Striking Back – Ethical Vengeance Against Scammers

Striking Back – Ethical Vengeance Against Scammers
by Pharaoh
I write, therefor I am.

 

I really like helping out the FPA’s investigators from time to time. They all try their best to help traders. When a company won’t cooperate in the face of evidence that money is owed to a trader, they file a report with the full Scam Investigations Committee and a Scam Confirmation is issued. They try hard to not label companies as scams, but some companies seem determined to gain that label.

The problem is that some of these companies don’t just scam once. Certain persistent scammers keep creating new victims (and new scam complaints). Over time, it becomes very obvious that some forex companies are more like bonfires for your bank balance. They take money in, but seldom, if ever give it back. Once a company earns itself a Scam label, there’s not much else the FPA can do to them even though more complaints keep coming in.

I’ve been discussing this problem with the FPA’s investigators and we managed to come up with several ideas that will let scammed traders continue their fight against these persistent scammers in a way that will maximize the damage to the cash flow of these fraudulent companies.

 

First and foremost, before making any complaint anywhere, gather your evidence and try to talk to the company first. A very large percentage of scam complaints are just simple miscommunications that could be cleared up by checking back with the company (perhaps several times). Make very sure to gather your evidence before approaching the company. Some brokers have a bad reputation for erasing trade histories, altering data feeds, etc. If you complain first and really are dealing with a true scam, you are giving them a chance to remove or alter evidence before you can collect it all.

Screenshots are some of your best evidence. Make sure to get your trade history and any charts that show problems. For web pages, there’s a great plugin for FireFox called FireShot. It can take images of the whole web page or just the part visible on screen. Get screenshots of everything relevant to your account and also all Terms and Conditions as well as company contact information. Some website keep changing the corporation they claim owns them, so you’ll want evidence of who/what was in charge when your access to your funds was cut off.

If you use LiveChat with a company, keep copies of every conversation. Email is better, since it has headers and other information that make it harder for a company to deny that they said something. If you think the situation has a high chance of being a scam, try to avoid phone conversations unless you can record them. Check your local laws. Some places forbid recording of telephone conversations, and you are trying to gather evidence for your use, not for someone to use against you. In general,written evidence is better, since it’s easier to quote back exactly what someone said in full context than to refer to something like “2 minutes and 37 seconds into the 4th recording.”

Are you reasonably sure it is scam? If you make a bad trading decision, it’s not your broker’s fault. If you risk too much of your account on one trade, it’s not the fault of the signals service. If market conditions shift and your managed account has a drawdown within the levels allowed by your contract with them, that’s not a scam. Trading has risks. Loss of money does not always equal scam. Improper loss of money is what I call a scam.

Assuming that you did all of the above, your personal negotiations failed, you posted at tge the FPA, either got a scam finding or were told that the company has already been marked as a scam, then what? What is there left to do against a company that doesn’t care about public complaints about ripping off its customers?

The scammers hope that you’ll give up. They’ll do whatever they can to discredit you and the FPA, then will go right back to scamming more innocent victims. They thrive on the fact that there are huge numbers of people who will never hear about their misdeeds. By complaining to the FPA, you’ve helped to warn tens of thousands of traders, but there’s a lot more you can do.

If it’s a significant amount of money, you really should consider consulting with an attorney. The cost may be high, but a good lawyer has better resources to hunt down the people behind a scam and to help convince the regulators and authorities to give your case the attention it deserves.

With or without the help of a lawyer, find out if there are any regulators or licensing agencies the company is (or should be) registered with and submit complaints. You should have looked this information up before beginning to do business with a company, but don’t kick yourself too hard if you didn’t. A lot of people don’t. Due diligence is something that’s usually done by someone who’s been scammed before, and this might be your first time. If this is the 5th time you’ve been scammed and you didn’t do any due diligence, kick yourself very hard, quit handing your money over to scammers, and quit chasing high return investments.

For US brokers and account managers, you’ll want to talk to the CFTC and the NFA. For the UK, it’s the FSA and FOS you should be chatting with. There are a lot of other regulators out there. Some are good at enforcing regulations. Some are only business license offices that have no real regulatory authority. Others just issue pretty (but completely worthless) certificates in exchange for cash.

You don’t just have to stick to the usual regulators. If you conducted business with the company via the internet and are a US citizen or resident, visit IC3.gov. That’s the Internet Crime Complaint Center. It’s a joint program from the FBI, the National White Collar Crime Center and the Bureau of Justice Assistance. It’s a centralized place to report cybercrime. Some other countries have similar programs. To find them, check with your local or national police, the fraud department of your bank, etc.

You still aren’t done. Maybe your case isn’t big enough to draw the attention of the authorities. Maybe the wheels of justice grind too slowly for your tastes. Don’t worry, there’s still a lot more that you can do to make the scammers regret the day they stole your money.

Before I proceed, put down the gun, flamethrower, grenade launcher or whatever other item you were thinking of using. This is about ethical (and legal!) means of ruining a scammer’s day. You can have violent fantasies about what you will do to the scammers when you catch them, but please keep those as fantasies. I know they probably deserve to be hog-tied and slowly lowered into a large crate filled with rabid hamsters, but the law frowns on that sort of activity.

As mentioned above, scammers hate bad publicity. The reason for this is that serial scammers rely on a never-ending source of new victims. Whether it’s a broker that doesn’t allow withdrawals or a HYIP that’s decided that now is the time to keep it all for themselves, these companies always are on the lookout for new people to hand over nice piles of cash, and they won’t get nearly as many people if a lot of warnings are issued. Complaining at the FPA is a good start. Having an FPA scam finding is a good start. The problem is that once a company is marked as scam, more FPA complaints against them don’t hurt their shady business nearly as much as the original Scam Finding did. Yes, you should still complaint in the FPA’s forums and reviews to warn people that the company has not reformed since being declared to be a scam, but there’s still more you can do.

If you’ve been scammed by one of these companies that just doesn’t seem to care, there’s a perfectly legal and ethical way for you to try to cost them 10, 100, or even 1000 times as much as they cost you for only a little effort each week.

Here’s the plan:

1. Make sure your thread in the FPA’s Scam Alerts folder has plenty of evidence in it. If there’s a scam finding against the company, even better. Screaming “THIS BROKER IS A SCAM!!!” all over the internet without any facts to back your claim up makes you look silly. Typing it in huge fonts or in ALL CAPS only makes you look sillier and hurts your credibility. You need your version of events clearly laid out in a simple, true, consistent, and professional manner with evidence to back up your claims.

2. Start a few blogs. These are typically free and can be useful central locations to link to the next steps in this procedure. Two or three on different blog sites is a good idea in case the scam company manages to get one of them shut down. Don’t make dozens and dozens of them. That looks more like desperation and spam than a serious complaint. Copy your statements and evidence to the blogs, and place links to anything about the company that’s already on the FPA site. Use links to tie all the blogs together.

3. If you really want to go after them, and are willing to deal with the possibility of them trying to get the site shut down, register a special domain name. For example, if you were ripped off by BucketShopFx.com, you can register something like BucketShopFxScammedMe.com. Make very sure your evidence is incredibly good before doing this and warn your hosting company and registrar that there might be complaints. You can point this to one of your blogs or keep it as a stand-alone site.

4. Let the scammers know that at least once per week, you will add a posting the facts about your complaint in another forex or financial website. In each new complaint, give a short, clear description of the problems you are having, Then give links back to your blogs and the prior postings. Some forum admins don’t like links to other sites, so make it clear each time you do it that all future posts will also link back to the current one. That gives the forum admins a motive to not delete your posts, since they do like inbound links from other forums and sites. As you do this, update your blogs and include links to each new posting you make around the web. Remember to take a little time on each forum to see how it is structured so that your post goes to the right place. If you just drop it into a random folder, it won’t be seen by as many people and could be deleted. If in doubt, take a few moments to contact one of the forum administrators or moderators to discuss what you plan to post. Your purpose is to warn people so they don’t lose money to a bad company, not to annoy the forum admins or get yourself labeled as a spammer.

5. If you or anyone you know speaks other languages, make some of these postings in non-English forums. Forex is a world-wide business. Even if you single handedly drive a company out of all English speaking countries, that still leaves billions of potential victims. Post it in Chinese and Hindi, and you’ve made it available to another 2 and a half billion people. Post it in Spanish and you’ve made it available in a very large number of countries. The more languages you can get the facts posted in, the better.

Be aware, if you do this, the company may send their representatives, either openly speaking for the company or pretending to be happy customers ,to try to discredit your postings. Usually, scam companies will be inconsistent enough that after awhile you’ll be able to use these postings to provide more evidence that your cause is just and your words are true. Many scammers are pathologic liars at heart and will provide obvious evidence of their own dishonesty if you give them enough chances.

You can’t save everyone. Some people will fall for a slick sales pitch and never do any of their own research no matter how many times they’ve been ripped off in the past. Some people will read your warnings, look at your evidence, and still throw their money away. Scammers love people like that. Still, following this plan will make what happened to you harder and harder for the scammers to conceal from the vast majority of traders who do try to keep their money safe. They took money from you, so now is your chance to shrink their money supply.

Every person who reads what you’ve written and decides to not use that company is a personal victory for you and a victory for all traders everywhere. Keep up the fight and make the world a better place. Hit the scammers hardest where it hurts them the most – in their wallets.

It’s always best to not get scammed in the first place. As a forex trader, your highest risk is selecting a forex broker that meets your trading needs and also won’t scam you. This article can help with that:

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

Once you have a broker, there are plenty of additional scams waiting for you. Read this to help avoid those:

https://www.forexpeacearmy.com/r/fo…id-getting-scammed-when-buying-forex-products

By far, some of the the biggest scams are not in trading itself, but in investing in forex through managed accounts. These two articles cover how to not get trapped by the worst of these:

https://www.forexpeacearmy.com/comm…your-money-with-a-managed-forex-account.2407/

https://www.forexpeacearmy.com/r/general-articles/648/ponzi-schemes-and-hyips-free-money-traps

Have a nice day, unless you’re a scammer.

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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2336 Views 37 Comments

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forex scam

Comments

G
Greg Taylor
14 years ago,
Registered user
In all honesty guys... Why don't you just stick to the big brokers (e.g. FXCM). They're not market makers, spreads are descent - GPB/JPY 4 pips.
P
Pharaoh
14 years ago,
Registered user
If everyone did due diligence, that would reduce the number of scams, but not eliminate them entirely. Also, NFA and FSA registered brokers don't accept clients from every country in the world. Some people have no choice but to go offshore if they want to trade forex.

The good news is that not all offshore brokers are scams. The plan here is to help further expose the misdeeds of the worst scam companies to try to force them to either change their ways or to drive them out of business.
S
stevesmain
14 years ago,
Registered user
a liter side

Pharaoh

What do you have against hamsters?

You want to poison them?

Otherwise excellent advice, thanks!
A
appletech
14 years ago,
Registered user
Possible Libel Claim?

Pharaoh,
Could these scam companies go after one with a Libel claim/case if one creates these blogs or sites to bring out the truth?
H
hnsx99
14 years ago,
Registered user
Looking for the truth

pharoh,

I like your statement :) and traders must be aware for anything about their brokers... good job
P
Pharaoh
14 years ago,
Registered user
> Pharaoh,
Could these scam companies go after one with a Libel claim/case if one creates these blogs or sites to bring out the truth?

They may very well make threats. I'm not a lawyer, but I am reasonably sure that truth is the ultimate defense against libel or slander charges. That's another reason besides basic ethical consideration why not to make wild and unsupportable claims.

Stick to the facts wherever possible. If you have a theory, preface that with statements like "I think they may . . . ", "I believe that . . ", "The facts strongly suggest that . . ." Admit that you could be wrong, but that the other side has provided no supporting evidence for their position.

Our very own AsstModerator tells me the FPA gets threatened with lawsuits frequently, but that not one set of legal papers has ever showed up (so far, at least). If your statements are true and you have facts to back them up, I don't see any reason not to stand up in the face of empty legal threats.
Y
yurps
14 years ago,
Registered user
people have to open accounts with dodgy brokers because it is the only place they might get filled with the weapon, or be able to scam broker taking advantage of a slow broker price feed.
V
vans22
14 years ago,
Registered user
that's one hell of an advise...i hope you can think of more so you can post it here again in the future and be able to help newbies like me..arigato !!!
V
vans22
14 years ago,
Registered user

Striking Back
Ethical Vengeance Against Scammers
by Pharaoh
I write, therefor I am.





:DCongratulations Pharaoh for that wonderful and very objective thread. I'm just wondering , are you a proffessor or teacher because you seem to have the talent for discussing things clearly and understandbly. Anyway , thanks ! More Pwer !!
R
RahmanSL
12 years ago,
Registered user
"...just wondering , are you a professor or teacher because you seem to have the talent for discussing things clearly and understandably..."

Hmmmm, for those uninitiated, "Pharaoh" is not only the ultimate king of ancient Egypt, but is the son of Ra'a, the Sun God.
So, as a matter of course, the Pharaoh is wise...especially : ), since he is also an immortal, and have an eternity to become wise.
P
Pharaoh
12 years ago,
Registered user
I'm also very modest. I think I'm the most modest person in the whole world. :D
R
RahmanSL
12 years ago,
Registered user
...yes, yes...of course...modesty is one of this modernized Pharaoh's trait...but not forgetting "patience" too!
..Ahhh, Pharaoh needs lots of that to keep his...ehhh..well stocked couple thousands wives, concubines, & female slaves happy and contented....so we have to add in virility and stamina into Pharaoh's many attributes;right? : )

Hmmmm, wonder where Pharaoh gets the time and stamina to trade forex??...ahhhh...forgot Pharaoh is the son of Ra'a and so have superhuman abilities and powers. Now that explains the above! : )
C
Capitcho
12 years ago,
Registered user
It seems a good idea to spread on internet that a service provider is a scam... but I wonder the % of victims and future victims of scammer that verify the provider reputation before signing any contract.
C
Capitcho
12 years ago,
Registered user
> In all honesty guys... Why don't you just stick to the big brokers (e.g. FXCM). They're not market makers, spreads are descent - GPB/JPY 4 pips.

Are you talking about the same FXCM that has a lot of problems with clients and regulators offices?
P
Pharaoh
12 years ago,
Registered user
> It seems a good idea to spread on internet that a service provider is a scam... but I wonder the % of victims and future victims of scammer that verify the provider reputation before signing any contr..

Sadly, many people see a website making big promises and jump in without checking. On the other hand, many scammers work very hard to put lots of BS press releases, fake blogs, etc to show them in a good light and make it harder for people to find the truth about the bad things they have done. Following the plan I laid out in the first post of this thread will make it much easier for people to find out the truth about a company that has done you wrong.
L
ladytrader
11 years ago,
Registered user
> Sadly, many people see a website making big promises and jump in without checking. On the other hand, many scammers work very hard to put lots of BS press releases, fake blogs, etc to show them in a ..

That's the irony of it all - scammers think about scams to make "easy money" but in the end, like you say, they work very hard to make it all reliable. It's ridiculous! The amount of effort they put in these things could have been used in something legit, worthwile and that could last for a lot longer.
W
Whitesnake
10 years ago,
Registered user
Its really a hard thing when you realize that the broker with which you traded has turned into scam. The best thing to do is first of all join a well reputed and regulated forex broker.
G
Gennietrader
10 years ago,
Registered user
Pharoah you are truly helpful! Do you get paid for doing this?~ LOL...
You advise are great for a newbie like me trying to get his first online broker.
G
George M.
8 years ago,
Registered user
Hi Pharaoh and many thanks for your advices!
"Are you reasonably sure it is scam? If you make a bad trading decision, it's not your broker's fault. If you risk too much of your account on one trade, it's not the fault of the signals service. If market conditions shift and your managed account has a drawdown within the levels allowed by your contract with them, that's not a scam. Trading has risks. Loss of money does not always equal scam. Improper loss of money is what I call a scam."

But, If a broker take the control of portfolios from unsuspecting investors by saying lies:
- I am professional broker, I know what I am doing!
- Don't worry, no promblem, everything is under control!
- Don't worry you will not lose your funds!
- He presses EVERY day investors to deposit money or they will lose EVERYTHING!
- At the end of week or next week you will pick up your money because the market will be change because as professional brokers know the market, brokers know reading the charts...
LIES, LIES, LIES....
And if the forex company not protect money if market goes opposite (f.e. automatically closing positions by keeping 40% of invest funds)...
AND if professional brokers CLICK ON accounts of investors using Team Viewer!!!!!......

Do Pharaoh call them scam brokers? Is this scam?

Is this company a scam company or not if saying at its page that all funds are protecting from loss and never funds became zero?
P
Pharaoh
8 years ago,
Registered user
Interesting set of questions George.

Before answering, I'd like to point out that having a broker or broker affiliate (such as IB) trade for you or provide anything other than the most general advice is generally a bad idea. Even at the most honest and well-regulated brokerage, the temptation to churn the account for trading commissions will always be there.

There is a spectrum:

If a trader makes trades too large for an account, doesn't employ stop losses, etc., some will incorrectly accuse an innocent brokerage of "stealing the money by closing the trades at loss.". What really happened was a self-inflicted margin call that is 100% the traders fault.

If a broker employee or associate says "I think the EURUSD is bullish today" and a trader risks his entire balance and is wiped out by price moving the against the trader's positions, that's also going to be the traders fault.

If a broker employee or associate advises a trader that price will definitely move in one direction, made no trade volume recommendations, and the trader risks too much, the broker is partially at fault, since price movement and the word definitely are not words that any competent person familiar with the markets should be using. Still, the trader made the far bigger mistake by ignoring risk management.

If a broker employee or associate tells a trader to place a trade too large for the account, especially if there is either no stop-loss or too wide of a stop loss, this strikes me as deliberate bad advice with the intent that sooner or later the trader will be wiped out. I believe this is a scam, but evidence is needed to prove it.

If a ANYONE other that the trader places trades on the account, there needs to be an LPOA in place. The ONLY exceptions I can think if are brokers that allow traders to phone in trade orders or a client who can't access the platform calling, emailing, or coming in over live chat with an emergency request to close one or more orders. Anyone besides the account owner placing trades without an LPOA is a violation of industry standards. Most brokers reserve the right to cancel any such trades and close the account. For a broker employee or associate to place trades without an LPOA which are risky enough to severely damage the account would definitely look like scam in my eyes.

Someone trading an account under an LPOA must follow the terms of the LPOA. Otherwise, that person is breaking the rules and could be considered to be a scammer.

Depending on where the broker is regulated (please NEVER do business with an unregulated broker), employees giving trading advice or placing trades may be a violation of regulations and could have legal consequences for the broker. Again, evidence MUST be collected.

A tiny number of brokers have legitimate (or semi-legitimate) "insurance" plans for trades. These are for small amounts and are designed to let new clients come in and trade risk-free to learn how trading works. One I saw that claimed to insure larger amounts required extra spread and a minimum trading volume large enough that the extra spread more than paid for the so-called insured amount.

Other than that, every instance I've seen of claimed risk-free, guaranteed, or insured trading was nothing but a ploy to convince traders to either place extremely risky trades or to permit an broker employee or associate to place such trades. On the rare occasions where losses from such trades are compensated, the compensation comes in the form of a bonus with extremely large trade volume requirements attached. Often, an additional cash deposit is required. In my opinion, this is 100% scam.

Call up any established Wall Street stock broker and ask if you can insure a trade for 100 shares of an established Fortune 500 company. Listen to the laughter on the other end of the phone. Then think about if you can't get insurance for that, how could you possibly get insurance for a forex trade, or, far worse, binary options trade.

Brokers that do this fake version of "insurance" usually will continuously press for more deposits. Some will even ask clients to buy non-existent insurance policies to cover open trades that are going against the client. Once the losses happen, there are typically excuses about delays from the insurance company. Often, after getting your account wiped out one or more times, the broker employee will be "fired" and replaced by another employee - who will want you to make large deposits to help recover your money. If you do, the cycle will repeat as many times as you are willing to keep pumping your money into the scammers' bank accounts.


Companies like this need to be exposed however possible. Reviews, Scam Alerts threads, Traders Court cases, complaints to as many regulators and law enforcement authorities as possible. Even this may not recover your money. Companies that keep scamming client after client while the wheels of justice turn so slowly are why I wrote the Ethical Vengeance article in the first place. The less new money coming in, the harder it will be for them to escape when the police come to their door.

The more people you warn, the fewer victims these perpetual scammers will be able to steal from. Roaches and rats love to work in the dark. If you've been victimized, do your part to shed as much light on them as possible.
G
George M.
8 years ago,
Registered user
Dear Pharaoh thank you for your reply (it help me a lot!).

1) "If a broker employee or associate advises a trader that price will definitely move in one direction, made no trade volume recommendations, and the trader risks too much, the broker is partially at fault, since price movement and the word definitely are not words that any competent person familiar with the markets should be using. Still, the trader made the far bigger mistake by ignoring risk management.

If a broker employee or associate tells a trader to place a trade too large for the account, especially if there is either no stop-loss or too wide of a stop loss, this strikes me as deliberate bad advice with the intent that sooner or later the trader will be wiped out. I believe this is a scam, but evidence is needed to prove it."

Statements of an account is enough evidence to prove that a broker employee or associate told a trader to place a trade too large for the account without stop-loss? Or how can a trader prove that a broker employee not followed the wishes of a trader (low risk, stop loss etc.)

2) "If a ANYONE other that the trader places trades on the account, there needs to be an LPOA in place. The ONLY exceptions I can think if are brokers that allow traders to phone in trade orders or a client who can't access the platform calling, emailing, or coming in over live chat with an emergency request to close one or more orders. Anyone besides the account owner placing trades without an LPOA is a violation of industry standards. Most brokers reserve the right to cancel any such trades and close the account. For a broker employee or associate to place trades without an LPOA which are risky enough to severely damage the account would definitely look like scam in my eyes."

My account brokers or my broker employees not told me about LPOA and they did anything they wanted to lose all my money!
Is this legal or not?

3) "Depending on where the broker is regulated (please NEVER do business with an unregulated broker), employees giving trading advice or placing trades may be a violation of regulations and could have legal consequences for the broker. Again, evidence MUST be collected."

I believe that my account manager or my scam broker that was (or is still) working without any regulation or any authorisation!
What may I have to do for that?

4) "Other than that, every instance I've seen of claimed risk-free, guaranteed, or insured trading was nothing but a ploy to convince traders to either place extremely risky trades or to permit an broker employee or associate to place such trades. On the rare occasions where losses from such trades are compensated, the compensation comes in the form of a bonus with extremely large trade volume requirements attached. Often, an additional cash deposit is required. In my opinion, this is 100% scam."

Because of lies at their sites that all funds are guaranteed, or insured trading by making a ploy to convince traders to either place extremely risky trades, forex companies are responsible for that? Forex law protects traders for all these lies?

5) Because they return to me a small refund fee by promising that a new proffesional broker will manage my account carefully he will make profit to my account. So, do not prove this their lies? Do not prove that they are scammers? Do not prove that the company is a scam company too?

Have I to accept this refund fee or not?
P
Pharaoh
8 years ago,
Registered user
What you describe sounds very much like a scam. I see you've already gotten a thread opened in Scam Alerts. I've just added a question there.

If all else fails, then the methods I've outlined in the first post of this thread can be your final resort.
R
RIPbinaryoptions
7 years ago,
Registered user
it's a very thought through and detailed article, which for sure have helped lots of ppl. On the other hand, I hope I wont need this info in future :confused:
U
uzma batool
7 years ago,
Registered user
To start a new blog, good idea. it really helped me a lot. Thanks...........
T
Tryingtrader
6 years ago,
Registered user
Yes, your article Pharaoh is so true, that's the operation in a nutshell!

The only way this parasite scamming can be shut down is with the co-operation of the Card companies and the Banks. They are the providers of the means for these bandits to operate and they are very much aware of what is going on but do little or nothing to prevent it (they make a very nice commission). This article by Simona Wineglass, Times of Israel May 14th 2017 gives an idea what the Card companies and banks are up against. It's FinTech - Financial Technology, but it is a system they've put in place themselves (or accepted from others) and they should be looking after their customers by actively closing these scamming loopholes.


http://www.timesofisrael.com/on-the-internet-nobody-knows-youre-a-money-launderer/


The National Central Banks of the world are in the process of trying to get rid of physical cash and promote a cashless society, making all financial transactions electronic (Fintech). Whither it's a cup of coffee, a bus fare, paying your share of a meal to your mates or a major purchase, they want it all to be electronic. That means everyone has to use FINTEC, so these Banks and card companies have GOT to sort themselves out or the scammers will have an open road to rip us all off.
R
richard56
6 years ago,
Registered user
good and not biased information is everything in life and here :-)
which is very difficult, of course.
thus any warnings on this board should be a warning sign to all people
5
57varieties
6 years ago,
Registered user
Let me put it this way, i have not found any Binary Broker or any of those outfits who claim that you can make any money . They "sweet-talk" you into making a deposit, and they tell you that they help you to make a profit....bull shit.!!! If you deposit the minimum, like $250 they tell you that they can't do anything worthwhile with it, if you deposit $5000 they con you into taking a "bonus " of $5000, which means that you never are able to withdraw any money, if by some remote change you should be making some profits.Further more, quite a few of those shady outfits who are hailed by some of the "help websites" like this one as legit, eventually end up in court. BTW, i have lost what little life savings i had ( more than $16,000) to those crooks.
P
Pharaoh
6 years ago,
Registered user
A warning against all things binary is good, but this thread is about how to strike back after you've been scammed. Let me repeat some advice I gave in another thread ([U]www.forexpeacearmy.com/community/threads/the-fbi-warns-about-binary-options-fraud.49660/[/URL]) about dealing with binary scammers:

If you've been scammed by a binary broker:

1. Gather your evidence. Anything about where money sent to the broker really went (bank wire instructions, info on credit card charges, etc. could be very important in tracking these scammers).

2. Open a thread in Scam Alerts - [U]www.forexpeacearmy.com/community/forums/scam-alerts.30[/URL]

3. Leave a shiny 1 Star review for the broker - [U]www.forexpeacearmy.com/forex-reviews[/URL]

4. File complaints with:

a. The ISA - [U]www.isa.gov.il/sites/ISAEng/CONTACT/Pages/default.aspx[/URL]

b. The FBI - [U]www.ic3.gov[/URL]

c. The CFTC - [U]www.cftc.gov[/URL]

d. The SEC - [U]www.sec.gov[/URL]

e. eConsumer - [U]www.econsumer.gov[/URL]

f. Your local financial regulators - ask your local police and bank or else look them up here - [U]www.forexpeacearmy.com/community/threads/have-you-been-scammed-how-to-complain-to-the-regulators-manual.25603/[/URL]

g. Any regulator or registry the binary company claims to belong to.

5. Some of these places you report to will give case/complaint numbers. Add those to your Scam Alerts thread so that other people complaining about the same company can refer to your complaints.


When you've done all of that, go back to page 1 of this thread for more ideas on making binary scammers regret that they ripped you off.
I
Iceman543
6 years ago,
Registered user
Thanks Phroaoh, wonderful advice for me. We have spoken before.
I am going to do just that with Option Rally and more recently GBOCAPITAL all facts that have been published here.
I am determined to get these unscupulous thieves undone even though i know i wont reach all but even if i help one person then its one customer they wont get money from!
GBO CAPITAL has already been identified as a scam here due to my investigation and I still havent seen the money i withdrawal as of this date.
Thz again
R
RahmanSL
6 years ago,
Registered user
Very well written and informative oh wise Ruler of upper-and-lower-Nile!

"..hog-tied and slowly lowered into a large crate filled with rabid hamsters.."???...hehehe...my suggestion would be to be hung upside down on their children-making-pouch :D
O
oscarra
6 years ago,
Registered user
As already mentioned many times, post all related Banking information’s of receiving Banks or whatever merchant or PSP firms you may discover behind CC payments, it will allow others to investigate also safe further victims from fraud.
O
Order Order
6 years ago,
Registered user
Thanks for this. Written some time ago, yes, but still very relevant!
7
7Bulletin
5 years ago,
Registered user
This is a very informative piece on scammers. I hope to get more on this thread on how to identify and avoid scammers. It would be nice to have a blog or website where these scammers can be busted. We traders must be vigilant and on the lookout for scammers. Personally, I prefer trading with well-known brokers
T
Tryingtrader
5 years ago,
Registered user
An excellent piece Pharaoh full of sound reasoning and valuable advice. Bad publicity is the worst thing any organisation has to fear and, if justified, the more the better.
O
Olieng38
5 years ago,
Registered user
Ethical vengence against scammers starts from us, the traders. We must be willing to expose them and shame them in the sh*t list. Having a blog with special domain name against scammers is one of the best ways to strike back
T
Thoris
5 years ago,
Registered user
Nice thread here. I hate scammers with a passion and I just can't fail to thank every member who has positively contributed to this discussion. If there is ever a way to bust this scammers and subject them to public disgrace, I'd be so happy to implement.
B
bishnoiho
3 years ago,
Registered user
am submitting the case against: www.aplustrader.com

My Case is: Respected Sir/Madam,

I was having below balance in my all account in US Dollars up to 13.11.2017.

Account No. Balance
2132544123 10341
2132545594 5688
2132545049 6801
2132534402 13213

I have suffered with brain stroke on 14.11.2017 and hospitalized.I have requested the company for withdrawal but instead of giving withdrawal they have place too many big deals in my accounts as 7 lots 5 lots etc, due to that deals my account was closed even they have also reversed the below bonus which has been given to me for
trading knowingly.

Credit Out Bonus
-12160
-6800
-11250
-14426

This is also to inform your good self that I was trading with them since April 2017 and they have not given me any withdrawal during my tenure.

Regards,
Hari Om Bishnoi
9815970627

New thread in the Scam Alerts Folder:
AplusTrader.com issue

Review is submitted by Aplus Trader on 03/29/18

The company was first contacted about the issue on 11/23/17 the last contact was on 04/19/18

Details: Dear Mr Hari Om,

Thanks for the mail and we are here to always help you,

actually we think you are confuse with First Five Protected deals,
Let me explain: The First Five Protected Deals means once you start trading account the first five deals that you open under our guidance ,If make any loss we will refund the total money without a deduction,

so we monitor Mr Raghav use this protected deals as he wish, So we are taken action on this matter and thanks for the written mail, So we have a proof from a client,

So as per you're accounts we can see because of market movements and low margin account closed with negative balance,
Thanks & Regards,
Mark Andrew
Admin Officer
Aplus Trader


hi,

Now you have proof that Mr Raghav made Manipulate on system by using Protected Deals,

Take action and revert me back,

If you have any clarification, You can contact this customer.
Thanks & Regards,
Mark Andrew
Admin Officer
Aplus Trader

Hi Mr Bishnoi,

Normally account Bonus will be removed automatically once your required margin is low,

For a example : If the balance is 100$ and open deals running -110$ means bonus will be remove automatically.

This will be apply for all trading accounts,

Dear Sir,
I don't know where you trade before, I am explaining our trading platform and if there is margin low below 25% means account will be start closing all negative deals one by one because of low margin,

And for some clients Mr Raghav use Protected deals by his own, Didn't you notice that is odd comparing to other trading platforms, Didn't you feel that he is helping you by cheating company,

Any how we will take action on this ,

Dear Mr Hari Om,

Thanks for the mail and we are here to always help you,

actually we think you are confuse with First Five Protected deals,
Let me explain: The First Five Protected Deals means once you start trading account the first five deals that you open under our guidance ,If make any loss we will refund the total money without a deduction,

so we monitor Mr Raghav use this protected deals as he wish, So we are taken action on this matter and thanks for the written mail, So we have a proof from a client,

So as per you're accounts we can see because of market movements and low margin account closed with negative balance,
Thanks & Regards,
Mark Andrew
Admin Officer
Aplus Trader


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