Binary Wolf Hunter and Hero – A Tribute to Simona Weinglass

Binary Wolf Hunter and Hero – A Tribute to Simona Weinglass

I’ve been observing the growing cancer of binary options scam since it first slithered up from the darkest pits of financial crime. I’ve worked long and hard to do what I can to warn traders away from binary options and to help binary victims fight back. Unfortunately explaining facts like how badly the odds are stacked against anyone who “trades” binaries and how many complaints their are against binary companies doesn’t pierce the mental defenses of many people who desperately want to believe in easy money.

What was needed was someone who could get at the story closer to the source, someone who could tell it from many angles, someone who could turn the facts into deeply compelling stories. Even better would be someone who could bring all of the information about binary scams to the attention of potential victims, but also of the regulators in Israel and around the world.

One year ago today, a bright beacon of light appeared on the scene. An investigative reporter from the Times of Israel, Simona Weinglass, shook the entire binary industry with her article, The Wolves of Tel Aviv: Israel’s vast, amoral binary options scam exposed.

If I had to sum up the article in one word, it would be magnificent. The article laid out the core details of how binary scams work. It confirmed nearly everything I knew or suspected about binary brokers. It also added many more important details about how binary options companies operate with the target of stealing as much money from clients as possible.

That one article alone would have been enough to earn Simona a place as one of my personal heroes. The great news is that Simona didn’t settle for one article.

From her Wolves of Tel Aviv article (1 year ago today) to her most recent one about the FBI adding a warning about binaries to its homepage (last week), Simona has authored or co-authored over 40 articles about binary options fraud, binary victims, and attempts to regulate or outlaw binaries. Her work has been critical to pushing the authorities in Israel and other countries into moving from investigation to decisive action.

Some of her coworkers have joined in writing their own pieces, including Iacopo Luzi bravely going undercover as a binary options salesman and Times of Israel’s founding editor David Horovitz’s excellent editorial on preventing the derailing of a ban on binaries as well as a number of other articles on the subject, both solo and with Simona. Many others contributed and deserve thanks and praise, but I’m trying to keep this article within reasonable length. If no one else grabbed the rights already, I’d love to do the book on Times of Israel vs Binary Options so I can make sure everyone there gets full credit for ridding Israel (and hopefully the world) of binary scams.

For those who can’t wait for the book, you can see the current list of all binary options articles by Simona and everyone else at the Times of Israel by clicking here.

I’ve read through all of Simona’s articles. Each one alone is an excellent piece of work, but together, they lay out all the reasons why binary options needs to be ended as soon as possible. Other than Wolves of Tel Aviv, it’s hard to pick out a favorite, but I must say I did appreciate seeing the mention of the FPA in her article about how some binary victims got their money back.

On the darker side, Simona’s article titled What kind of person would rob an old woman? is one of the most frightening pieces of non-fiction I’ve read. It details the aberrant mentality behind those who work on the front lines of of the binary options scams. I’ve seen transcripts of these people in action, but always hoped they didn’t really understand the consequences of their actions. Instead, the complete sociopathic lack of concern for the damage to people’s lives is so extreme that it shakes even my highly skeptical faith in humanity. Reading that article is hard. Writing it was undoubtedly harder.

Currently, Israel stands poised on the edge of shutting down all binary options companies in the country. Simona deserves a very large percent of the credit. I’m sad that they don’t give Nobel Prizes for exposing and shutting down scams. If they did, Simona would be getting one.

The work isn’t done yet. Many binary companies are shifting their operations to eastern Europe. I’m addicted both to hunting scammers and to writing. I can recognize the symptoms of these addictions in others. I’m confident Simona won’t stop writing about binary scams until she’s caught all the wolves.

One final note. I didn’t give Simona any warning about this article. I sincerely hope she’s not embarrassed by my very public display of admiration for her work. She’s an inspiration to me and to everyone else who’s ever fought against any type of financial scam, and I firmly believe she deserves to be recognized.

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.

Info

4653 Views 23 Comments

Comments

R
riclew
7 years ago,
Registered user
A great article, congratulations to Simona and to Pharaoh. Thank you both for you support of the innocent who have been fleeced by scoundrels.
N
neric
7 years ago,
Registered user
I have been in touch with Simona for the past few months. She invited me to go and give my story to a meeting been held at the Israeli parliament (knesset) where they were trying to get the Israeli police involved. They then found someone in Israel that lost more money than I have so they used him instead. Simona has been relentless and her boss - David Horovitz - has also been a driving force in this epic journey. They had the police at the 2nd meeting - held at the end of February - and they are now involved as well. The police did not attend the first meeting even though they had been invited.
It is very sad, though, that this will not kill the binary options industry. As you said - they will just pick up and move elsewhere. Simona told me that she had seen recruitment ads in Israel for "sales people" to interview for a job with these companies in Eastern Europe. Let's hope that at least, a good number of these ruthless criminals will be put in jail in Israel before they have a chance to disappear.
Pharoah, thank you for your dedication. This site was my beacon of hope when I first realised that I had been scammed and started my search on the Internet for help. FPA has an outstanding reputation - I have never heard a single negative comment about them. It set me on the right path and I am very grateful for everything that is done and said here with total integrity.
M
MarcoSimonetto
7 years ago,
Registered user
awesome! Congrats to Simona and to Pharaoh for the work aggainst Scam!!!!
T
tolly
7 years ago,
Registered user
Well done Pharoah-
you are an exemplary leader-Yes Simona is a hero, but you and the big guns have taken on and shaken these very powerful, rich scammers, in no small way. You inspired your readers to take them on with gusto when really there was no where else to go!- I doubt if they ever dreamed they would become avid readers of the Israel Times!

Furthermore- you do it openly and diligently 24/7. This is in direct contrast to the deceitful, crookery of the Binary Option businesses,who have purposely trained a whole generation of crooked salespeople. These salespeople have ripped off millions of dollars from innocent, hardworking people.The bosses,themselves hide behind layers of false names and addresses, and in many cases right under the noses of the so called-"governing bodies".

The threads found here, contain current, up to date ways in retrieving scammed money. Terms such as - chargebacks-FOS and the like, only become familiar after you take on banks.
FPA gives real cases- in real time-This info is invaluable!!!!$$$$$$$ as it gives a victim info that can be used to fight a strong rear gun action!
On behalf of your Aussie members, Pharoah-I salute you!!!!
Thank you-Tolly
D
danielsoy
7 years ago,
Registered user
> The police did not attend the first meeting even though they had been invited

Hard to believe....

It's like something from Machiavelli. youtube.com/watch?v=wsMs-DuGy1o
H
Holderlin
7 years ago,
Registered user
Congratulations to.... both of you, both are great and we all are on debt with you!!!
I
IrwanI
7 years ago,
Registered user
Great! ''What you give you get back''
A
andy22a
7 years ago,
Registered user
Binary options is a nasty scam and that's the cold hard truth about it. The Financial times magazine wrote an article recently titled,"Don't trade binary options". When a reputable media outlet does so it means something is terribly wrong with it. Look at it this way hedging is a fantastic way to know if you are on a fairly balanced asset or if the odds are stacked against you. Lets say i want to buy GBPUSD. in binary i decide to open a $1 lot both sides buy and sell. if 1 wins i get $0.7 payout if loses i lose $1 so in the long run lets say expiry 30 minutes i will end up losing every time by $0.3. In Forex if i open buy and sell both directions using 1 standard lot after 30 minute period i will beat 0 loss if i opened the positions at the same time and after this period i can close the losing trade and remain with the winning trade until markets move against me.You see in Forex or any other market such as bond market you will earn a payout e.g 50% after a long time some say 2 weeks or even a month but when in binary you're told 70% payout in a second? seriously? You are not buying anything just putting money down on an uncertain event favoring the binary broker and many many people fall for this lie $1000 in 30 seconds just search online and you will get similar phrases used by binary brokers to lure people into this. I had a strong indicator that in back test its win rate for binary was 75% yet in real trading where bar opening is random the win rate would fall to 50%. Most of the top binary signals that advertise online 80% or similar win rate if you actually use them the win rate falls to 50% or lower. Now those are the top professionals that try to get you anything from binary trading. Imagine the thousands of ignorant traders who don't know anything about technical analysis they will lose everything. And the binary brokers like it they get fatter and richer. But for how long will the keep ripping off the uninformed? Stay out of binary you just can't get anything the odds a re stacked against you terribly. I have demonstrated by hedging binary you end up losing every time. Take into account bar opening like in mt4 that is truly random even with top indicators repainting cannot be avoided. Add broker games of manipulating positions against you so that you end up losing. You end up with a sink where money is draining from traders to the binary broker at a probability of 1 certainty. We've something called probability of ruin. The probability it takes to end up at negative or loss at a certain period. For gambling situations and in this case binary trading the probability of ruin is 1 a gambler will end up ruined with 0 in their pockets any time 30 seconds, 1 hour every time!!!. They won't end up at break even never!!!
T
Thandi Martin
7 years ago,
Registered user
Keep up the good work Pharaoh.Congrats to you and Simona.
F
FraudResearch2002
6 years ago,
Registered user
Next reason for a tribute...

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

explains the "processing part" of the (evil) game. How much PacNet is in any processor??? And how much of the processor business is within the Binary Industry?
Questions, questions,...
T
tolly
6 years ago,
Registered user
Hey guys-make sure you read Simonas latest article above re-Money laundering-
you can't help but admire her relentless pursuit of information re the Binary Option scammers. Perhaps this will be the final nail in their coffin when banks realize -yes they are making millions by abetting the scammers-but they stand to lose more when governments reallize the loophole in eazy money laundering laws- is costing them billions-re tax evasion and start to really fight back, to claw back their losses of the past 5 years or so !!!
T
Tryingtrader
6 years ago,
Registered user
A most welcome and well written article Pharaoh.

Simona is a most tenacious investigative journalist who deserves the highest praise from all who have been scammed, and also from all who have avoided being scammed through reading her excellent articles. I’m sure she will not let up until Israel has cleaned itself and perhaps the World of these parasites. Thanks to you also Pharaoh for your diligent work in bringing these scammers individually to the public eye and giving so much encouragement and hope to the scammed – myself included. Thank you Simona and the FPA.
F
FraudResearch2002
6 years ago,
Registered user
Finally!

timesofisrael.com/knesset-gives-initial-okay-to-bill-banning-binary-options/

The Knesset plenary on Monday evening approved a bill to ban Israel’s widely fraudulent binary options industry, taking another step toward shutting down the multi-billion-dollar scam. (...)
...
The bill bans all binary options trading, period, and thus aims to put a complete halt to the blight of Israeli binary options firms duping victims all over the world into parting with their money. (It also targets unregulated forex and CFD companies operating from Israel, requiring them to obtain a specific license to operate in any country where they have customers. Many such companies operating from Israel also engage in fraudulent practices.)
P
Pharaoh
6 years ago,
Registered user
Great news, but not yet great enough to crack open the champagne yet. It's passed another hurdle, but still has some more votes to go into effect.

"The law will now go to the Knesset House Committee, which will prepare it for a second and third reading in the plenary."

I do believe it's time to order the champagne. We can start chilling the champagne soon. :D
K
kimmy12
6 years ago,
Registered user
Simona Weinglass is doing a fantastic job. Without her there would not be so many informations shared. She is a real hero in hunting these criminals down.
P
Pharaoh
6 years ago,
Registered user
It's now been 2 years since Simona published her groundbreaking Wolves of Tel Aviv article.

Israel has banned Binary Options. The US has restricted BOs very tightly and only one or two companies have a license. Canada banned binaries. The EU is thinking of banning them.

The war against this scam is not over, but the giant steps taken in the last 2 years would have been smaller and slower without Simona Weinglass. I'm looking forward to seeing how much progress we make between now and March 2019.
K
kimmy12
6 years ago,
Registered user
> It's now been 2 years since Simona published her groundbreaking Wolves of Tel Aviv article.

Israel has banned Binary Option. The US has restricted BOs very tightly and only one or two companies have..
I totally agree. Because of the efforts of Simona Weinglass governments Israel and USA are acting. In Europe it is not that far yet. To many victims every day. But there is going on a lot. Simona Weinglass shows us also how important the work of an investigative journalist is and what can be reached. Simona Weinglass helped me a lot also with my work against the corrupt online brokers. I wrote 4 books now about the problem - in German Terroristen der Finanzmärkte and Kryptowährungen Risiken und Chancen des Investments. Next week there wil be another item at dutch tv from Channah Durlacher about the problem and...finally the efforts from financial authorities. So a team of journalists worldwide is reporting. That is great. I would like to have more documentaries esp. in Germany where at the moment are many victims but almost nothing happening against the brokers.
K
kimmy12
6 years ago,
Registered user
and....not forget FPA who is doing a fantastic job by giving information about scammy brokers. Thank you too!
T
Tryingtrader
6 years ago,
Registered user
> It's now been 2 years since Simona published her groundbreaking Wolves of Tel Aviv article.

Israel has banned Binary Option. The US has restricted BOs very tightly and only one or two companies have..

The European Authorities should be all over this scamming criminality like a rash - into every nook and cranny! But they are not. There is so much evidence of blatant criminal behaviour, claims of being licenced - when they are not, arrests and prosecutions in the USA and Canada, fines issues in Cyprus and a WWW full of the sad cases of innocent but gullible people who have had their life savings and more stolen by these low life. Israel has finally banned these bandits from their shores thanks to Simona and her tireless efforts, but the EU and UK sit on their hands and watch the criminals at work - just a few token raids and arrests. The Banks and Card Companies are also aware of this criminality but do nothing until pressed into action by individuals who have been scammed. It's shameful, and the finger should be pointing towards these so-called 'Watchdogs'! If was happening on the High Street these scammers would be arrested and locked up ..... go figure!
C
Coldfear
5 years ago,
Registered user
It’s really important that I get in touch with Simona Weinglass .Does anyone know how . Well we all know about Binary Options scams I’m a victim too . We lose money to them and then we lose more money to people pretending to be recovery agency which they are run by the people in the binary options. I’m a victim of binary options and I’m a victim of Wealth Recovery International. Wealth recovery International refers people to Birman Law after they take your money and communicate with you for a while then they say there’s nothing they can do and disappear. You get in touch with Austin Smith from WRI to complain about the law Firm you were referred to and he tells you to complain to the Bar , the Bar doesn’t help much . You ring all the telephone numbers on Birman’s website and they’re not in service. Then you receive an email from Birman’s contact saying he’s no longer working for Birman Law. You get in touch with WRI but you get told they can’t help you because you’re not their client but after Birman dissapperence all of the sudden you get an email from someone that works for WRI with a plan of action to help you recover your money , they just want to scam you all over again
K
kimmy12
4 years ago,
Registered user
Fantastic article about a fantastic journalist, without Simona Weinglass and her articles/ investigative journalism we would not be where we ar today with fighting the corrupt online brokers. Thank you for this article, cant wait for the book....
R
RahmanSL
3 years ago,
Registered user
Regardless of how much warnings are out there about BO, there will still be people out there somewhere believing & jumping on the get-rich-quick bandwagon. Even if that group of people represent only 0.01% of the World's population, that's still a lot of suckers from the >7.8 billion homo sapiens.
P
PaulaS14
a year ago,
Registered user
Thank you for your article about Simona. I would love to read her articles.