How to avoid getting scammed when buying forex products

How to avoid getting scammed when buying forex products

Before I give any other methods, let me state the 2 absolute most important things you need to avoid getting ripped off. These are EDUCATION and RESEARCH. If you don’t understand these, then the rest of the advice I’m about to give will not be nearly as useful.

Too many people get into forex with a dream of making big money very fast. Yes, it is possible to make a lot of money very quickly trading forex, but more than 90% of all traders lose. If you don’t educate yourself about forex trading, you WILL lose money, and you will lose it quickly. Educating yourself about forex trading won’t guarantee that you make money, but it will certainly slow your loses and arm you against the legions of people selling “You can get rich quick in forex if you’ll buy my product right now before I raise the price!” type products. A few of these are worthwhile, but most are not.

One very easy way to avoid getting ripped off is to not buy anything at first. If you are new to forex, you probably haven’t even decided if you want to scalp the 1 minute charts, trade the hourlies, swing trade, or carry trade. If you don’t know what these terms mean, put your wallet away and don’t buy anyone’s “guaranteed profits” products until you at least understand the basic terminology.

To get educated, there are many places you can go. Felix is adding educational sections to the FPA forums. Also, dig through the old postings in the various folders of the FPA’s forums. So many questions have been asked and answered. If you want to follow the Daily Trading Signals, visit the Daily Trading Signals archive and look at how Sir Pips not only predicts market reactions for the coming day, but also how he discusses what happened the day before. Once you’ve read through the collected wisdom of FPA’s forums, don’t forget to check the educational material on many other websites. Many brokers have basic forex courses available for free.

Whatever you do, don’t spend even 1 penny until you’ve gone through at least some of the tons of totally free material available on the FPA website and elsewhere on the web. There are plenty of people who will charge you anywhere from $10 up to many thousands of dollars for materials that turn out to be a low quality ebook or a painfully bad set of videos to cover the simplest material that you can easily find for free on the web.

Ok, assuming you’ve successfully educated yourself about the basics of forex trading, now you hopefully have some idea of how you would like to trade. Some people want to place a few trades per day (or only a few per week). Others want to make dozens of trades per day. If you haven’t found something for free on the web that suits your style, now is the time to consider shelling out some cash. Before spending anything, you should do some research.

A good place to start is FPA’s review pages for forex products and companies. New products come out every day, so you may see ads for things the FPA doesn’t have reviews for. If one of those products really tempts you, use the “Submit a Site” button from the correct category and one of the Review Moderators will probably create a page for it. You can also start a discussion thread in the “Has Anyone Heard Of?” discussions folder.

If you find something interesting that is reviewed, don’t buy it just because it has 4 or 5 stars. Read the reviews! Recently, there was a trading room with a 5 star rating that turned bad. FPA’s ratings are a simple average, and there were so many 5 star reviews that it took a long time for it to drop to 4 stars, and even longer for it to drop to 3 stars. If a product suddenly shifts from getting almost all 4 or 5 stars to almost all 1 or 2 stars, this is a pretty strong indicator that something has changed (and not for the better). Another reason to read reviews is that some reviewers are MUCH more informative than others. If someone has live-tested some software for 3 or 4 months, I’d personally give that person’s opinion a lot more weight than someone who used it for 3 days and then posted a 5 star rating with a promise of an update later.

Although I firmly believe that FPA’s ratings are the best on the web, it is not a bad idea to run a web search and see if other review sites and other forums have any additional information on a product.

Assuming you’ve done all of this, you aren’t quite done yet.

You’ll need to select a product that fits you. Some signals come at a certain time of day and are set and forget. Others can come at any time of day or night. One time I almost signed up for a very highly rated trading room, but then saw that they primarily traded the London open (which is the middle of the night for me). Some trading methods are profitable, but have very large drawdowns that might be a bit too stressful for some traders (like me!). Some software only works with MetaTrader. If your broker uses it, fine. If not, then you will have issues. Even if it is a great product, you’ll waste your money if it doesn’t fit your schedule and trading style.

A little work with a whois site can show you how long a website has been around. Be very cautious if a website has endorsements claiming that a product has been successful for years when the product’s website only hit the market a few months ago. This doesn’t guarantee that the product is a scam, but it is a major reason to be cautious and ask a lot more questions before buying the product.

See if the product has any sort of performance record. Some do, some don’t. Remember, even if it has a record that is independently audited (definitely a plus), your results will still vary depending on your exact entries, exits, and spreads. If you don’t believe this, read where I report my results from testing signals from Intelli4x.com. Overall, I’ve usually been very lucky and do better than the “official” profit reports (but sometimes, it goes the other way and I make less). Your broker’s spreads, as well as your exact entries and exits will make it almost impossible to match even a 100% accurate performance record pip for pip. If there is a performance record, see if any reviewers have made comments on how accurate or inaccurate it is.

Check and see if there is a moneyback guarantee. If you contact the company and they say they’ve never had anyone ask for their money back, ask them why they don’t offer a guarantee since this should put them at no risk if they are telling the truth. Anyone claim that a moneyback guarantee isn’t needed because everyone has always loved the product should be a major red flag. There are some products that cost many thousands of dollars that have absolutely no guarantee. Maybe these products are good, maybe they aren’t. I’m not going to risk my money to find out.

If there is a guarantee, check the reviews to see if there have been any issues getting money returned. Sometimes a return takes awhile, but it should happen. Also, read the terms of the guarantee. Some EAs will only give you your money back if you show them a live account statement for an extended period. Even trading nanolots, this could easily cost you more than the price of the EA. If they won’t accept a demo statement showing it’s not profitable for a refund, think very carefully before buying it. Also, beware of guarantees that just don’t give you enough time to fully evaluate the product.

Free trial periods are also good. Like guarantees, they need to be long enough to evaluate the product. For most signals services, trading rooms, and strategies, I’d say that 2 weeks should be the absolute minimum for a free trial or guarantee.

Consider the price. If you can barely scrape up $500 to start your forex trading career, then spending $100 or more a month on a forex signals service or a trading room probably won’t be a winning proposition for you. Buying a $1500 education and strategy course would also not be the best idea if you are doing forex on a budget. Unfortunately, in the forex world, price and quality are not tightly linked. There are products ranging from complete scams all the way up to amazingly well performing ones in all price ranges.

I hate to mention this, because this may tend to unfairly condemn some very good products. Look and see if the product has an affiliate program. Products that pay customers (or even non-customers) a large commission to resell the product tend to get very high reviews. Some of these reviews may be 100% legitimate, but some may be from people who are much more concerned with their ability to point out how well rated the product is so that they can sell it to others. Some products offer commissions as high as 75% of the price of the product. If the commission is that high, you have to take the 5 star reviews with a very large grain of salt. I see absolutely nothing wrong with getting a cut if I love a product and introduce a friend to it, but when the cut starts to get too big, I worry about the accuracy of reviews here and other info elsewhere on the web. I’m sure some of these products are great, but it is so much harder to get unbiased opinions of them.

OK, let’s assume you’ve found a product that meets your needs, fits your price range, is well rated, has nothing suspicious in its reviews, has a good guarantee and/or free trial period, and doesn’t have any other extensive negatives. This is good. You probably aren’t going to get ripped off. Congrats, your potential purchase has cleared the initial scam avoidance test, but there’s still a lot more you can do to protect yourself.

Email some questions to customer support and see how long it takes for them to answer (or if they answer at all). Some products don’t really need a lot of support, but others are very complex. If you can’t get an answer out of a company before giving them money, they aren’t too likely to trouble themselves over you once they have your money in their bank account. Check and see if they’ve got a contact phone number. If so, give them a quick call, just to make sure it is a real number.

Consider carefully how you make your purchase. It’s nice when a company offers you multiple ways to pay, but some payment methods offer better protection than others. Wire transfer really isn’t much better than handing someone an envelope full of cash. Unless you can prove fraud in a courtroom, you are not likely to be able to get money back from a wire transfer if a company’s product fails to perform and they aren’t willing give a refund. As far as various e-currencies and e-metals, I don’t have any information about what sort of dispute resolution or fraud protection they do or don’t offer. PayPal does offer some buyer protection, but sometimes places too high of standards of proof on the purchaser (as one of our members found out when he bought an EA that didn’t work as he expected). So, what does this leave?

Overall, I have had excellent results with credit cards. This may vary a bit depending on the issuing bank, but Visa and MasterCard both impose very high standards on the banks, and can be contacted directly if the issuing bank gets lazy. Another very useful bit of information is that you can often request a chargeback when complaining about something bought with a credit card. Chargebacks cost the company you are complaining about a penalty in addition to the amount that is refunded to you. Make sure to explain why you are requesting a chargeback. Valid reasons would be things like the company failing to deliver the product, failing to honor a moneyback guarantee, or a product description that is so innacurate that it could be could be considered fraudulent.

Products sold via ClickBank come with a default 8 week guarantee. Sellers may offer guarantees beyond this, but can’t have anything less than 8 weeks from the initial purchase (recurring subscriptions are a little more complicated). Products offered via ClickBank and paid for with PayPal or a credit card would then give you 2 layers of consumer protection.

If you get a product or service with recurring billing, make sure to CC at least one of your own email addresses if when you sent the email to cancel (don’t even think of only telling someone to cancel via the phone or in a chat – email and request an acknowledgment). That will give you a copy of the email with all headers, thus giving more proof that you did email the cancellation in time. Make sure to send you cancellation to all the addresses you have for the company (and again, request an acknowledgment). If you do get charged after canceling, don’t scream scam right away. Contact the company first and give them a week to fix it. If they don’t, then it’s time to talk to your credit card company, ClickBank, or PayPal.

I can’t promise that following all of this advice will save you from being scammed 100% of the time. If you do follow my recommendations, you should improve your odds of not wasting your valuable time (and money!) on the products that aren’t right for you or are scam. Also, you should have a better chance of recovering your money of you do get caught in a scam.

Don’t forget. With any new software, trading room, strategy, or signals service, test them with a demo account and then a very small amount of cash at first. Read my article on Risk Management for more details.

Author Profile

Pharaoh

Pharaoh

Pharaoh is one of the FPA's oldest members (he claims to be about 4000 years old, but we think he's exaggerating a little). He says he created the world's first trading pair (Cow/Goat) while ruling ancient Egypt. Although there are no archeological or historical records to support this claim, we can't find anything to disprove it. Although he's not as active at the FPA as he used to be, he still holds the highest post count of all FPA members.

We don't understand how he does it, but Pharaoh has an uncanny ability to spot scams faster than anyone else we've seen. He claims to have known a number of companies were HYIP scams just by their domain names and that each time an examination of the website proved him right. He's also famous inside Forex Peace Army for warning about Ponzi schemes, even ones run by large and well established companies. He's been in a number of threads trying to warn people away from active Ponzi schemes. In spite of the efforts of shills and those gullible enough to believe in free money to discredit his words, he keeps up the warnings. In each case, the company ended up either disappearing with all client money or being shut down by the authorities.

In addition to investigating scams, Pharaoh has written a number of articles on a wide rage of trading topics, including forex broker selection, risk management, and how to select a good account manager. He's also covered other items of interest to traders, such as protecting wealth and purchasing precious metals.

Pharaoh claims to be a business consultant, but says he makes most of his income by running a globe-spanning hamster smuggling operation. If we are to believe him, he's currently working on a network of hamster tunnels under southern Europe.

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4236 Views 86 Comments

Comments

F
fxtender
15 years ago,
Registered user
scams?

scams? most of us are here to make some money...at least it's probably a second priority if not the first. So are most of the people SELLING thier products/services.

before you buy, walk away for a few minutes, close your eyes and 'plug' your ears. don't let anything in espicially your 'visions' of a wealthy you! ask yourself...do you really need this? yea, you just don't understand what's going on and this will help? why don't you research it first? read all you can from various points on the internet. put together an outline, draw some conclusions from your own intelligent mind. you'll be amazed what you learn. if you don't want to put forward the effort YOU WILL never buy your way to the top!
D
davidpriede
15 years ago,
Registered user
Other sound advice

Very good advice in the area of keeping your hard earned money where it belongs: your account.

A few months ago I found this article. I apologize for not providing the reference to the source, but all the same, I hope you get some sound advice.

"I’ve been a victim of Expert Advisor and such software scammers before, and I strongly believe that the below guidelines will help in seperating the scammers from those who are trustworthy.

The seller of the Software or expet advisor must :

1. Be the creator of the Expert Advisor. he should be responsive to emails and must be able to articulate on the Expert Advisor’s strategy without the need of a purchase.

2. Have a proper website that lists the kind of after-sales support that he offers. a minimum would be an email address. ‘free upgrades’ are also good, as it’s a sign that the seller is committed in his business, and that he appreciates the fact that Expert Advisors must constantly evolve to stay profitable in an ever-changing market.

3. Provide a demo version for forward-testing, or have a live demo running where everyone can see the trades or statement (either on a website that’s being updated constantly, or by providing a read-only login ID and password like what i’ve done for my forward-tests). the minimum would be a forward-test statement that spans no lesser than 1 month and no older than 1 week. back-test statements, in my opinion, are worthless.

I believe the above requirements are not unreasonable.

"We cannot blame Expert Advisor sellers for not providing the above. we can only blame ourselves for not doing our due diligence before parting with our money."

Wasted money on a non-performing Expert Advisor is forgivable, but losing one’s trading capital by using a bad Expert Advisor is just plain irresponsible.

That’s said, whether an Expert Advisor is good or bad is also, to a certain extent, subjective. 2 investors with the same Expert Advisor, trading the same pair, same settings and timeframe may have very different results.

Understanding how an Expert Advisor ot other software works is KEY for anyone who intends to trade with it. it’s important to know the strengths and weaknesses of the software or Expert Advisor. the investor should know when to let the system ride out the storm on a losing trade, and also when to manually interveen to cut the losses short.

Knowing when to disable the Expert Advisor is also very important. Leaving open trades over weekends and letting it trade through a major new event are just 2 instances that could make or break an account.

Having good communications with the Expert Advisor creator is also critical, especially when you have doubts and queries on why the Expert Advisor is behaving in a certain way. an online forum where the customers can interact with the creator would be ideal.

I hope the above guidelines have been helpful. if you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to PM me.

Let the scammers beware!!
C
Cyclon
15 years ago,
Registered user
Another Great Article

Another Great Article

Pharoah, I just want to know where I send my $39.95 for this great ebook. Once again the coverage of the topic is top shelf. Thanks.

It is not only a good step by step but the reader knows exactly where the responsibility lies for their purchase and results. Having an offering of my own I can not tell you how much I believe this approach improves the integrity of the whole spectrum of the forex trading community. I would not underestimate the value of this effort. It will no doubt save countless thousands of dollars (or euros, etc.) over time.

Cheers,
Cyclon
P
Pharaoh
15 years ago,
Registered user
Fxtender and David,

Thanks for the additional input on the issue. No matter how much time I spend prepping an article, I won't remember everything.

Cyclon,

Let me get a couple more articles written. I'd feel bad getting $39.95 for only 2 of them.
:D
P
pcindia
15 years ago,
Registered user
advice here

Nice article, thanks.

THE ONLY ADDITIONAL SUGGESTION I WOULD MAKE IS THAT THE PEOPLE TO COME ON FPA ARE ALREADY EXPERIENCED, AWARE AND CAUTIOUS TRADERS.THE NEWBIES USUALLY TAKE A LONG TIME TO REACH THIS WEBSITE BEFORE SPENDING MONTHS ON OTHER FOREX FORUMS.

IF THIS ARTICLE CAN BE DISTRIBUTED ON A FEW OTHER FORUMS ALSO, THEN THE REAL PURPOSE WILL BE SOLVED. FPA ALSO WILL GET ADDITIONAL PUBLICITY.

BEST REGARDS
J
Jerry Jasper
15 years ago,
Registered user
Appreciation

I just want to commend you Felix for this good work you and your team are doing, i pray we are able to do business together later in life, because youare really doing a great job. You don't know how releave you made people out here.

Thanks ones again.

Jerry
F
fosters
15 years ago,
Registered user
> Nice article, thanks.

THE ONLY ADDITIONAL SUGGESTION I WOULD MAKE IS THAT THE PEOPLE TO COME ON FPA ARE ALREADY EXPERIENCED, AWARE AND CAUTIOUS TRADERS.THE NEWBIES USUALLY TAKE A LONG TIME TO R..

So do we have permission to quote this article in other forums?
P
Pharaoh
15 years ago,
Registered user
Quote away. Please include a link back to the original article here so that people can see some of the good suggestions made by the people reading it and also any of my lame answers to questions.
:D
R
realsbd
15 years ago,
Registered user
this site is really the best i have ver seen

Hello Pharaoh i appreciate everything you have been doing since all this while and i thank you for making something like this available for people who are not really good in browsing
M
Millionaire
15 years ago,
Registered user
I appreciate all your efforts and articles Pharoa, It's full by wisdom & experience.
For me when I was trying to educate my self in Forex I didn't think that I'll be scammed with products, services, signals etc...but depand on an admin in another forum who recommended one website as it'll give me tons of learning stuff I joined that site without making any reserch, until now I'm crying for that money I paid and decided again not to join any scam or non scam payable product.

Thanks again for all your help

Regards,
D
dukelady
15 years ago,
Registered user
Newbie Appreciates Advice, Guidance

Pharaoh,

Thank you for your expert advice. As a widowed mother, I've already wasted untold thousands on "work-at-home" biz opps since my husband's death in an effort to generate an income from home and be there for our son.

Although I've been looking at Forex for some time, I've yet to spend money on any product or EA, so I'd appreciate some more detailed advice regarding where to go to do the research and get the education needed to trade effectively. I don't know the terminology and consider my self a "raw" newbie.:confused:

For instance, what EA and brokerage do you use? I am located in Atlanta, Georgia, US. Is it possible to let a forex account run mostly on autopilot, with daily monitoring?

While I await your reply, I will be perusing this website in depth to learn as much as possible.

It's great to find someone who has the experience and knowledge I am seeking!

Thanks again,
Ann
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Pharaoh
15 years ago,
Registered user
I'm not currently using any EAs. There are a few I've been thinking about for awhile, but I'm not ready to turn one loose with my money. I would also want to run an EA from a remotely hosted computer. This would mean that it wouldn't be a drag on my trading computer and I wouldn't have to worry about what happens when my internet connection decides to take an unscheduled holiday on me.
J
jaygee1
15 years ago,
Registered user
Pharaoh The King

I quite appreciate all pharaoh's writes up and we should all know that it's not easy putting money where our mouth is not. FOREX needs patience and sound understanding. Persons like Pharaoh are needed in my country - Nigeria ...lol
J
Janethjack
15 years ago,
Registered user
before paying I’m used to explore deeply who’ll take my money. Stealing by internet became an usual way for lose the money. Investing with well ranked brokers is the best way to avoid this kind of issues but it costs much more. Fortunately there are more brokers not that famous in this network but also offering safe services, I’m saying about my case. Janeth
V
vanes7
15 years ago,
Registered user
I totally agree, before investing it is important to check how they work. There are also cases when managing accounts and this kind of services don’t work too well. That is why I prefer simple ways investing. At the moment I’m trading on a demo from Tradeviewforex and I’ve heard many times about how well they work, now I’m proving it
V
vans22
14 years ago,
Registered user
Thank you very much for your very informative post...I'm sure there are a lot of other folks out there who will also benefit from this information.Take care & God Bless!!!
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ernest8fingers
14 years ago,
Registered user
Great Advice to all EA prospects

> Very good advice in the area of keeping your hard earned money where it belongs: your account.

A few months ago I found this article. I apologize for not providing the reference to the source, but al..

This post (and Thread Starter Pharaoh) says it all.

A free (restricted) Demo version w/o time limits to ensure prospective buyers are fully confident with software BEFORE going live and risking real money is the way ALL EA's should be offered-IMHO.
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elah024
14 years ago,
Registered user
hi there!

all the helpful posts that you've been doing all this time surely helps a lot. especially to us beginners in this kind of industry. keep it up!
V
vans22
14 years ago,
Registered user
How to avoid getting scammed when buying forex products


by Pharaoh


Before I give any other methods, let me state the 2 absolute most important things you need to avoid getting ripped off. The..

:)Thank you very much for this wonderful insight you have here , or should I say wonderful warning especially to the newbies like me .:D
E
elah024
14 years ago,
Registered user
how will you know if you're getting scammed already?
P
Pharaoh
14 years ago,
Registered user
> how will you know if you're getting scammed already?

Your money is improperly taken from you. :D
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elah024
14 years ago,
Registered user
oh yes i know. but you won't be able to notice that at first right? only when too much was taken from you already. what I'm trying to say is, how will we know that we're being scammed before we lose too much?
P
Pharaoh
14 years ago,
Registered user
It's easier to tell with products than brokers. You buy some "guaranteed no loss" system that keeps losing. You contact support, and they either don't reply or give answers that don't help. Eventually, you ask for a refund and nothing happens.

Brokers are harder, since they can shave a pip here and there without you being too likely to notice or complain.

Do note that if the product is sold from ClickBank or Plimus, the refunds are also almost always given through ClickBank or Plimus.
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elah024
14 years ago,
Registered user
hmmm.. ok. so where does the profit go for those who got scammed?
P
Pharaoh
14 years ago,
Registered user
Logic suggests that if the scam is successful, the profit goes to the scammers. :D
V
vans22
14 years ago,
Registered user
> Hello Pharaoh i appreciate everything you have been doing since all this while and i thank you for making something like this available for people who are not really good in browsing

Hi there.I have also been helped by pharaoh many many times from his advises that I think are all based on his past experiences.Thanks Pharaoh!:D:D:D
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elah024
14 years ago,
Registered user
> Hi there.I have also been helped by pharaoh many many times from his advises that I think are all based on his past experiences.Thanks Pharaoh!:D:D:D

how could he not have many ideas? he started to know how trading works when he's only 6 something. and not to mention his experiences in different kinds of fields. thats what made him a guru to this thing. ;)
A
avaya1386
14 years ago,
Registered user
Another helpful post. Really appreciate it Pharaoh. I did forget that there is a review section here in FPA, Must proceed to read further.
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elah024
14 years ago,
Registered user
yes. i think pharaoh has a lot of good ideas that a beginner should at least comprehend before making a start to the real one. you know what i mean..
A
ausus
14 years ago,
Registered user
IvyBot is a scam

I disabled my account so the IvyBot can not touch my account anymore, then requested refund from clickbank. IvyBot is a scam! I put 5k and lost 25% in four days. Their phone is only for taking messages and no response for emails.
P
Pharaoh
14 years ago,
Registered user
Did you miss the advice about testing things on demo or only using very small amounts of money? Throwing $5k at a bot you haven't carefully tested first is a very bad idea.
B
buenafx
14 years ago,
Registered user
Thanks for the introduction

Hello Senior Officers!

Thanks for the advice, it really helps me allot. I'm new at trading and just started a 3 month ago on a real account. I lost almost all of the capital, because some small FX education center failed to give me adequate knowledge. The catch line is a week of training, and get rich! Well all they do in a week is give us lesson using a out of platform PIVOT calculator (Which I just new what was a pivot was after search on FPA's website), which actual they named literally the software, “the get rich software” Now I’m on a demo learning step by step, can anyone help me on FX...I need a "mentor"..
Thanks

buenafx
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Pharaoh
14 years ago,
Registered user
We don't have a lot of "mentors" here in the forums, but ask some questions in General Forex Talk and you've got a good chance of getting some useful answers.
D
DAVENCEES
13 years ago,
Registered user
Just Thanks


How to avoid getting scammed when buying forex products


by Pharaoh


Before I give any other methods, let me state the 2 absolute most important things you need to avoid getting ripped off. The..

Just wanted to say thanks before it was too late for me to get taken. It is hard enough starting an account with $500 and using 1-2% risk management.
I really need some help with charting/parameters/ which indicators are most commonly used. I will continue research. I am giving trading a miss for the rest of the tax year, as I have lost AND gambled over 7k. I will now be wary of paying for trading rooms etc
W
whitney01
13 years ago,
Registered user
hi,

all the things you said were true. what you shared are very helpful information to those people who are new in Forex and to those people who are planning to join or buy forex products because this time there are many scammed. so everyone must be very careful.

thanks,
T
taufic
13 years ago,
Registered user
my reasearch really helps to determine whether a forex tool is needed or not
1
1954
13 years ago,
Registered user
Hei Buenafx,
I suggest you try demo for 6 months on one currency. Keep all records. Understand why you win or lose. Experiment transactions with diffeent time frames. Love forex like what you do to your girl friend or baby.
Wish you all the best.
K
Kevin Mills
13 years ago,
Registered user
Very good advice there guys, thank you!
F
forexclues
13 years ago,
Registered user
one of the best advice

:)

thanks for doing a great job pharoah

i wish i was right at the beginning of this forum

:)
T
TromS
13 years ago,
Registered user
all the forex is definitely full of scams and fake products and for me it was very much difficult to find out what is really worth buying (or working with). Of course this experience cost a lot of time and money for me... but it nothing to do about...
S
Steven_Smith
13 years ago,
Registered user
Thank you, Pharaoh!

Now i'm in process of searching profitable forex system and i don't wanna pay for scam system.
A lot of tips for newbie traders!
V
Vito_C.
13 years ago,
Registered user
I was reading nice opinion at other forex forum, that mostly from the systems which are offered now are scamm. And a real good once costs above 1k.
But in this case all the industry would be dead and not exists basicaly.
S
Steven_Smith
13 years ago,
Registered user
> all the forex is definitely full of scams and fake products and for me it was very much difficult to find out what is really worth buying (or working with). Of course this experience cost a lot of tim..

You should try every system by yourself and choose one that fitting you.
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FrankyW
13 years ago,
Registered user
Not only try but also read all positive and negative feedback than make a decision.
C
Claudia Sheeks
13 years ago,
Registered user
Thank you for the advice, very helpful. Ive made tremendous research and ive decided to take a Forex Course. I found a course where the reviews are pretty decent ill be trying that out. Thanks a lot! :)
A
Amanda_pips
12 years ago,
Registered user
Very good article, I am learning too much here
H
hayder13
12 years ago,
Registered user
thanx alot for information
C
Capitcho
12 years ago,
Registered user
Thank you!

Long life to Pharaoh!
F
F0r3x123
12 years ago,
Registered user
In my opinion, if someone has to win, someone has to loose.
And I agree totally with you that most people come to Forex believing they can make billions in a few time. Patience is the key.
J
jonny_ko
12 years ago,
Registered user
buying only 30 days money back policy

> In my opinion, if someone has to win, someone has to loose.
And I agree totally with you that most people come to Forex believing they can make billions in a few time. Patience is the key.

I would only buy a robot, if they do offer the "30 days money back guarantee"
About how to test the new robot, i will make few trials on demo, note down the results
and later on try it with real money on a micro account"
E
ewan_savage
11 years ago,
Registered user
New to the forum, hi to all, great thread and suggestions for a complete n00b like me. This forum came highly recommended.
C
Capitcho
11 years ago,
Registered user
In my opinion the main rule is look for (reliably) reviews.

FPA is a very useful tool.
S
SCG
11 years ago,
Registered user
Very informative...especially the part about using credit cards (or similar) method to fund the account, at least the unexpected trader has some recourse. Also, fully agree that knowledge is power, so the more you know the less likely you'll be caught.
S
sassysandra
11 years ago,
Registered user
What I do is always make sure that I only use Paypal to buy stuff online. I have used credit cards before however if there is any problem it taker forever to resolve.
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Pharaoh
11 years ago,
Registered user
From what I've read here in the forums, PayPal has a very poor record of enforcing refunds for digital products. At best, you've got a 20-30% chance, which at least is better than a 0% chance. Usually, the best you can hope for is that if enough people complain, a scammer's paypal account will be shut down.
L
ladytrader
11 years ago,
Registered user
I've used paypal in some of my businesses and I have to say that a single dispute is enough to stop the whole thing and interrupting services. It's very annoying, specially when the disputes are not fair. However ita true that paypal almost every tome agrees with the vendor, but that time of being stopped because of a complaint has cost me some good money, so its no little thing.
S
SilverOne
11 years ago,
Registered user
If you want to avoid scam forex products be careful when you find a lot of good posts about this products. You have to check every word before belive in this. There are a lot of scammers in the world and a lot of information in the internet, you have to analyse everything you read.
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perryfx
11 years ago,
Registered user
Most of the people not earning from trading forex but from selling various crap. There are so many holy grail available on the internet. It is really hard to find reliable products. For an example if those trading systems can give 100 - 150 pips per day why the sellers do not trading ? However it is important to investigate everything before purchase any forex product.
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Nick McDonald
10 years ago,
Registered user
I'm a forex vendor as well as being a past forex customer.

I spend a large part of my day researching competing businesses and trying to improve my own business(I have a free trading room as well as a signal copier service).

Rather than focusing on the obvious points that have already been covered on this thread such as making sure the vendor has a verified account and they have a refund policy I'd rather look at some other red flags that you might not have thought of.

1. Does the website look like it's been designed by a 12 year old?
I see many vendor that will have a verified account with 3 months of impressive history and they have decided to try their hand at being a forex vendor. Typically they don't want to spend the $200 to have the design outsourced, so they use their best Microsoft Frontpage skills and put together a nice flat home page that looks like garbage. If a vendor doesn't want to spend a few hundred dollars getting their home page looking professional then this is a big red flag for me.

2. Test their support response time
Do they have an email address? If they don't then stop right here... However if they do offer an email for support queries make sure you test it out. Ask them a question about the strategy or query their results. Anything that prompts a reply. You should get a response within 24hrs, and I prefer to an actual reply with a signatory rather than a 1 line answer.

3. Do they promise wealth?
if they have a picture of a large home and fast car on their site? This isn't so much a rule as an observation that when a vendor promises the world it normally means the product is a piece of junk.

Just my two cents :)
P
Pharaoh
10 years ago,
Registered user
What? You mean I shouldn't believe all those pictures of sports cars, large houses, and yachts filled with bikini-clad supermodels?
Q
quicksilver
10 years ago,
Registered user
Interesting discussion and I think it is needed. As we have new brokers popping up every day advertising 'Trade the trillion $$ industry' it becomes easy to target people from different backgrounds. One group might be frustrated with their work hours:pay, another group might be facing financial problems and looking for easy way out, etc etc.

When it comes to forex, my personal experience is that there are distinctive cycles one has to go through (one wouldn't know how dangerous fire is, unless they got burnt), and the phase of buying in tools/forex courses is one of them.

I want to add some more points.

Trading Indicators/EA's:
In most cases, the system/indicators you are being sold is just a revamped (smoothed out, made nice) version of the many default indicators that are already available. They are either built on MA's, MACD, RSI, Stochs etc, but programmed to make it look more visually appealing. If you don't understand the basic indicators, chances are despite the purchase, it won't do you any good.

Refunds:
The buyer and the seller here have valid concerns. Buyer wants a refund because he either didn't understand the system or doesn't fit his style. Seller wants to protect himself from fraudulent refunds. Before purchasing, read up on as much info as possible on the indicator (if the vendor offers that info. If they don't, you are most likely getting scammed). The best bots/indicators are those that come with 'activation keys' it shows that the developer/vendor has taken time to build a good system. This also means that for legit buyers, you can expect refunds because the vendor simply has to switch off your act. key.

Most of the paid indicators/systems work: As long as you follow the rules, which means staying away until all the conditions are met. But this isn't the case because we have that little nagging voice telling us, BUY or SELL now the moment there is a big red or green candle being formed. Also, the moment the system produces couple of losses, we give up on it and go back to hunting new strategies/systems.

Fitting equity curves and nice BUY/SELL arrows:
If you have been trading for a while, you would know that when you look back, you will find some nice trade set ups and it would make you believe that the trading system is awesome. Switch to real time charts and live environment and its a different story.

Just because Stochs lines crossed each other and moved below 80, doesn't guarantee price is falling. There is an equally good chance that the price might move right back up.

Money/Risk Management - What they usually won't tell you:
The lot size you open, your equity, your risked amount all play a role. If you think you can just open 0.1 lot when MA's cross over and think it will make you profits you are wrong. You can have the best system in the world, but if you do not know how to manage your trade/money no one can help you. Everyone takes a loss in trading, its how you minimize your losses and increase your profitable pips is what sets aside successful traders.

Understand the basics first: The biggest and most important indicators in forex are the price candles. If you do not understand that (price action) then you need to shut off your terminal, get a book and understand the basics. Most people tend to clutter their charts with tons of indicators to the point that you can hardly see the candles being formed.

Instead of wasting money on indicators, go to Amazon and pick up books from authors such as Gann/L. Williams/J. Murphy/Babson/Alan Andrews and many more. These are the real gurus of forex, and most of them started trading during times when they had to manually calculate pivot points and had to plot out trend lines on a chart using a pen and scale, as compared to modern day MT4's/Tradestations/Ninja trader and the likes.
W
Whitesnake
10 years ago,
Registered user
When we see something which is too good to be true then certainly that would be too good to be true and better to avoid falling prey for such crap products. There are many free resources which provides more useful information use those to protect yourself from such scams.
J
Jeffpark
10 years ago,
Registered user
Hi Pharaoh,

Just one quick comment. Clickbank billed me for a product I had not ordered,; they had my CC details from an earlier transaction. I got my money back oin not too long a time, but meanwhile found that Clickbank are not regulated by any authority - at least I could not find one & they certainly have no European/UK regulation. So I have decided never to use them again.

Regards

Jeff
P
Pharaoh
10 years ago,
Registered user
Clickbank is unlikely to spontaneously bill you. I can think of 2 possible explanations.

1. A vendor you had previously dealt with decided to try to illegally slip in some extra sales on a new product.

2. A vendor you had previously dealt with had some fine print about a subscription or other trial period. For example, you were lead to believe that $4.95 was the price of something and bought it. The fine print indicated that there would be either a recurring billing or a single followup payment later. Sadly, I've seen too many companies go to great lengths to mislead clients about additional possible payments.

In any event, I recommend contacting Clickbank's abuse department and asking how this happened.
L
Leighuber
10 years ago,
Registered user
How to avoid getting scammed when buying forex products


by Pharaoh



Best advice I have seen in a very long time!!! ;)
W
Whitesnake
10 years ago,
Registered user
Its always worth the time spent to read this thread which is very much informative and throws light on the key points which should be considered by the investors so that they can avoid getting scammed.
M
Marcus5799
10 years ago,
Registered user
Thank you for starting this thread Pharoah. Some very good advice.
G
Gennietrader
10 years ago,
Registered user
I like HYPE-Up product, because they give you hopes and dreams...
But most of the time, it is just too good to be true!

Thanks Pharoah for the great post!
F
fxapex
10 years ago,
Registered user
it has been a very useful bit of information, thanks for sharing...
N
nence
10 years ago,
Registered user
How to avoid getting scammed when buying forex products


by Pharaoh


Before I give any other methods, let me state the 2 absolute most important things you need to avoid getting ripped off. The..

5 years later, there are still newbies that find post this extremely helpful... Thanks;)
D
Dewey
9 years ago,
Registered user
I have pretty much given-up on Forex because it became obvious how unlikely it would be to consistently be a winning retail trader; its often said that 98% of all traders are consistent losers. If you spend enough time around these sites and learn about market makers, stop hunting, slippage, spread spikes and countless other things that are against the retail trader you begin to appreciate why it's almost impossible to be a winner. When I came to Forex I was a very good coder so leaning MT4 was quick and fun. Within a short period I was able to develop EAs for any strategy I wanted. That's when I learned about strategies being successful on demo accounts and being losers on real accounts. The point is that at each level of trading you learn why it doesn't work and how the brokers defeat the retail trader. In the end, it's just theft. I'm disappointed because I didn't see it before investing so much time learning everything. If I knew I would be at the mercy of thieves I wouldn't have bothered.

Let me put another scenario to you and suggest you look at it as a metaphor. What do you think is the likelihood of being able to find a steal in real estate and picking it up through a realtor? Before you answer that let me ask you why the realtor wouldn't buy it himself and flip it if it's such a steal? Do you really believe you can routinely beat the insiders of any industry if they're not idiots? Why is Forex any different? Do you believe you're smarter than the brokers? If they are setting the rules and controlling your trades through their platform would they allow you to consistently beat them at their own game? The best you could hope for is them telling you to take your business elsewhere. More likely though they will drain your account by hunting stops, spiking spreads, ... that's why it's often said "your broker will only make you broker."
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Pharaoh
9 years ago,
Registered user
When testing any trading method on a demo, you must remember that a real account is facing real market liquidity issues (in the case if a good broker) or fake market manipulation (in the case of a bad broker). Either way, if a pip or two of slippage on most entries and exits would turn your demo profits into losses, that's what's likely to happen on a live account.

Being careful in selecting your broker is covered here:


https://www.forexpeacearmy.com/community/threads/how-to-select-a-forex-broker.2333/


Without a good broker, it really doesn't matter if you've found the best forex training, trading system, EA, etc. A bad broker will find ways to reduce or eliminate your ability to make, keep, and withdraw your profits.

Definitely don't ever let a broker "manage" your account for you. The Scam Alerts Folder is full of sad stories of brokers promising profits and wiping out accounts. Learn to trade for yourself or else read my article on finding a good account manager:

https://www.forexpeacearmy.com/community/threads/how-not-to-lose-all-your-money-with-a-managed-forex-account.2407/
S
sohagm700
9 years ago,
Registered user
Another great article

Pharaoh, the great ebook I just want to know where you are going to send $ 39.95. Again, the issue of coverage is optimal. Thank you.

This is just a step in a good step, but the reader is supplied and know exactly who is responsible for the results. I must offer this approach to improve the accuracy of the whole spectrum of the forex community so I can not say what I think. I do not underestimate the value of this work. This is not guaranteed once the dollar (or euro, etc.) will save you countless sand.

, Cheers
K
Kristjan
9 years ago,
Registered user
A product claiming to make you rich fast is always a scam. I have not yet seen a legitimately helpful product that would dare to make such claims. If you think about it for a second, it makes a lot of sense too. If I'd have a secret that would help me make a lot of money with little to no effort, I wouldn't sell that secret for pennies.
T
therdup
9 years ago,
Registered user
Merci pour toutes ces informations et ces bon conseils ! Je suis d'accord avec le fait de dire que les solutions miracles n'existent pas, il faut au contraire s'en méfier !
R
Riddik
9 years ago,
Registered user
1.) If The Offer Sounds Too Good To Be True It Probably Is

There are many trading systems out there that promise an automatic trading robot which trades for you and makes money every time, this is simply unrealistic. While there are many effective signal services out there, many of these "robots" are pure scams looking to take your money. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

2.) Check For Income Proof

Only effective, proven trading systems have income proof on their site. Check for income proof as this is usually a good sign a company stands behind it's product and is willing to prove it. However please be advised that income proof doesn't guarantee a trading systems authenticity, it just increases the chances that the system is legit.

3.) Read Expert Reviews

It's always best to search for unbiased expert reviews on products before actually trying them. Many free reviews can be found on Forex forums, blogs or at independent review sites which provide lists of the top trading systems on the market. Reading reviews can not only save you from a scam but it can also help you determine which trading system fits your specific Forex needs and which ones may fall short.

By following these 3 simple, yet very important, steps, you can avoid a scam while increasing your chances of success in the lucrative Forex market.
H
HotIce
9 years ago,
Registered user
It is so difficult to make difference between a genuine product and a scam one. Every company offers so many things or says promise but hardly delivers. The best thing we can do is to use products that is there for some period at least 4-6 months because a new product is more likely to scam if it’s not back by large company so we should be patience and see for some months if they can maintain themselves and if that works then we can start off.
N
NicholasM
9 years ago,
Registered user
> It is so difficult to make difference between a genuine product and a scam one. Every company offers so many things or says promise but hardly delivers. The best thing we can do is to use products tha..

I agree that it is important to go for that which is proven. I have seen year old companies scam people and very mew companies deliver amazing products. Therefore the time the company has existed in the market may not be the one and only item to look at when evaluating a product. I think one of the best ways is to check out reviews on websites such as FPA to see whether there are any scam reports about the product.
F
FraudKiller
7 years ago,
Registered user
FPA needs to find a way to get its name out so it can act as prevention rather than the cure (not easy, but very important).

I beleive all CFDs and Forex products should be limited to "Sophisticated Investors" and I'f heard that the regulators think the same way. I should imagine the banksters are making too many billions to shut down the Forext money machine just now.
X
Xitrade
7 years ago,
Registered user
The basic steep is the knowledge and use the common sense.
All the world is turning on most aspects more freelly , on a lot of others aspects is turning with a big jump back. Forex , all markets , banks , business are today's changing forward too much fast and obviously the big powers can't control all like just time ago . Society , prejuices .... writted laws , see what the neighbour is doing , the news on tv , the films , the rest of people you know. What they are doing ? . Sincerely you thinking that the people that are making money are "Sophisticated investors or the cleverest people on banks and institutions" ? omg , so far so wrong . Years ago fews computers and very expensives , today all the power of hundreds ones in a hand. Banks ? today they're on internet or dieing ... other business ... way of life ... the same. I thinking sincerely that people changes , world changes like a wave and the empires changing too , the most big ones have nothing guaranteed (read all the old empires in books and think a little).
It's my basic idea about the world , business , forex and all the rest are the same. Who's thinking that go in the way that all the "old" society try teach us just we born will make us free and prosper people ? . Think about it: society , work , university ... it's the way ? for conquer what ? a way for serve others and change on the best case our work for few money ? . I can't make all people change this perception about the life but surely if you now thinking that all the people that are inside "sects" are crazy and unmature u're right, but now i ask you ... are you sure the ideas and knowledge all the legal institutions teach you aren't a sect ? not ? yes ? . Then use your common sense and ull become an expert for make money with no serve the others , try change your chip for get the money directly and become clever with yourself learning with yourself with the scientific method and ull get the necessary knowledge for become free from yourself . That's nothing to doo with be clever and a high graduated on harward nothing comparable , graduateds on harward are only the best sheeps for play , the clever people like Einstein and others aren't specials , only see the world in a different way and trust only in yourselfs. Forex ? learn with few money ... slowly , select a few internet ECN companies that don't promise you nothing and don't catch you everyday like a wolf hunting sheeps and for sure ull get the correct one . If not .. sincerely you're out of wave and you never will mature because you are like the most people thinking that the rest have the right and you do the same, then ull die like the rest , no more ways.
Thanks for read my pest lol and good 2017 ;).
F
fouclycm
7 years ago,
Registered user
I think the first thing is to check that the offer is realistic. We can not get carried away by numbers, we have to tread ground!
And of course, know the opinions. Public opinion has a weight that can not be subtracted and marks the reputation of traders, sellers and brokers. It can not be overlooked.
Filter the opinion in the light of experts in the market :) are always helpful, for this they are the "experts".
That is already shielded.
P
Phoebus
7 years ago,
Registered user
Article is somewhat misleading. If you concede that around 60% of forex program sales offered by Clickbank (or just via Paypal) are straight-out scams, then you could perhaps appreciate that the average individual would try to refund those within the (usual) 60 day's grace period. Apart from the fact that many sales are now offering nil refunds (eg Jeremy Goodman) or as little as 30 days, any such rate of refund around will get you banned from purchase by Clickbank, clickbetter, JVZOO etc as a "serial refunder". They don't advise you of this, you just get the "try another card or payment method" pop-up.
And if you buy direct via PAYPAL, then you should be aware that they will not refund electronically/digitally delivered products. Neither Clickbank or Paypal will reply to any buyer-initiated correspondence on the subject. If you ask Dittmann to let you buy via a Paypal invoice, he will first insist that you email him an assurance that you will never refund any of his products.
This is the real world of Forex scamology (not the FPA one).
P
Pharaoh
7 years ago,
Registered user
Phoebus, in the real world of Forex Scamology, one should carefully read the instructions given in an article instead of leaping to the end and even then twisting that part far away from what it really said.

The article makes it very clear that you should:

1. Get whatever info you can for free before spending money. As an example of some free material which wasn't around when the article was written, one can take the FPA's Forex Military School classes before considering buying anything else. You can find it here:

forexpeacearmy.com/community/forums/complete-trading-education-forex-military-school.158/

2. Once you've gone through FMS and other free materials, you should know what sort of other trading products you need (if any). Following this advice alone will greatly reduce one's exposure to scams.

3. Check the FPA reviews before sending your money to any company. This will also filter out a large number of scams.

4. Do some additional research on the product.

5. Finally, chose a method of payment which gives a fighting chance of recovery. I also warned about a some of the methods of payment which will not be reversed by the payment processor even if you have a valid scam complaint.


Even a casual skimming of the article will not tell you:

1. Go out and buy random items solely relying on Clickbank or other return policies to send back all the ones you don't like.

Believe it or not, there are people who do the serial refunder thing to get free copies of electronically delivered products, not to protect themselves from scam. Taking the steps I laid out to protect oneself from scam before making a purchase should make it much easier to stay out of the serial refunder category, even if 90% of the products sold through the payment processor are scams.

I should also point out that I haven't actually seen a complaint of a failed refund from ClickBank in Scam Alerts for quite some time now (and I do look at every new and updated thread twice each week). Many previous complaints about scammers who kept turning refund requests into resolved support requests were quickly solved by filing an abuse complaint to ClickBank.

2. That PayPal will automatically protect you in all situations.

What I actually said was "PayPal does offer some buyer protection, but sometimes places too high of standards of proof on the purchaser (as one of our members found out when he bought an EA that didn't work as he expected)." From before the article was written up until now, I've seen mixed results on PayPal disputes. I never kept statistics, but my impression is that success is in the 20-30% range for those who follow the dispute procedure properly. This isn't good, but it's better than the zero percent success rate with many other payment processors.


I think you need to go back to Forex Scamology School. You obviously were either sleeping or playing on your cell phone during class.
J
Jeff Martinez
6 years ago,
Registered user
Really appreciate of this effort for not to get victimize by any scammers. It is really dangerous for new trader to get trapped easily. You are so much right about get yourself educated and do more and more research is good for everyone whether you are new or old in forex trading. I would like to suggest new traders to read this post carefully.
A
alaska27
6 years ago,
Registered user
I guess, you're right, probably the most vulnerable forex audience is the newbies, who have just entered the market and don't really understand much. It's good that there are such web portals that help them open their eyes on things.
R
Rizog
6 years ago,
Registered user
Another small piece of advice. Don’t rush into things. If you have chanced upon a sudden fortune, put that in your bank account until you have done a thorough research on the options available. Remember the theory of adverse selection.