration in any of these countries. Over the span of six months, it's estimated that Bulgarians have invested around $80 million in the scheme for shared rental of external batteries for mobile devices.

While some of the earliest investors received returns, many others who joined later ended up losing their money. The total amount scammed from investors is believed to be around $40 million, with several million spent on aggressive marketing and advertising campaigns that lured in new participants, who now find themselves being duped.

One such investor, Alexander Issa, joined the BETL scheme just over a month ago. He was initially drawn in by the company's aggressive social media ads. A friend invited him to invest in the purchase of 8 batteries, with promises that his investment would start yielding returns after 33 days. It was explained to Alexander that he becomes the owner of the batteries, which will be rented out and Alexander was told that he would receive $45 in cryptocurrency daily and could further increase his earnings by recruiting new investors.

"A friend invited me to join this group with a small participation - to buy 8 batteries. When you buy this pack of 8 batteries, the investment will pay you back after the 33rd day. That's how the scheme itself is made," says Issa.

"When those 33 days are up, you can upgrade, you can invite people below you, meaning if I invite you or anyone else, I get a bonus, a royalty for bringing them," he explained.

BNT told viewers about this scheme in the newscast "Around the World and at Home", exactly 10 days ago, when it found out that BETL, in its advertising articles, was using data from the Commercial Register of a Bulgarian company that operates in a completely different sector.

A day later after the BNT coverage, the Bulgarian manager for BETL, Kalina Nikolova, attempted to downplay the growing panic among investors through the company's secret Telegram channel. She dismissed the media reports, including those from BNT, as "incompetently made" and "devoid of real information."

"I'm getting in a bit of an emergency to clarify some things for you about the panic that has been created over the last few days. First on the media. People who believe gossip news and media, including even BNT, because the BNT report itself is extremely incompetently done, devoid of real information," wrote Kalina Nikolova, BETL's Bulgaria manager on December 1, 2024.

For Nikolova, it turns out that the misuse of another campaign's registration, which BETL uses in paid articles, is not real information. And the investor recruitment scheme we showed was confirmed today by one of the many scammed.

"Meetings were organized, paid, where we gathered - families, friends and acquaintances, etc.," says Alexander Issa.

At these meetings, investors were supposed to advertise the battery rental company and persuade others to start putting their savings into the scheme.

"To get as many people as possible into this vicious circle."

Alexander has invested $1,200. In a month and a half, he managed to get back $400. On Thursday, December 5, he received no daily dividend.

"And on Friday it became clear that it was a rug pull."

The company has continued to manipulate investors by asking for an additional $99 to "verify" their profiles while changing the name of its Facebook group from "BETL Bulgaria" to "Power Pal - Bulgaria." This group, initially created in 2013 under the name "Dream Home 8," was renamed to "BETL Bulgaria" in April of this year.

To this day, the dividends declared by Alexander Issa for receipt have not been approved by the company. However, the company asked investors to pay an additional $99 to "verify" their accounts while changing the name of its Facebook group from "BETL Bulgaria" to "Power Pal - Bulgaria." This group, initially created in 2013 under the name "Dream Home 8," was renamed to "BETL Bulgaria" in April of this year.

Such pyramid schemes often employ aggressive advertising and unrealistic promises of high returns, coupled with incentives for recruiting new members, which are clear warning signs.

In recent weeks, BETL even offered bonuses for investors to advance to higher levels, to invest in level 4 and as a bonus to get into level 5, a sign that the scheme was collapsing. The name "BETL" itself may hint at its fraudulent nature, as it can be broken down into the English words "bet" and "lie"—a deceptive gamble.

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