BIB

Our investigation into BIB found an operation with the classic markings of an investment scam. If you are weighing a deposit — or trying to get one back — read this first.

Who is BIB?

BIB markets itself as an online trading and investment service. Its public site is presented at https://www.bibvip.com/en_US/. As with most operations of this kind, the polished front end conceals a lack of the basic protections a real, regulated broker is required to provide.

Is BIB regulated?

We could find no evidence that BIB holds a valid licence from any recognised financial regulator. Trading client funds without authorisation is one of the strongest indicators of a scam — there is no regulator to complain to, and no protection for your money.

Red flags we identified

• No credible physical address or verifiable corporate record
• Offshore or shell-company registration used to avoid oversight
• Aggressive “account managers” coaching clients to deposit
• No verifiable licence from a recognised financial regulator
• Opaque or anonymous corporate ownership

Our analysis

BIB claims to be operated by Adwise Trading Inc., founded in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) under MSB number 31000219137978 and with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) under MSB number M23645377. Although we did verify that its MSB licenses are valid, it is important to note that a broker soliciting investors in derivatives markets in the US is required to be a member of the National Futures Authority (NFA), and be authorized by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) if in Canada. However, we searched the agencies' registries and found no records supporting this broker's legitimacy in trading derivatives. To put it simply, the MSB licenses cannot prove that BIB is qualified and authorized to offer services or products in derivatives markets. Given its claim to be founded in BVI, we searched the registry of British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission (BVI FSC) for this broker, the local financial regulator, but found no matching records. In essence, BIB is not regulated by any governing body. Entrusting this broker with investors' funds is highly risky, as there are no legal protections in place to safeguard the funds. It is unequivocally a scam.

Can you recover money lost to BIB?

If you have deposited with BIB, do not pay any further “fees” to withdraw — that is part of the trap. Funds sent to operations like this can sometimes be traced on-chain and pursued through the exchanges and processors that received them. Whether recovery is realistic depends on how you paid and how quickly you act.