GUILTY Case# 2016-197 | ryanf vs plustocks.com

Based on the available evidence, do you believe that Plustocks.com is Guilty?

  • Guilty

    Votes: 67 100.0%
  • Not guilty

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    67
  • Poll closed .

ryanf

Private
Messages
21
Original FPA Traders Court Submission:

I am submitting the case against: plustocks.com

My Case is: After contacting numerous bodies; FCA, SEC, the gambling commission in the UK, CBSA antifraud centre which finally led me to Jason Roy, senior investigator with the Manitoba Securities Commission. I've copied and pasted a portion of my email to Mr. Roy.

Hello,

I would like to file a complaint and open a fraudulent claim against Plustocks, a UK based company. I've had over $20,000 US in unauthorized charges against my credit card. Plustocks is a binary options trading company.

I initially heard about Plustocks from my good friend, Jeremy Funk (204-371-8816) about 2 or 3 months ago. He initially invested money and started trading with the company back in mid January. He told me how well his investments were doing and that he talked with his account manager about 3 or 4 times a week. He had requested 3 prior withdrawals and received them with no questions asked. I was skeptical about the whole thing initially, but Jeremy is one of my best friends and after asking a number of questions, he sounded comfortable and confident in continuing to do business with the company and his account manager Leo Bowman.

Jeremy never pressured me in any way and passed on my contact info to Leo Bowman. I received the initial call from Leo or Edward Barnes, his right hand man I've come to conclude in the later half of April. They told me they had some good positions on oil and was almost a sure thing as oil was on surge from it's low a few months prior. I believe oil was around low $40's at the time and decided to invest some money. Before depositing any money I asked numerous questions and numerous times if I could withdraw my initial deposit without any questions to pay off my credit card. Both Leo and Edward both assured me and that I had nothing to worry about. They told me I would receive a 75% gain and could withdraw money at the end of May after the contract expired.

I initially deposited $12,000 US on my credit card April 27, 2016. I never planned on initially putting that much down to start off but Jeremy reassured me and said he had put a significant amount on oil as well. Edward too, told me it was as safe a bet as you can with oil surging and convinced me to put $12,000 US. Within a short period, it looked like my account had started to grow.

Edward called me up and said my account had made some significant gains. He asked if I wanted to invest more into oil and said he still had some good contracts. I said I would feel comfortable reinvesting the gains that showed on my account and that I didn't want to put more down on my credit card until I had received a withdrawal to cover my initial deposit. He then charged my credit card $3,500 US more on May 5, 2016. I wasn't happy at first, but Edward reassured me that it was money in the bank and I promised me I could withdraw the full amount when needed to pay off my credit card. I talked with Jeremy and up to date had no issue with requesting a withdrawal.

I spoke with Leo Bowman on the phone and requested a withdrawal of $15,000 US on May 31, 2016. He said it wouldn't be an issue. He said it may take a few days to process but not to worry as I would have it by the end of the week, June 3.

June 2, Edward Barnes phones me and asks me if I want to invest more money into oil, contracts this time expiring on June 17. I told him I'm not at all interested in putting more money on my card until I received my full $15,000 US withdrawal as I was promised. I have it in writing on Skype telling him I didn't feel comfortable about putting in any more money until I received the withdrawal I was promised. I actually ask him two times and clearly voice my concern. They kept reassuring me I would receive it.

June 3, my credit card is charged $4,500 US. I didn't get too excited because I wrote clearly I wanted to receive my withdrawal in full. I honestly didn't think what they were doing was legal and I had grounds to dispute the charges should problems arise. Monday, June 6 they charged my card another $500. I ask them a number of times for a confirmation that my withdrawal had been sent, once again empty promises and lies. By Wednesday, June 8, I was livid. I clearly told them I wanted to receive the full withdrawal as requested to pay my credit card bill and that this could affect my credit rating. After Monday they had issues processing the other transactions. The way they were talking I didn't think any other transactions would go through. Hindsight, I should have cancelled my card June 6 when I didn't receive my withdrawal and the conditions were not met on their end. June 9, my card is charged a further $15,000 US. I don't recall exactly if I noticed this late at night on June 9th or 10th. As soon as I saw this I called my credit card through RBC to see if they could cancel or reverse the transactions. All they told me to do was try and settle with the merchant.

June 8 I logged in and requested the $15,000 US withdrawal to have an actual record as I figured I was being ignored and wasn't going to get anywhere with either Leo Bowman and Edward Barnes. June 9 was the last contact I had with Edward Barnes. Both Leo Bowman and Edward Barnes have ignored all contact requests and have blocked me on Skype. I've contacted the Plustocks customer support both via email and on the phone and have not moved forward. I get the same answers and run around every time I try to contact them. I did speak with a Samuel Green with customer support. I outright asked him if there was any reason why my withdrawal would be denied and he told me no there was nothing on my account that should withhold my withdrawal request and he said no it should have been approved and processed as my account shows a current balance of $49,104.70 US balance. June 15, I logged on and requested another withdrawal of $20,500 US and on June 16, I emailed requesting a freeze on my account for all transactions other than to process my withdrawal and credit back the money wrongfully charged to my credit card.

Since then, I've asked for email confirmation of notice to freeze my account other than to process my withdrawal requests as well as for a new account manager. I still have yet to receive confirmation. I can gladly forward you any of the emails I sent as well as the few emails I have received from the support team. I've asked to withdraw any money initially charged as well as to charge back my credit card for all unauthorized transactions. I actually have one email in particular in which I'm asking for advice on how to respond. They basically responded to my email saying there is $23,500 US dollars that hasn't been declared and have asked to sign off on it. I said absolutely not. I would like to please have this email looked at asap.

At this point I have nowhere to turn anymore. Mr. Roy sent me the following link, http://www.timesofisrael.com/follow-the-money-how-one-defrauded-binary-options-investor-got-his-cash-back/. He believes Forex Peach Army helped him with his case. I've exhausted my support services and looking to Forex Peace Army for help in recovering my money and exposing them for the fraudulent company they are. I've spent countless hours on the phone with my credit card company, composing emails and posting a number of complaints.

To sum things up, I've been charged $35,500 US. $5,500 US was charged by Altredo Ltd. (Israel) and $15,000 US was charged by Grey Mountain Management (Ireland) on June 9, 2016. I've never had any contact or heard of either of these companies. Mr. Roy has traced back the charges to Israel and Ireland. Without a doubt, I'm 100% convinced all these companies are connected, if not the same one operating under one umbrella.

I've since learned that binary options are illegal in Canada. Even if Plustocks were a legit binary options company, they shouldn't be allowed to deal with citizens in Canada or any other countries in which binary options are illegal. I've invited Leo Bowman, Edward Barnes, Abe Reich and the customer support team to view my thread. To no surprise, I've yet to receive any response or acknowledgment.

I would be more than willing to provide you with any other information you may need. As well, I've attached Mr. Roy's contact information.

Jason Roy
Senior Investigator

The Manitoba Securities Commission, Securities Division
500-400 St. Mary Avenue
Winnipeg, MB R3C 4K5

tel: (204) 945-4116
fax: (204) 945-0330
toll free: 1-800-655-5244 (MB only)
e-mail: jason.roy@gov.mb.ca

Please investigate Plustocks, Altredo Ltd. and Grey Mountain Management. I've received nothing but deceitful information and broken promises. I'm hopeful and optimistic that you can help my case and I sincerely hope you expose these companies and prevent any future victims.

Ryan Falk

New thread in the Scam Alerts Folder:

Review is submitted by ryanf on 11/24/16

The company was first contacted about the issue on 06/16/16 the last contact was on 11/14/16

Details: On June 9, 2016, Edward Barnes wrote the following......

Im saying that it was processed and has been released.
I cant guarantee that it will hit your account tomorrow.
But it has been done. Its just been a admin problem.
You will see it in the transaction report tomorrow.
It may take a day longer to hit your account. We have no control over that.

Ryan, i am not even in the office now. I don't work in the admin department.
Most of them are currently in Amsterdam.
They will be back tomorrow morning.
I promise you it will be ok. I know you are worried. But you will see it will be back to you

Edward Barnes also sent me banking information for a wire transfer which I attached in the thread I posted.


On June 22, 2016 I received this reply from customer support....

Dear Ryan,

Thank you for contacting the Compliance Dept at Plustocks.

Your request to withdraw your funds has been received.

According to our records, your account has over $23,500 USD that has not been declared.

As part of our terms and conditions, we have policies and procedures to prevent money laundering.

This means that we cannot confirm the origin of these funds unless we have signed documentation that they came from your personal account(s).

Without this documentation funds, cannot be transferred out of your Plustocks account.

If you sign the attached Declaration Form, this will confirm that those funds originally came from your account and will be the final destination of those funds.

This is the fastest way to see your money returned to your account.

If you have any further questions, please contact us.


Best,
Compliance Dept.


On July 9, 2016 I received the following from Abe Reich....

Hello Ryan,

Sorry again for the night disturbance...

It has been very nice indeed talking to you.

Anyway - finally here is the Telex from the back-office, your heart-beat/powerhouse of your account.

It is a perfect tailor-made package adapted to your capacity.

In order to give you a round-figure withdrawal of 40 K with an Allocation-Key of 5.92, I have initiated a Telex based on a jump-start deposit of 6.75 K, just to give you some more space of maneuver and to embellish your withdrawal package.

A double figure (10-15K) will exponentially propel the Telex to an allocation-key of 1:8 to 1:10.


QUOTE
DATE PRINTED: July 8th, 2016 –NGHT FERRARE.CH.-
===========================================================================
====
Fiscal Control Year: 2016
Stauffacherstrasse 36 8200 Schaffhausen, SH S(A)RL C.HELV.
Telephone 41 225 – 180 - 519
Investments $35’500 (Fiscal)//CURR US//
Owner: CA // FALK R CID132072#
ALLOC.KEY $6'750.00//CURR US//
ACCT.MGR//REICH A.//STEETNMEIER J.//
PDT//++GZPRM++//PREVIEW//PDT ANNLZED RT 18,51% MIN//28,95% MAX// EXIT POINT//EVY 6 MTHS//P.OUT*ROI 0.5 TERMS FULL//199-X-
Net Worth $40'500.69//CURR US//Employees EL.SIGN//UPON EMITTCE
AUTH.: DANIEL GRAYSON, CEO
POSS OPP FULL INSR. 07/16
===========================================================================
====
INDUSTRY: FINANCE
Line of Business: CAPITAL INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT//FORGN RESD. NAT UK//BLTRL

END OF TEMP VIEW BACK-OFFCE
UNQUOTE

Vielen Danke - Abe Reich, MA Accountant & Analyst, Senior Financial Advisor, Client's Capital Securities (CCS) & Hedgefunds//AD-INSR//


Looking back now, they rarely responded to emails or have very little in writing. They would always phone me. The few emails I have to fall on are mostly related to signing a declaration of deposits. The only one I regrettably signed was the initial deposit for $12,000 US. Even after I wrote numerous emails complaining about the unauthorized transactions, they kept trying to get me to sign, stating they needed to verify the funds before releasing them. I refused to sign anything else.

Company representatives' emails: Leo Bowman <leo@plustocks.com>
Edward Barnes <edward.b@plustocks.com>
Abe Reich <abe@plustocks.com>

 

Attachments

  • IMG_0370.JPG
    75.6 KB · Views: 10
Do you have anything specifically shows a charge from GreyMountain, especially one which correlates to a deposit into the Plustocks account?
 
I have pictures from my credit card statement that shows charges from Altredo Ltd. and Grey Mountain Management. It would not let me attach all the files when I opened this case. Actually I do have a few pictures I took of screen shots that show deposits in my Plustocks account that would match my credit card charges. I can definitely upload some of them later this evening.
 
I've attached all the charges from Plustocks, Altredo Ltd. and Grey Mountain Management.
 

Attachments

  • 20161124_192715.jpg
    20161124_192715.jpg
    919.9 KB · Views: 12
  • 20161124_192947.jpg
    20161124_192947.jpg
    886.8 KB · Views: 10
  • 20161124_194237.jpg
    20161124_194237.jpg
    861.3 KB · Views: 12
  • 20161201_235059.jpg
    20161201_235059.jpg
    1,012.2 KB · Views: 11
I've attached a couple of screen shots from my Plustocks account. If you look at the dates and the amounts charged to my card they all match up with the deposit dates on my Plustocks account. I don't think I have a screen shot of the transaction from Altredo on May 5, 2016 for $500.00 US. The screen shots show all but one transaction from Altredo Ltd. and all from Grey Mountain Management.

Please let me know if you require any further information.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0343.JPG
    IMG_0343.JPG
    151 KB · Views: 9
  • IMG_0357.JPG
    IMG_0357.JPG
    182.5 KB · Views: 7
I only need one more thing. I've just emailed the formal invitation to Plustocks. Please post an update here Wednesday evening or Thursday morning to let me know if you've heard anything new from them.

Technically, the GreyMountain connection automatically qualifies them for a Scam label, but since this site escaped the initial screening for GreyMountain companies, I see no harm in a Traders Court case. This will let people know that there still are undetected GreyMountain-controlled websites out there. Since other GreyMountain companies already have more than enough guilty votes, Plustocks will only need 1 Guilty case to be labelled as a Scam.
 
Thank you! What about Altredo Ltd? If they qualify for the Scam label, how does this impact the odds of getting my money rightfully returned to me? I would like them to return all my money and I also would like them exposed to protect them any other future victims which I believe Forex is trying to do.

Could you please answer one other question. I found out after that binary options are illegal in Canada. How do companies such as Plustocks, Altredo Ltd. and Grey Mountain get away with this? I'm sure they are fully aware of this.
 
Since you didn't have any contact with Altredo, I'd guess that lumps them into the GreyMountain category too.

Considering how GreyMountain has been very unresponsive to others, I think they plan to keep the money no matter what. Hopefully the Manitoba Securities Commission is working with the ISA ( www.isa.gov.il/sites/ISAEng/CONTACT/Pages/default.aspx ), so try to get a complaint in with the ISA too.

You can add this information. Currently, Altredo.com uses a privacy service in Panama to protect the name and contact details of the people behind it. Back in February, this was the admin contact:

Registrant Name: BETZALEL AVRAHAM
Registrant Organization:
Registrant Street: HASHAKED 31
Registrant City: NAHARIYA
Registrant State/Province: NOT APPLICABLE
Registrant Postal Code: 22460
Registrant Country: IL
Registrant Phone: +972.543982553

Notice that the phone number correlates with the contact number on the website. The same phone number is on the Online-Prediction.com website.

Chargebacks are your best bet. The unauthorized transactions should be easy. The deposits you made could still be recoverable on the basis of broken promises and fraud. If you can't get this concept through to your bank, you can ask WinChargeback to take a look at those.

Don't forget that update in a day or two. I want to see this one get moved to Open Cases in time for a vote next week.
 
Thank you. The Manitoba Securities Commission contacted the ISA and they really don't care as long as Israelis aren't victimized. They fully know what's going on and refuse to investigate further or be of any assistance. Any suggestion to get the ISA to investigate or cooperate?

I have still yet to hear anything from any of the companies.
 
Back
Top