Option FM scammed me too...!

Muzzle

Recruit
Messages
5
Hi Guys, well yes, I'm another victim and feel like a complete FOOL.

My story is so similar to everyone else's not sure if I have the energy to write it all here, but I believe that it is important so here goes. I'm living in Malaysia, I saw a video on youtube describing Binary Trading, and was always interested to pursue trading as a source of income. I lost my job a few months back and had a little savings that I hoped to turn into more profit - so naive and silly. The company was Gemini 2, so I registered on 4 November '16 and then received an email with a link to follow to open an account. I did this and was diverted to the Option FM website. I paid the $250 registration fee and within an hour received a call from RAMON SANCHEZ, apparently based in Hong Kong. He was convincing, polite and seemed genuine, obviously. He did his usual intro speech that I believe everyone has heard, I’ll spare you those details.

He pushed me over the next 3 weeks to increase my account, convincing me that he is a Tier 1 trader, and unless I get up to 25k he can't handle my account or give the best trades, Grade B, and A. So I proceeded to make various deposits using credit cards, debit card (for most of the deposits) and then in the end even getting my brother to invest 14k and my wife also 12k, total 51.5k investment.

Most communication came via phone calls and on the website live chat from this "RAMON SANCHEZ". Even when I asked for emails, he always just called. Sometimes late at night. He was so convincing and started calling me "bro" and so on, like he was already my mate. I was cautious but then somehow became so convinced I did not see the warning signs. We started trading slowly, for 2-3 days until I got the account up to 10k, then a few trades at $250 each, some won some lost and he ALWAYS told me never to worry as ALL my trades are FULLY PROTECTED. By the 11th Nov, he had convinced me that he was ready to start making "REAL" profits for me, and that it's time to deposit more money and make my account a "CEO" account up to 25k. At this point I was pumped up and ready to roll, as I'd seen that some losses were replaced with "bonus" protected credit. Then suddenly he started massive trades, telling me he is the expert I must TRUST him. We traded 19,500 of the 25,500 balance, on various trades:

GOLD call 2016-11-14 12:01:32 2016-11-14 13:00:00 USD 3,500.00 0.00 1,224.2740 1,224.0780 lost
SILVER put 2016-11-14 12:01:46 2016-11-14 13:00:00 USD 3,500.00 0.00 17.2230 17.2240 lost
GOLD call 2016-11-14 12:02:09 2016-11-14 13:00:00 USD 3,500.00 0.00 1,224.5480 1,224.0780 lost
FTSE 100 call 2016-11-14 12:03:46 2016-11-14 13:00:00 USD 4,500.00 0.00 6,749.5140 6,744.5900 lost
FTSE F-DEC... put 2016-11-14 12:03:57 2016-11-14 13:00:00 USD 4,500.00 3,600.00 6,739.2500 6,735.0000 won

As you can see, 5 trades, 4 lost and one of them won. The account was then immediately credited with the full losses and the winnings + a mysterious extra 6k. I asked what this extra was and RAMON SANCHEZ told me, "that's your bonus bro". By then the account stood at 32.5k, I was impressed.

The next trade 31.6k was closing 4 days later, 18th Nov, as follows:
GOLD call 2016-11-14 17:05:37 2016-11-18 09:00:00 USD 7,900.00 0.00 1,218.2800 1,208.2450 lost
GOLD call 2016-11-14 17:06:51 2016-11-18 09:00:00 USD 7,900.00 0.00 1,218.8350 1,208.2450 lost
GOLD call 2016-11-14 17:07:16 2016-11-18 09:00:00 USD 7,900.00 0.00 1,219.0310 1,208.2450 lost
GOLD call 2016-11-14 17:07:31 2016-11-18 09:00:00 USD 7,900.00 0.00 1,219.4840 1,208.2450 lost

31.6k of the 32.5k balance and ALL lost, all was credited back under the so called "PROTECTED TRADES". At this point I thought wow, I can't lose, either I win or I get my money back, seem so amazing... yeah well, when it's too good to be true...

This guy then told me, the following week was a HUGE TRADE coming up, once a year ANNUAL trade they do and since it was the US elections, the trade is even bigger and they have great information of how the markets would go. He convinced me to get the account even higher with more deposits and when I said I can't, right now I was tight on cash, he said well sorry then you can't participate in the big trade. He went out of his way to then make me feel like I don't trust him and that I'm just a small trader that he is doing a massive favour for me, if I wanted to make money then I need to increase my account to 50k to participate with the big guys he said. As a fool, I then got my wife and brother involved, and pushed the account up to 51.5k worth of deposits.

This all after he said to me “see, I will always take care of you, trust me”. Then the next 4 trades, another 26.8k, I had no fear at this point as if it lost, I’d get the money back again, but I was a bit sceptical at this point and asked RAMON SANCHEZ how can this be, he repeated “don’t worry, you are ALWAYS FULLY PROTECTED” with me. I have screen shot those comments he made on the open chat.

The next trades as follows:
GOLD call 2016-11-15 12:08:06 2016-11-18 09:00:00 USD 7,800.00 0.00 1,224.9970 1,208.2450 lost
USD/JPY put 2016-11-17 12:31:32 2016-11-18 09:00:00 USD 8,000.00 0.00 109.0680 110.4940 lost
GBP/USD call 2016-11-17 12:32:09 2016-11-18 09:00:00 USD 8,000.00 0.00 1.2481 1.2415 lost
GBP/USD call 2016-11-17 12:32:41 2016-11-18 09:00:00 USD 3,000.00 0.00 1.2477 1.2415 lost

ALL 4 new trades also lost. But this time, I only received back $13,413, an odd number and short of $13,387, so only 50% return.

Immediately I questioned this and started to show distrust in what I was promised by RAMON SANCHEZ. He got very quiet and after I emailed them with the breakdown and asking for an answer, all of Friday 18th and the whole weekend no answer, then on Monday 21st he had some accountant call me from London (apparently), who was so rude and unaccommodating, I ended up hanging up on him after demanding to ONLY speak with RAMON, my Senior Account Manager. RAMON then called me, all sweet and nice and said don’t worry the balance he traded in split trades after they lost, so he will guarantee that they can win… hmmm. BS. I’m still waiting on that.

Then, with now only 45k instead of 58k in my account, he pushed me to trade more. I was very hesitant but he convinced me that we must trade more now, we went ahead with another 38.5k trade.

NZD/USD put 2016-11-18 09:39:32 2016-11-22 12:05:00 USD 5,500.00 172.13 0.7035 0.7072 sold
NZD/USD put 2016-11-18 09:43:32 2016-11-22 12:05:00 USD 5,500.00 94.30 0.7034 0.7072 sold
GOLD put 2016-11-18 09:44:16 2016-11-22 12:05:00 USD 5,500.00 0.00 1,205.4910 1,216.8690 lost
GOLD put 2016-11-18 09:44:56 2016-11-22 12:05:00 USD 5,500.00 0.00 1,205.0550 1,216.8690 lost
USD/JPY call 2016-11-18 09:45:31 2016-11-22 12:05:00 USD 5,500.00 116.32 110.6320 110.8010 sold
USD/JPY call 2016-11-18 09:45:51 2016-11-22 12:05:00 USD 5,500.00 62.62 110.6770 110.8010 sold
GOLD put 2016-11-18 09:55:27 2016-11-22 12:05:00 USD 5,500.00 0.00 1,206.8050 1,216.8690 lost

As you can see, these trades were opened on Fri 18th for expiry on Tue 22nd, but by Monday they were not doing so great, up and down all the time with some slightly up, some under, so I contacted him and told him I was worried they may lose again, and asked “why were all the trades losing when he was supposed to be a T1 trader and have all this info”? He got quite aggravated by my comments and then made me go on the trading platform then sent me a link for SCREENLEAP to share my screen with him, which I did. He then instructed me to sell those that were ahead, we sold 4 of them at a very small profit, the other 3 lost. I never got any credit for the so called “protected trades” for the ones that lost.

RAMON SANCHEZ then out of the blue, asks me what colour iPhone 7 do I want, as he was given a whole lot from Apple and wanted to give me one. He sent me forms to sign acknowledging the gift and said they would be sent to me right away, well let’s see if I ever get them… BS probably.

So, then we traded another 23k from the sold trades. At this point, I just wanted to make profit to withdraw and pay back my brother and wife, I was STILL totally blind to the warning signs again. So I traded, ALWAYS only following his advice for trades.

EUR/USD call 2016-11-21 08:20:07 2016-11-23 12:05:00 USD 5,750.00 0.00 1.0631 1.0618 sold
USD/CHF put 2016-11-21 08:20:17 2016-11-23 12:05:00 USD 5,750.00 0.00 1.0094 1.0109 sold
EUR/USD call 2016-11-21 08:20:28 2016-11-23 12:05:00 USD 5,750.00 0.00 1.0632 1.0618 sold
USD/CHF put 2016-11-21 08:20:36 2016-11-23 12:05:00 USD 5,750.00 0.00 1.0090 1.0109 lost

At this point, by yesterday I found your FPA website and that cold sweat that you get when you realize you’ve been scammed was all over me… What could I do now?

So, I monitored the trades and the moment they were slightly up, I proceed to sell them myself, without advising the broker. Although, he was online, I could see this on the chat box and after emailing, requesting via chat etc on where the credits were, he just ignored me totally.

So at this point, all that is left in my account is $15,608 from the 3 trades that I sold, at a small loss. The last trade obviously lost and in fact, the others all have lost as well, lucky I sold them. So, then I have now made a withdrawal request of $15,600 and I emailed RAMON SANCHEZ to tell him that I have sold them, as I want to at least pay my brother back, and that once I get that money back, I will discuss with him my intention to continue trading (although of course I have no intention).

He tried calling me 3 times last night, but I never answered. I just emailed him saying please email me, I can’t take your calls right now.

He then emailed me late last night as follows:
hi Murray,I know you find it hard but we need to talk-im with you 100% sometimes the market goes against us and you need to be strong. you see-im not going anywhere and I will help you until we will recover. we can't withdraw 15k now since we are under the bonus terms and conditions-read it.
if you don't cancel the pending withdrawal the account will be closed due to an e regular withdrawal.
if you don’t wish to trade with me I can ask the head of recovery Dep to call you and take care of your account from this point and on.you must know that I care about you and your account and this is why I will do what ever I can to help.let me know what you want to do. Ramon


I replied:
Approve my withdrawal so I can pay my brother back, then we talk!
Also, why don't you answer me about the FULLY PROTECTED trades?


And this is where we stand as of today!

Last night I registered with http://www.winchargeback.com/ and received a confirmation email, stating it takes up to 7 days to respond due to their heavy traffic and requests. I do hope that somehow, I can get some funds back but in my heart know that this is going to be one VERY expensive lesson.

Any advice would be very much appreciated! Thank you.
 
Here's another , I assume fake name there at Option FM:
Dear Mr. / Ms. Murray 101

Thank you for submitting your documents.

Please be advised that your account has been activated for trading!

If you have any questions about this correspondence, please emails us at compliance@option.fm

Sincerely,

Roman Nosov

Option FM Compliance Department

Uf-zbLD7OEoaOM-tst5M9mz0aT62_5lL4IageJPhooRA1kaa8Cga2NtphdV6byGYvRH4ghypUorbAKDKKWTX4oe_Ci4R41gMAlA=s0-d-e1-ft
 
Hi Guys, well yes, I'm another victim and feel like a complete FOOL.

My story is so similar to everyone else's not sure if I have the energy to write it all here, but I believe that it is important so here goes. I'm living in Malaysia, I saw a video on youtube describing Binary Trading, and was always interested to pursue trading as a source of income. I lost my job a few months back and had a little savings that I hoped to turn into more profit - so naive and silly. The company was Gemini 2, so I registered on 4 November '16 and then received an email with a link to follow to open an account. I did this and was diverted to the Option FM website. I paid the $250 registration fee and within an hour received a call from RAMON SANCHEZ, apparently based in Hong Kong. He was convincing, polite and seemed genuine, obviously. He did his usual intro speech that I believe everyone has heard, I’ll spare you those details.

He pushed me over the next 3 weeks to increase my account, convincing me that he is a Tier 1 trader, and unless I get up to 25k he can't handle my account or give the best trades, Grade B, and A. So I proceeded to make various deposits using credit cards, debit card (for most of the deposits) and then in the end even getting my brother to invest 14k and my wife also 12k, total 51.5k investment.

Most communication came via phone calls and on the website live chat from this "RAMON SANCHEZ". Even when I asked for emails, he always just called. Sometimes late at night. He was so convincing and started calling me "bro" and so on, like he was already my mate. I was cautious but then somehow became so convinced I did not see the warning signs. We started trading slowly, for 2-3 days until I got the account up to 10k, then a few trades at $250 each, some won some lost and he ALWAYS told me never to worry as ALL my trades are FULLY PROTECTED. By the 11th Nov, he had convinced me that he was ready to start making "REAL" profits for me, and that it's time to deposit more money and make my account a "CEO" account up to 25k. At this point I was pumped up and ready to roll, as I'd seen that some losses were replaced with "bonus" protected credit. Then suddenly he started massive trades, telling me he is the expert I must TRUST him. We traded 19,500 of the 25,500 balance, on various trades:

GOLD call 2016-11-14 12:01:32 2016-11-14 13:00:00 USD 3,500.00 0.00 1,224.2740 1,224.0780 lost
SILVER put 2016-11-14 12:01:46 2016-11-14 13:00:00 USD 3,500.00 0.00 17.2230 17.2240 lost
GOLD call 2016-11-14 12:02:09 2016-11-14 13:00:00 USD 3,500.00 0.00 1,224.5480 1,224.0780 lost
FTSE 100 call 2016-11-14 12:03:46 2016-11-14 13:00:00 USD 4,500.00 0.00 6,749.5140 6,744.5900 lost
FTSE F-DEC... put 2016-11-14 12:03:57 2016-11-14 13:00:00 USD 4,500.00 3,600.00 6,739.2500 6,735.0000 won

As you can see, 5 trades, 4 lost and one of them won. The account was then immediately credited with the full losses and the winnings + a mysterious extra 6k. I asked what this extra was and RAMON SANCHEZ told me, "that's your bonus bro". By then the account stood at 32.5k, I was impressed.

The next trade 31.6k was closing 4 days later, 18th Nov, as follows:
GOLD call 2016-11-14 17:05:37 2016-11-18 09:00:00 USD 7,900.00 0.00 1,218.2800 1,208.2450 lost
GOLD call 2016-11-14 17:06:51 2016-11-18 09:00:00 USD 7,900.00 0.00 1,218.8350 1,208.2450 lost
GOLD call 2016-11-14 17:07:16 2016-11-18 09:00:00 USD 7,900.00 0.00 1,219.0310 1,208.2450 lost
GOLD call 2016-11-14 17:07:31 2016-11-18 09:00:00 USD 7,900.00 0.00 1,219.4840 1,208.2450 lost

31.6k of the 32.5k balance and ALL lost, all was credited back under the so called "PROTECTED TRADES". At this point I thought wow, I can't lose, either I win or I get my money back, seem so amazing... yeah well, when it's too good to be true...

This guy then told me, the following week was a HUGE TRADE coming up, once a year ANNUAL trade they do and since it was the US elections, the trade is even bigger and they have great information of how the markets would go. He convinced me to get the account even higher with more deposits and when I said I can't, right now I was tight on cash, he said well sorry then you can't participate in the big trade. He went out of his way to then make me feel like I don't trust him and that I'm just a small trader that he is doing a massive favour for me, if I wanted to make money then I need to increase my account to 50k to participate with the big guys he said. As a fool, I then got my wife and brother involved, and pushed the account up to 51.5k worth of deposits.

This all after he said to me “see, I will always take care of you, trust me”. Then the next 4 trades, another 26.8k, I had no fear at this point as if it lost, I’d get the money back again, but I was a bit sceptical at this point and asked RAMON SANCHEZ how can this be, he repeated “don’t worry, you are ALWAYS FULLY PROTECTED” with me. I have screen shot those comments he made on the open chat.

The next trades as follows:
GOLD call 2016-11-15 12:08:06 2016-11-18 09:00:00 USD 7,800.00 0.00 1,224.9970 1,208.2450 lost
USD/JPY put 2016-11-17 12:31:32 2016-11-18 09:00:00 USD 8,000.00 0.00 109.0680 110.4940 lost
GBP/USD call 2016-11-17 12:32:09 2016-11-18 09:00:00 USD 8,000.00 0.00 1.2481 1.2415 lost
GBP/USD call 2016-11-17 12:32:41 2016-11-18 09:00:00 USD 3,000.00 0.00 1.2477 1.2415 lost

ALL 4 new trades also lost. But this time, I only received back $13,413, an odd number and short of $13,387, so only 50% return.

Immediately I questioned this and started to show distrust in what I was promised by RAMON SANCHEZ. He got very quiet and after I emailed them with the breakdown and asking for an answer, all of Friday 18th and the whole weekend no answer, then on Monday 21st he had some accountant call me from London (apparently), who was so rude and unaccommodating, I ended up hanging up on him after demanding to ONLY speak with RAMON, my Senior Account Manager. RAMON then called me, all sweet and nice and said don’t worry the balance he traded in split trades after they lost, so he will guarantee that they can win… hmmm. BS. I’m still waiting on that.

Then, with now only 45k instead of 58k in my account, he pushed me to trade more. I was very hesitant but he convinced me that we must trade more now, we went ahead with another 38.5k trade.

NZD/USD put 2016-11-18 09:39:32 2016-11-22 12:05:00 USD 5,500.00 172.13 0.7035 0.7072 sold
NZD/USD put 2016-11-18 09:43:32 2016-11-22 12:05:00 USD 5,500.00 94.30 0.7034 0.7072 sold
GOLD put 2016-11-18 09:44:16 2016-11-22 12:05:00 USD 5,500.00 0.00 1,205.4910 1,216.8690 lost
GOLD put 2016-11-18 09:44:56 2016-11-22 12:05:00 USD 5,500.00 0.00 1,205.0550 1,216.8690 lost
USD/JPY call 2016-11-18 09:45:31 2016-11-22 12:05:00 USD 5,500.00 116.32 110.6320 110.8010 sold
USD/JPY call 2016-11-18 09:45:51 2016-11-22 12:05:00 USD 5,500.00 62.62 110.6770 110.8010 sold
GOLD put 2016-11-18 09:55:27 2016-11-22 12:05:00 USD 5,500.00 0.00 1,206.8050 1,216.8690 lost

As you can see, these trades were opened on Fri 18th for expiry on Tue 22nd, but by Monday they were not doing so great, up and down all the time with some slightly up, some under, so I contacted him and told him I was worried they may lose again, and asked “why were all the trades losing when he was supposed to be a T1 trader and have all this info”? He got quite aggravated by my comments and then made me go on the trading platform then sent me a link for SCREENLEAP to share my screen with him, which I did. He then instructed me to sell those that were ahead, we sold 4 of them at a very small profit, the other 3 lost. I never got any credit for the so called “protected trades” for the ones that lost.

RAMON SANCHEZ then out of the blue, asks me what colour iPhone 7 do I want, as he was given a whole lot from Apple and wanted to give me one. He sent me forms to sign acknowledging the gift and said they would be sent to me right away, well let’s see if I ever get them… BS probably.

So, then we traded another 23k from the sold trades. At this point, I just wanted to make profit to withdraw and pay back my brother and wife, I was STILL totally blind to the warning signs again. So I traded, ALWAYS only following his advice for trades.

EUR/USD call 2016-11-21 08:20:07 2016-11-23 12:05:00 USD 5,750.00 0.00 1.0631 1.0618 sold
USD/CHF put 2016-11-21 08:20:17 2016-11-23 12:05:00 USD 5,750.00 0.00 1.0094 1.0109 sold
EUR/USD call 2016-11-21 08:20:28 2016-11-23 12:05:00 USD 5,750.00 0.00 1.0632 1.0618 sold
USD/CHF put 2016-11-21 08:20:36 2016-11-23 12:05:00 USD 5,750.00 0.00 1.0090 1.0109 lost

At this point, by yesterday I found your FPA website and that cold sweat that you get when you realize you’ve been scammed was all over me… What could I do now?

So, I monitored the trades and the moment they were slightly up, I proceed to sell them myself, without advising the broker. Although, he was online, I could see this on the chat box and after emailing, requesting via chat etc on where the credits were, he just ignored me totally.

So at this point, all that is left in my account is $15,608 from the 3 trades that I sold, at a small loss. The last trade obviously lost and in fact, the others all have lost as well, lucky I sold them. So, then I have now made a withdrawal request of $15,600 and I emailed RAMON SANCHEZ to tell him that I have sold them, as I want to at least pay my brother back, and that once I get that money back, I will discuss with him my intention to continue trading (although of course I have no intention).

He tried calling me 3 times last night, but I never answered. I just emailed him saying please email me, I can’t take your calls right now.

He then emailed me late last night as follows:
hi Murray,I know you find it hard but we need to talk-im with you 100% sometimes the market goes against us and you need to be strong. you see-im not going anywhere and I will help you until we will recover. we can't withdraw 15k now since we are under the bonus terms and conditions-read it.
if you don't cancel the pending withdrawal the account will be closed due to an e regular withdrawal.
if you don’t wish to trade with me I can ask the head of recovery Dep to call you and take care of your account from this point and on.you must know that I care about you and your account and this is why I will do what ever I can to help.let me know what you want to do. Ramon


I replied:
Approve my withdrawal so I can pay my brother back, then we talk!
Also, why don't you answer me about the FULLY PROTECTED trades?


And this is where we stand as of today!

Last night I registered with http://www.winchargeback.com/ and received a confirmation email, stating it takes up to 7 days to respond due to their heavy traffic and requests. I do hope that somehow, I can get some funds back but in my heart know that this is going to be one VERY expensive lesson.

Any advice would be very much appreciated! Thank you.
Good that you already in touch with Winchargeback, Lets wait for reply from Rebecca first.
 
Was I right to include so much info? Like the trades I did etc? Just concerned as these guys obviously have a login and are monitoring all reports about heir companies... anyways, I've alredy losta nd been scammed, nothing to hide now I guess?
 
As far as I remember Option FM belongs to scam broker Banc De Binary.

Did you contact your bank to request for a chargeback?
 
As far as I remember Option FM belongs to scam broker Banc De Binary.

Did you contact your bank to request for a chargeback?
Not yet, I will be doing this very soon. Have only just today started this thread and sourcing information... some charges were via credit cards but most via Visa Debit card, not sure if there's any chance of recovery for the debit card deposits.
 
Not yet, I will be doing this very soon. Have only just today started this thread and sourcing information... some charges were via credit cards but most via Visa Debit card, not sure if there's any chance of recovery for the debit card deposits.
My suggestion is to not waste time, credit card companies may not let you do so after period of time, scam brokers will stall you enough so the credit card company will reject your chargeback
 
Try a chargeback yourself. If that fails, WinChargeback may be able to get the ruling overturned.

Don't delay. Start the procedure as soon as possible.
 
Thanks, I'm busy with the process and TommiSu has also offered assistance. Soon will have all guns blazing...!
Good that you are active and you are fighting to get your money back. You can go with suggested steps in this thread as well as you can talk with your local Cyber crime and lawyer. Keep us updated and also let us know if you need any other help from our side. Best of luck :)
 
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