Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1545896
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 JULY 2026 NEWS easy money, amid red flags centres advertises referral com- missions and luxury rewards, including smartphones, watches and vehicles, for those who in- troduce additional participants. MaltaToday reached out on several mobile numbers adver- tised in DistributeX promotion- al material. Foreigners, who an- swered the phone referred us to their "recruiter" or "manager". When questioned further, we were referred to one of the four physical outlets. Meanwhile, Maltese persons who picked up the phone were more forthcom- ing with details on how Distrib- uteX works, while directing us to visit the outlets and enrol offi- cially there. Red flags The operation also raises a number of regulatory questions. The web application does not provide accessible terms and conditions or a privacy policy, despite processing users' per- sonal information. No infor- mation is provided over the tax treatment of participants' earn- ings and whether the activities constitute investment income or payment for services. DistributeX has not publicly explained how its task-comple- tion model generates sufficient revenue to fund the returns advertised to members. The combination of mandatory de- posits, recruitment incentives and unexplained income gener- ation raises significant questions about the sustainability and le- gitimacy of the business model. Where there's smoke… Malta is not the only country where DistributeX is operating. Montenegrin newspaper Vijes- ti reported on how DistributeX opened an "official community office" in the capital Podgorica, and is operating through a re- cruitment-based model. Cybersecurity experts quoted in the newspaper said the oper- ation displays the characteristics of a crypto pyramid or Ponzi- style scheme. According to the report, new participants pay an initial fee, complete simple daily online tasks and are encouraged to re- cruit additional members to pro- gress through "VIP" tiers that re- quire further payments. Vijesti also found no evidence of a registered legal entity op- erating under the DistributeX name in Montenegro's official business registers, despite claims that the registration process is under way. Meanwhile, the Mauritius Fi- nancial Services Commission, on 20 April 2026, had also issued an investor warning concerning DistributeX, calling on individ- uals to exercise caution when dealing with the entity. A Malta-based Reddit thread also warns against enrolment in- to DistributeX. According to the Malta Finan- cial Services Authority's (MFSA) publicly-available scam detec- tion guide "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!". The guide outlines how scams follow a pattern if you know what you are looking for. Three points listed in the MFSA guide can be applied to DistributeX. The first is the promise of a sum of money that can be obtained very easily. "There's no such thing as easy money and you're probably helping criminals to launder money," the guide reads. The second point is the assign- ment of quick decision tasks. "Scammers don't like to give you time to think about the offer. They will try to pressurise you into making a decision by say- ing things like 'if you don't act now, you'll miss out'," the guide states. And the final point is the re- cruitment of further members. DistributeX's donation to the charity Puttinu Cares