Hi there everyone, I could really use some advice on how to manage my situation where I have lost a significant amount of money since setting up a trading account with Ariol Investment Group ariolinv-gr.com, who, FYI are an unregulated broker and despite the info on the website, are very difficult to contact unless you do this directly via your 'account manager' who provides you with a number that you can WhatsApp them on. I'm very aware of how foolish I have been so please be kind in the comments....
So, in Feb 23 I opened an account with min. balance (paid in in crypto) and made some profit. I withdrew a small amount but was pressured into trading with more (money I did not have) and somehow, my account manager persueded me to deposit $25k (which I borrowed), under the assurance of great profits. This was applied as an 'awaiting deposit', and I was told once I had paid this off, I could withdraw. In hindsight the account manager was so disrespectful of my money - leaving large trades open for days at a time, no clear strategy, high risk, large trades left open over the weekend etc etc.... I honestly don't even know if they were placing trades or if it was all a facade.
Once I paid off the deposit the first time I tried to withdraw but was told by my account manager as it was a Friday night at like 6pm (which it was to be fair to them) the financial dept. wouldn't be there to approve it, so I should wait until after the weekend.
Anyway, that weekend just so happened to be the weekend of the Silicon Valley Bank crash, so come Monday AM, all my trades that were open (and there were quite a few) had plummeted and my margin was described as very poor. At this point I was pressured into agreeing to another awaiting deposit, which I really did not want to do as I had no money to pay it off. I was told that if I didn't, I would be in danger of losing all of the money in the account. Obviously I had borrowed this money and was now very scared I was going to lose it all. So the awaiting deposit was applied...
Many things went wrong after this - obviously these are all crypto transactions and they weren't easy to make with new crypto accounts (mine) and a large sum ended up getting frozen by Binance. I eventually got it back but this meant that the deposit wasn't paid off for some time. There was an agreement from Ariol that stated that if the deposit wasn't paid off by the deadline, the account would revert back to it's state before the credit was applied (this was sent to me via email when the 2nd credit was applied). I tried to do this on many occasions, saying I couldn't pay off the credit and wanted to see how the account could be saved and reverted to how it was before the 2nd credit was applied. Only then was I told I'd had a margin call and this wouldn't be possible. I was only told this afterwards (when I owed more money due to the unpaid deposit) and was not told about the margin call at the time when the 2nd credit was applied. I communicated time and time again that I couldn't pay the second credit (bear in mind I've already 'invested' $25k at this point) and wanted to pull out and take my chances with the accout how it was. I strongly suspected a scam at this point but wanted to maintain a relationship in the slim hope I could recover some money. I was told initially I could revert the account, but then this was passed onto the 'financial department' and things started to get really ugly for me.
Now Ariol start to threaten me with a court case and AML implications. Saying I've made profit with company money and needed to repay the awaiting deposit. The whole AML reference is hilarious really, considering Ariol are not regulated and have been accused of scamming people on multiple occasions. All the while, 1 star reviews are appearing on Trustpilot saying the company is scamming people out of multiple thousands. Despite this, I was intimidated and scared at this point. My account manager then offered to pay half the deposit off if I just came up with the rest - they said they did it to help clients all the time. I'm ashamed to say there appeared to be a relationship there at this point, so I agreed. Plus, I was completely terrified and felt out of options. So we did this but then surprise surprise, they got 'caught' by the company, suposedly sacked, and I'm left still owing half the deposit amount. I was told once again that if I just paid the remaining deposit I could withdraw. But I know that's bull**** and no matter how much money I give this company, I'll never be able to withdraw the profits (if they even exist).
I need to understand if I have any options here - where can I report this? What are my best chances of getting some or all of my money back? How do I stop this from happening to other people?? This horrendous company has ruined my mental health and I have lost a ton of money. I'm extremely angry with myself for allowing it to happen but it has and now I need to do whatever I can to try and sort it out!! I know quite a lot of info about this 'company', but like I said they are not FCA regulated and I strongly suspect they have broken the law by misleading people in order to scam them out of money. Please help!!
So, in Feb 23 I opened an account with min. balance (paid in in crypto) and made some profit. I withdrew a small amount but was pressured into trading with more (money I did not have) and somehow, my account manager persueded me to deposit $25k (which I borrowed), under the assurance of great profits. This was applied as an 'awaiting deposit', and I was told once I had paid this off, I could withdraw. In hindsight the account manager was so disrespectful of my money - leaving large trades open for days at a time, no clear strategy, high risk, large trades left open over the weekend etc etc.... I honestly don't even know if they were placing trades or if it was all a facade.
Once I paid off the deposit the first time I tried to withdraw but was told by my account manager as it was a Friday night at like 6pm (which it was to be fair to them) the financial dept. wouldn't be there to approve it, so I should wait until after the weekend.
Anyway, that weekend just so happened to be the weekend of the Silicon Valley Bank crash, so come Monday AM, all my trades that were open (and there were quite a few) had plummeted and my margin was described as very poor. At this point I was pressured into agreeing to another awaiting deposit, which I really did not want to do as I had no money to pay it off. I was told that if I didn't, I would be in danger of losing all of the money in the account. Obviously I had borrowed this money and was now very scared I was going to lose it all. So the awaiting deposit was applied...
Many things went wrong after this - obviously these are all crypto transactions and they weren't easy to make with new crypto accounts (mine) and a large sum ended up getting frozen by Binance. I eventually got it back but this meant that the deposit wasn't paid off for some time. There was an agreement from Ariol that stated that if the deposit wasn't paid off by the deadline, the account would revert back to it's state before the credit was applied (this was sent to me via email when the 2nd credit was applied). I tried to do this on many occasions, saying I couldn't pay off the credit and wanted to see how the account could be saved and reverted to how it was before the 2nd credit was applied. Only then was I told I'd had a margin call and this wouldn't be possible. I was only told this afterwards (when I owed more money due to the unpaid deposit) and was not told about the margin call at the time when the 2nd credit was applied. I communicated time and time again that I couldn't pay the second credit (bear in mind I've already 'invested' $25k at this point) and wanted to pull out and take my chances with the accout how it was. I strongly suspected a scam at this point but wanted to maintain a relationship in the slim hope I could recover some money. I was told initially I could revert the account, but then this was passed onto the 'financial department' and things started to get really ugly for me.
Now Ariol start to threaten me with a court case and AML implications. Saying I've made profit with company money and needed to repay the awaiting deposit. The whole AML reference is hilarious really, considering Ariol are not regulated and have been accused of scamming people on multiple occasions. All the while, 1 star reviews are appearing on Trustpilot saying the company is scamming people out of multiple thousands. Despite this, I was intimidated and scared at this point. My account manager then offered to pay half the deposit off if I just came up with the rest - they said they did it to help clients all the time. I'm ashamed to say there appeared to be a relationship there at this point, so I agreed. Plus, I was completely terrified and felt out of options. So we did this but then surprise surprise, they got 'caught' by the company, suposedly sacked, and I'm left still owing half the deposit amount. I was told once again that if I just paid the remaining deposit I could withdraw. But I know that's bull**** and no matter how much money I give this company, I'll never be able to withdraw the profits (if they even exist).
I need to understand if I have any options here - where can I report this? What are my best chances of getting some or all of my money back? How do I stop this from happening to other people?? This horrendous company has ruined my mental health and I have lost a ton of money. I'm extremely angry with myself for allowing it to happen but it has and now I need to do whatever I can to try and sort it out!! I know quite a lot of info about this 'company', but like I said they are not FCA regulated and I strongly suspect they have broken the law by misleading people in order to scam them out of money. Please help!!