2009 Forex Broker Scam of the Year Nominees

[AsstModerator]

2009 Forex Broker Scam of the Year Nominees
(in chronological order)​

CrownForex.com
Crown Forex used to be a well rated Swiss broker. Then there was a flood of complaints to the FPA. One investigator spend a lot of time and effort to get the funds of some clients back. Others were met with broken promises and delays. It was so bad that a warning article was published by the FPA. Then, Swiss regulators seized the company. The FPA again warned traders, since it seemed that Crown was still accepting deposits and promising withdrawals would be available soon. An associate of te Universal Brokerage FX account management firm posted in the FPAs forums defending Crown. Later, it tuned out that UBFX had bought a large percent of Crown and was misusing Crown and client funds. Finally, Crown Forex was liquidated and a final scam finding was issued.

Article about CrownForex Scam Finding

First article warning about problems at CrownForex.com

Article about Crown Forex being taken over by Swiss regulators

FPA Scam Finding against CrownForex.com


VelocityForex.com and StartForex.com
Two FPA members had separate problems withdrawing money from Velocity Forex, an IB of Start Forex. In one case, VelocityForex told the trader that the withdrawal was sent to StartForex for processing, then silence. The other one was part of a group that was told by Velocity Forex that trades had been canceled due to unspecified violations of rules and initial balances were being returned. No answers were given when these traders asked why their profits were being taken. An FPA investigator and the traders sent multiple emails and got no responses, so these companies were declared to be scams. Later, StartForex sent one message blaming Velocity for the problems.

Article about StartForex.com and VelocityForex.com

Original complaint against Start Forex and Velocity Forex

FPA Scam Finding against StartForex and VelocityForex


GCITrading.com
An FPA member had been an IB and happy client of GCI Trading (aka GCI Financial) for about 5 years. With no warning, the terminated her IB arrangement, removed 2 months of IB commissions, and canceled numerous profitable trades. An FPA investigator was told that the trader was using "off market prices" and complained that most of the IB commissions were from her account. The trader replied that it was GCI that requested she become an IB and that her trading style hadn't changed in 5 years, there was no answer. A further inquiry about why a customer of 5 years standing couldn't get an answer to simple question, GCITrading's rep threatened the FPA with legal action if any more emails were sent. The trader sent more emails and got no reply.

Later, GCI withdrew it's financial license from Belize. This happened while another FPA member filed a lawsuit against GCITrading in Belize. He won the case.

Article about GCITrading.com scam

Original complaint against GCI Trading

GCITrading withdraws it's business license from Belize

FPA member wins court victory against GCITrading

FPA Scam Finding against GCITrading


FxTechTrading.com
A trader complained about trades done within the trading agreement being canceled by Fx Tech Trading. The FPA did a lot of work behind the scenes to resolve this. FxTechTrading threw in delay after delay, claimed to have a recorded phone call proving rules were deliberately broken, and accused the trader of lag trading. No recording ever was provided. Earlier emails from FxTechTrade clearly stated that lag trading was not the issue. In the end, this appears to be a simple case of theft of profits.

Article about FxTechTrading.com

Original complaint against FxTechTrading

FPA Scam Finding against Fx Tech Trading


Forex-Swiss.com
A trader decided to close his FXCH account because of huge slippage above the amount allowable he set in his platform. After an excessive amount of time to get the withdrawal processed, some of the money wasn't delivered. When he complained, he got explanations that didn't add up. There was an account closure fee that was mentioned nowhere on the website. The FPA tried to assist and point out that even with these undocumented fees, the amount delivered to the trader was incorrect. Forex-Swiss threatened to start charging the trader and the FPA $50 per email if any further contacts were made and $500 for a scam finding. The FPA is waiting for the bill and wonders what the charge will be if Forex-Swiss wins a Forex Scam of the Year Award .

Article about Forex-Swiss

Original complaint against Forex Swiss

FPA Scam Finding against Forex-Swiss.com

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[Scam Investigations Committee]

Forex-Swiss is no longer eligible to win this award. The Scam Finding against them has been lifted.

Click here for more details.

 

[geoffrey]

Re: Forex-swiss No Longer Eligible For Election

It's incredible! I should praise them.

Please my candid advice to them is that they should struggle harder not even to be subsequently mentioned amongst those who are candidates for an award of such nature.