Problem 100% scam platform Geneva Option

[taoem]

FPA Forums Team Note: This complaint against Geneva Option resulted in an FPA Traders Court Guilty vote...

https://www.forexpeacearmy.com/comm...ase-2017-011-taoem-vs-genevaoption-com.48791/

Hello there,

I greatly need some advice on a platform called Geneva Option:

genevaoption.com

I have a lot of money invested with them, and am trying to withdraw my balance.

The short story is that they applied a 20k credit without my authorisation, and are demanding that I cover the full amount, or they may decomission my account. I have covered 14k, but my recent interactions with them are raising red flags.

I am not comfortable sending them anymore money without being 100% sure they are not a scam site, and am unsure what to do regarding this.

Any advice/assistance you can provide would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

[FxMaster]

Hello there,

I greatly need some advice on a platform called Geneva Option:

http://www.genevaoption.com/

I have a lot of money invested with them, and am trying to withdraw my balance.

The short story is that they applied a 20k credit without my authorisation, and are demanding that I cover the full amount, or they may decomission my account. I have covered 14k, but my recent interactions with them are raising red flags.

I am not comfortable sending them anymore money without being 100% sure they are not a scam site, and am unsure what to do regarding this.

Any advice/assistance you can provide would be GREATLY appreciated.

Heard this name first time, Here is the solution. First of all contact your cc customer care and ask them to charge back as they did transaction without your authorisation and follow the suggested steps below.

Two steps that you must follow

1st - Invite them to join this thread via email (Send email to every possible address).

2nd - Go to their website and invite them to here via Live Chat

Also share your story as a review here https://www.forexpeacearmy.com/forex-reviews/13289/www.genevaoption.com

 

[taoem]

Hi there,

When you say contact my cc customer care, do you mean for my credit card company? Or Customer Care department for Geneva Option? Because I am already speaking to someone from there and he has advised that the upper management is unsympathetic to my case.

Also, when you advise that I invite the Geneva representatives here via email and live chat, how exactly should I word it to them?

 

[taoem]

I will state why my recent interactions with Geneva are raising flags:

1. As stated, the 20k credit was applied to my account without my authorisation. I was originally with a trading platform called Binismo, which I understand has since re-branded/merged with Geneva Option. Because of this, my balance of $4759 USD was transferred to Geneva. My broker advised I needed to make another deposit to allow him to continue trading, which I did ($3100 USD).
2. My broker then advised me that Geneva applied the credit without consulting with me or him, and he was not happy about it, as he always discusses credits with his clients beforehand.
3. As stated, my broker has gone offline for about 3 weeks now, and I am not able to make contact with him. I am dealing with Mike Kos in his stead.
4. The management of Geneva Option is completely unwilling to change their policy, even though the applied the credit without my authorisation. I have covered 14k of the 29k credit, and have offered to let them take 6k off my balance to settle the remaining balance, but they refuse, and are threatening to decommission/block my account. I find this quite suspicious.
5. Mike Kos advised that once the 20k credit is fully covered, he can "send my funds via Western Union during 48 hoours". I spoke to my bank, who advised the transactions through Western Union cannot be traced and it is a suspicious way to transfer funds.

 

[taoem]

Note: regarding Point 4 in the above post, it should say the following:

The management of Geneva Option is completely unwilling to change their policy, even though they applied the credit without my authorisation. I have covered 14k of the 20k credit, and have offered to let them take 6k off my balance to settle the remaining credit, but they refuse, and are threatening to decommission/block my account. I find this quite suspicious.

 

[taoem]

Hi all. An update on the situation.

I spoke to Mike Kos today. He was pushing hard for me to deposit 3k this week. I explained that I need 3 weeks to get the money together and then deposit the full 6k. To his credit, Mike seems to have accepted this timeframe. In the meantime, I have spoken to my bank and credit card company and have asked them to investigate further, but I am not sure how much help they will be able to provide.

I also asked Mike for the phone number for Geneva Option, as the number listed on their website does not appear to work for me from Australia. He provided the following number: +41435085355
However, when I tested that number, I got a quiet automated message in a foreign language, and then the call disconnected.

I also found the following information:

• "Hi, from what i can see is that they are not regulated. This means that if you run into any issues with your account etc you won't have anywhere to turn for help.
  I would be careful and try and do a withdrawal to see if it works and the handle it correctly." - stated by forexfraud.com
• Geneva Option looks like it is the same company as Suisse Option and Option Magnates. All owned by the offshore company HAS Group Ltd.

 

[FxMaster]

Hi there,

When you say contact my cc customer care, do you mean for my credit card company? Or Customer Care department for Geneva Option? Because I am already speaking to someone from there and he has advised that the upper management is unsympathetic to my case.

Also, when you advise that I invite the Geneva representatives here via email and live chat, how exactly should I word it to them?

Contact your credit card Customer care and share the story with them and to invite them, copy the link of the thread and share with them via live chat, email or skype.

 

[Pharaoh]

Contact the fraud and/or disputes department at the credit card's issuing bank. Explain how they broker wants to to "cover" an unauthorized credit and how demanding money before processing a withdrawal is a hallmark of fraud. Explain that the 20k credit was made to fraudulently block you from being able to withdraw your funds.

Get screenshots of all the evidence.

If your credit card bank doesn't want to back you up, WinChargeback may be able to help.

 

[taoem]

Thanks for your replies. The way I see it, I have these options:

• Cover the remaining 6k of the credit, and hope that Geneva honours my withdrawal request.
• Ask my credit card and bank account to issue chargebacks for my initial deposits made to Geneva Option. The first of these (3100 USD) must be submitted by Thu this week, or it will be too late.

The trouble is, I currently have a balance 50k USD in Geneva Option. If I begin a chargeback, I MIGHT be able to get back my initial deposit (~22,500 USD). However, this also means that I would probably lose the rest of the balance. I feel that Geneva would argue that the trading was done with their 20k credit, and I am therefore not entitled to it. I'm not trying to be greedy, but I have lost a lot of money from dodgy activity on the past platform, and withdrawing the full 50k would allow me to get out of trading with relatively little loss.

If I do pay the remaining 6k credit, but then Geneva does not honour the withdrawal, could I ask my bank to issue a chargeback on the entire balance (i.e. 50k)? Or only on what I deposited initially?

And if the bank cannot help me, do you believe WinChargeBack would have a strong case against Geneva Option?

 

[taoem]

So, a bit of news. I finally made contact with my broker last night, who informed me that there was an attempt made to add another 10k USD to my trading account.

I have begun chargeback processes for my transactions made to Geneva. This is what I sent to my Credit Card company:

NOTE: All dates are of the format DD.MM.YYYY


Date: 08.12.2016

My name is <removed>, a new client of Geneva Option. Initially, I was a client of a different platform called Binismo, which has since re-branded and merged with Geneva Option. As such my balance of $4759 USD was transferred to the new account I made with Geneva Option.

I write to request chargeback on the following transaction:

<removed>




1.0 TRADING PLATFORM DETAILS

Geneva Option appears to be "the same company as Suisse Option and Option Magnates. All owned by the offshore company HAS Group Ltd." (1)



2.0 DETAILS OF THEIR ACTIVITIES

2.1 Applied $20k USD credit without authorisation

I have a balance of $50,470 USD with Geneva Option (ref. Documents 1-3).

In September 2016, Geneva Option applied a credit to my account of $20,000 USD, nearly a month after my initial deposit (ref. Document 4). According to their terms and conditions, this amount must be covered by the client before any funds can be withdrawn. However, these funds must be agreed to (ref. Document 5).

This credit was applied without my consent or the consent of my account manager. I never agreed to such conditions, and my account manager was also unhappy, as he always discusses adding credits with his clients beforehand (ref. Documents 6-7). Furthermore, nowhere in the terms and conditions does it state that Geneva Option can apply credit to my account without my authorisation.

In conclusion, the broker wants me to "cover" an unauthorised credit, and I believe that demanding money before processing a withdrawal is a hallmark of fraud. The $20,000 USD credit was made to block me from being able to withdraw my funds, with further attempts made at adding unauthorised credit (ref. Section 2.3).


2.2 Offered Western Union Transfer

I have been in correspondence with <removed> from the Support and Present Financial Department, who has advised that once the $20k USD credit is fully covered, he can send my funds "via Western Union during 48 hoours" (ref. Document 8).

I spoke to my bank (NAB Antiscam Investigations, Tel: 1300 622 372) on Thu 01.09.2016, who advised that transactions made through Western Union cannot be traced and can be a suspicious way to transfer funds.


2.3 Further attempts to add unauthorised credit to my trading account

My account manager informed me that Geneva Option has acted to add another $10,000 USD credit to my account, which would continue to block my attempts to withdraw my funds (ref. Document 9). Again, this was done without any agreement on my part.



REFERENCES

(1) https://scamoption.com/question/geneva-option/