Original FPA Traders Court Submission:
I am submitting the case against: www.Investtechfx.com
My Case is: Statement regarding business dealings with Investtechfx by Fred Maseda
I first was made aware of Investtechfx in the summer of 2009 by a trusted friend who was already doing business with them trading foreign currencies. I decided to start trading and made a deposit of $1000 on July 28, 2009 to Investtechfx via American Express credit card through Moneybookers LTD and began trading using what is known as an Expert Advisor (EA) called FapTurbo. This is a computer program that analyzes the market and opens and closes trades for you based on the settings you enter into the program. It is commonly used in the financial markets and also accepted by Investtechfx as a legitimate trading tool.
My trading went reasonably well and I decided to increase my account balance which would also increase my potential profit. I deposited another $2000 into my account on August 13, 2009 via PayPal and continued to have success in trading. I deposited an additional $2000 on September 2, 2009 via PayPal to further increase profit potential. The staff at Investtechfx was very helpful in solving technical issues and the relationship was good. I did notice a few negative comments on various websites about Investtechfx but there were also positive ones as well so I continued trading. My son Thomas Maseda also was interested in trading and ultimately opened an account also.
For about the first year my trading success was mixed with success and failure with my account going up and down. By the summer of 2010 my son and I had developed a strategy that we individually put into practice and began to have much more success in our trading. There was nothing technical about it but was more of a philosophy about when to bail out of trades that were losing money. My account balance had grown to over $16,000.
Then on October 4, 2010 there was a spike in the market that netted me about $17,000 in about 30 seconds. My account was now over $32,000. It was a fluke for sure that could be compared to getting a hole-in-one in golf. Two days later I noticed that my EA was not making any more trades. I called Investtechfx to check on it and was told I would receive an email explaining the problem. The email was received on October 12, 2010 and stated:
“Please contact Alan from the Compliance Department at 416-628-1250 after 3 pm on Wednesday, October 13, 2010.”
I contacted Alan as directed and this is where the problems began.
Alan accused me of making illegal trades using more than one computer and said that I was doing what “no other man can do” with my trading and said that my account would have to be adjusted down. I explained as best I could what had happened and that I had done nothing wrong in my trading activities and that there was no justification for any downward adjustment. Alan said that he would have to wait for the trades to be investigated for illegal activity before we would be allowed to continue trading. He requested a screen capture of the trades involved which I provided along with an explanation of how I saw it happen on my computer screen.
I called my son and some other friends and found that they had the same spike in their trading as well and that their accounts were also disabled for trading. The account was never adjusted down but an agreement was required before I could start trading again. The agreement was to not withdraw any funds from my account at its present level plus 10% until October 31, 2011. I agreed. The EA was not performing properly and Alan then said that GIB Interbank wanted to raise the amount to 15% before it would be allowed to operate again. The agreement was explained verbally and was never documented other than an email from me stating:
“Alan, As discussed, I agree to leave my account balance as of 11/8/2010 plus 15%, which equals $38,500, in my account #14224 with Investechfx until October 31st, 2011. It is further understood that I will be allowed to use my Expert Advisor in trading and be allowed to withdraw at any time any amount above $38,500 with no problems or delays. I look forward to recommencing trading on Tuesday 11/9/2010. Thank you, Fred Maseda”.
I was able to resume trading on November 10, 2010. The problem was that my EA was not performing properly and no longer could close trades automatically. Without getting too technical I was forced to trade using my EA only to open trades and had to sit in front of my computer every time there was a trade open and had to close it manually. Since my EA could not close a trade my trading positions were very vulnerable to large losses because I could not use a stop-loss that would close a trade automatically when losses arrived a set level. I was not happy about this handicap that was placed on my trading but decided to work with it anyway.
I continued to trade and continued to have success even though I had to sit in front of the computer and pay close attention to all trades. I passed the $38,500 in the agreement and decided to start withdrawing money in mid December. Since I had never withdrawn any funds from my account I called Alan to make sure everything was in order. He said to send him an email with the request. I followed up this conversation with an email on December 10, 2010 stating:
“Hi Alan, Just a follow up on our phone conversation. I have surpassed the agreed amount of $38,500 to leave in my account until 31 October 2011. I would like to begin withdrawing funds from my account as it builds up in increments of approximately $7500. I hope this amount of $7500 is acceptable to your system. I plan on using my PayPal account for this process. I will notify you via email when the first withdrawal is requested. FYI my current plans are to keep my account balance somewhere between $40,000 and $50,000. The first request will probably be sometime next week. Please let me know if there are any special instructions for using PayPal for withdrawals. Regards, Fred”
I then sent in my first request to withdraw funds on December 15, 2010 stating:
“Alan, Please withdraw $7500 USD from my account #14224 and deposit it into my PayPal account. My email address for PayPal is fredmaseda@hotmail.com. Thank you and have a nice Holiday. Fred Maseda”
Two days later I discovered that my account was again disabled. I called Alan and he said that there was a problem with my account and he was trying to work it out with the “Clearing Department”. I asked him if it was GIB Interbank and he said that it was. My account was disabled until I was able to begin trading again on January 6, 2011.
In the meantime I did some in depth research on GIB Interbank and found them to be a false entity. There is no such company in London or in all of the United Kingdom. Their website does not function fully and if you click on the Automatic Trading button it goes to Investtechfx website. The domain is owned by some obscure entity called Discrete Domains located in Portugal. Investtech has also recently dropped the GIB portion of the name GIB Interbank and now only calls it Interbank.
I had also been trying to find out the status of my withdrawal request and was finally told by Investecttechfx staff that due to the Holidays there was a backlog of requests but that they would eventually be processed. Finally after delay upon delay I spoke with Alan on January 14, 2011 and he told me that my withdrawal request was not approved and that there was a problem with my account. He first said it was due to “high frequency trading”. When I told him this was nonsense because all I ever traded was usually no more than two or three trades per day he changed it to that the “Clearing house” did not believe that I could be so successful. He insisted that he was on my side on this issue but blamed it all on GIB Interbank (I almost started laughing at this point but did not confront Alan on this). He also stated that there was an issue with “the insurance” which would have to pay the trades if GIB Interbank would not honor the trades. He next stated that they were willing to give me my deposit of $5,000 but that I would have to agree not to withdraw any more funds, no matter how much more money I accumulated in my account, until October 31, 2011, which is the date of the first agreement. I told him this was unacceptable and that the same “problem” would exist at that date with my account. I further explained that this was a breach of our original agreement and I wanted to close my account and withdraw all of my funds. We came to an impasse and I told him I would be taking legal action. He said my account would be frozen if I did not make the new agreement. We left it at that. On January 16, 2011 I emailed Alan to close my account stating:
“Alan,I am sorry the conversation turned out the way it did on Friday but the options you gave me left me no choice. Just to review. I submitted a request to withdraw funds from my account on 12/15/2010. After weeks of delay you said my withdrawal request for $7,500 was not approved because there was something wrong with my account. When I asked specifically what was wrong with my account you told me it was that the success that I was having trading was not believable by GIB Interbank, your clearing house. You further stated that I could only withdraw my $5,000 deposit if I agreed to not withdraw any more funds until October 31, 2011 regardless of any further earnings. You went on to state that if I did not agree to this proposal that I could not withdraw my deposit or any funds until October 31, 2011 and that my account would be disabled. If you consider that there is something wrong with my account now the same perceived problem will exist in October if I continue to trade successfully. So what would change from your point of view? I have no reason to believe that you would allow me to withdraw funds and we would be having the same conversation all over again.
This is unfair, unethical and perhaps not legal. I have done nothing wrong or unethical in my trading activities with Investtechfx and have been successful only through experience and using good judgment despite your disabling some of the features of my EA. Our agreement dated 11/8/2010 states: "As discussed, I agree to leave my account balance as of 11/8/2010 plus 15%, which equals $38,500, in my account #14224 with Investechfx until October 31st, 2011. It is further understood that I will be allowed to use my Expert Advisor in trading and be allowed to withdraw at any time any amount above $38,500 with no problems or delays. I look forward to recommencing trading on Tuesday 11/9/2010. Thank you, Fred Maseda" You have not lived up to your part of the agreement so I consider that agreement null and void. If I am not allowed to withdraw funds as quickly as they accumulate in my account there is no point in having the account. Additionally, I have paid Investechfx $14,743.20 in commissions since I opened my account in August of 2009. Taking all of this into consideration I have decided to discontinue doing any business with Investtechfx and wish to withdraw all of the funds in my account #14224 in the amount of $52,261.60 USD. Please have this amount transferred to my PayPal account as soon as possible. Fred Maseda”
Investtechfx now claims not to be a broker but merely a “platform”. They are doing some slippery maneuvering trying to stay ahead of getting caught in an illegal situation. I do not know the laws of Canada but this activity seems fraudulent to me. It will take someone with good computer skills and internet expertise to get these guys. One very valuable website for LOTS of background on Investtechfx is: https://www.forexpeacearmy.com/public/review/www.investtechfx.com
These guys are the best I have found on exposing Investtechfx scam operations and know the FOREX business.
New thread in the Scam Alerts Folder:
Review is submitted by Gonzzo on 01/26/11
The company was first contacted about the issue on 12/10/10 the last contact was on 01/26/11
Details: I have contacted Alan numerous times by phone regarding withdrawing funds. The final conversation was a pure stonewall. Alan just said "You cannot withdraw any funds until October. That's it."
Company representatives' emails: Alan <investtechfx3@yahoo.com>
I am submitting the case against: www.Investtechfx.com
My Case is: Statement regarding business dealings with Investtechfx by Fred Maseda
I first was made aware of Investtechfx in the summer of 2009 by a trusted friend who was already doing business with them trading foreign currencies. I decided to start trading and made a deposit of $1000 on July 28, 2009 to Investtechfx via American Express credit card through Moneybookers LTD and began trading using what is known as an Expert Advisor (EA) called FapTurbo. This is a computer program that analyzes the market and opens and closes trades for you based on the settings you enter into the program. It is commonly used in the financial markets and also accepted by Investtechfx as a legitimate trading tool.
My trading went reasonably well and I decided to increase my account balance which would also increase my potential profit. I deposited another $2000 into my account on August 13, 2009 via PayPal and continued to have success in trading. I deposited an additional $2000 on September 2, 2009 via PayPal to further increase profit potential. The staff at Investtechfx was very helpful in solving technical issues and the relationship was good. I did notice a few negative comments on various websites about Investtechfx but there were also positive ones as well so I continued trading. My son Thomas Maseda also was interested in trading and ultimately opened an account also.
For about the first year my trading success was mixed with success and failure with my account going up and down. By the summer of 2010 my son and I had developed a strategy that we individually put into practice and began to have much more success in our trading. There was nothing technical about it but was more of a philosophy about when to bail out of trades that were losing money. My account balance had grown to over $16,000.
Then on October 4, 2010 there was a spike in the market that netted me about $17,000 in about 30 seconds. My account was now over $32,000. It was a fluke for sure that could be compared to getting a hole-in-one in golf. Two days later I noticed that my EA was not making any more trades. I called Investtechfx to check on it and was told I would receive an email explaining the problem. The email was received on October 12, 2010 and stated:
“Please contact Alan from the Compliance Department at 416-628-1250 after 3 pm on Wednesday, October 13, 2010.”
I contacted Alan as directed and this is where the problems began.
Alan accused me of making illegal trades using more than one computer and said that I was doing what “no other man can do” with my trading and said that my account would have to be adjusted down. I explained as best I could what had happened and that I had done nothing wrong in my trading activities and that there was no justification for any downward adjustment. Alan said that he would have to wait for the trades to be investigated for illegal activity before we would be allowed to continue trading. He requested a screen capture of the trades involved which I provided along with an explanation of how I saw it happen on my computer screen.
I called my son and some other friends and found that they had the same spike in their trading as well and that their accounts were also disabled for trading. The account was never adjusted down but an agreement was required before I could start trading again. The agreement was to not withdraw any funds from my account at its present level plus 10% until October 31, 2011. I agreed. The EA was not performing properly and Alan then said that GIB Interbank wanted to raise the amount to 15% before it would be allowed to operate again. The agreement was explained verbally and was never documented other than an email from me stating:
“Alan, As discussed, I agree to leave my account balance as of 11/8/2010 plus 15%, which equals $38,500, in my account #14224 with Investechfx until October 31st, 2011. It is further understood that I will be allowed to use my Expert Advisor in trading and be allowed to withdraw at any time any amount above $38,500 with no problems or delays. I look forward to recommencing trading on Tuesday 11/9/2010. Thank you, Fred Maseda”.
I was able to resume trading on November 10, 2010. The problem was that my EA was not performing properly and no longer could close trades automatically. Without getting too technical I was forced to trade using my EA only to open trades and had to sit in front of my computer every time there was a trade open and had to close it manually. Since my EA could not close a trade my trading positions were very vulnerable to large losses because I could not use a stop-loss that would close a trade automatically when losses arrived a set level. I was not happy about this handicap that was placed on my trading but decided to work with it anyway.
I continued to trade and continued to have success even though I had to sit in front of the computer and pay close attention to all trades. I passed the $38,500 in the agreement and decided to start withdrawing money in mid December. Since I had never withdrawn any funds from my account I called Alan to make sure everything was in order. He said to send him an email with the request. I followed up this conversation with an email on December 10, 2010 stating:
“Hi Alan, Just a follow up on our phone conversation. I have surpassed the agreed amount of $38,500 to leave in my account until 31 October 2011. I would like to begin withdrawing funds from my account as it builds up in increments of approximately $7500. I hope this amount of $7500 is acceptable to your system. I plan on using my PayPal account for this process. I will notify you via email when the first withdrawal is requested. FYI my current plans are to keep my account balance somewhere between $40,000 and $50,000. The first request will probably be sometime next week. Please let me know if there are any special instructions for using PayPal for withdrawals. Regards, Fred”
I then sent in my first request to withdraw funds on December 15, 2010 stating:
“Alan, Please withdraw $7500 USD from my account #14224 and deposit it into my PayPal account. My email address for PayPal is fredmaseda@hotmail.com. Thank you and have a nice Holiday. Fred Maseda”
Two days later I discovered that my account was again disabled. I called Alan and he said that there was a problem with my account and he was trying to work it out with the “Clearing Department”. I asked him if it was GIB Interbank and he said that it was. My account was disabled until I was able to begin trading again on January 6, 2011.
In the meantime I did some in depth research on GIB Interbank and found them to be a false entity. There is no such company in London or in all of the United Kingdom. Their website does not function fully and if you click on the Automatic Trading button it goes to Investtechfx website. The domain is owned by some obscure entity called Discrete Domains located in Portugal. Investtech has also recently dropped the GIB portion of the name GIB Interbank and now only calls it Interbank.
I had also been trying to find out the status of my withdrawal request and was finally told by Investecttechfx staff that due to the Holidays there was a backlog of requests but that they would eventually be processed. Finally after delay upon delay I spoke with Alan on January 14, 2011 and he told me that my withdrawal request was not approved and that there was a problem with my account. He first said it was due to “high frequency trading”. When I told him this was nonsense because all I ever traded was usually no more than two or three trades per day he changed it to that the “Clearing house” did not believe that I could be so successful. He insisted that he was on my side on this issue but blamed it all on GIB Interbank (I almost started laughing at this point but did not confront Alan on this). He also stated that there was an issue with “the insurance” which would have to pay the trades if GIB Interbank would not honor the trades. He next stated that they were willing to give me my deposit of $5,000 but that I would have to agree not to withdraw any more funds, no matter how much more money I accumulated in my account, until October 31, 2011, which is the date of the first agreement. I told him this was unacceptable and that the same “problem” would exist at that date with my account. I further explained that this was a breach of our original agreement and I wanted to close my account and withdraw all of my funds. We came to an impasse and I told him I would be taking legal action. He said my account would be frozen if I did not make the new agreement. We left it at that. On January 16, 2011 I emailed Alan to close my account stating:
“Alan,I am sorry the conversation turned out the way it did on Friday but the options you gave me left me no choice. Just to review. I submitted a request to withdraw funds from my account on 12/15/2010. After weeks of delay you said my withdrawal request for $7,500 was not approved because there was something wrong with my account. When I asked specifically what was wrong with my account you told me it was that the success that I was having trading was not believable by GIB Interbank, your clearing house. You further stated that I could only withdraw my $5,000 deposit if I agreed to not withdraw any more funds until October 31, 2011 regardless of any further earnings. You went on to state that if I did not agree to this proposal that I could not withdraw my deposit or any funds until October 31, 2011 and that my account would be disabled. If you consider that there is something wrong with my account now the same perceived problem will exist in October if I continue to trade successfully. So what would change from your point of view? I have no reason to believe that you would allow me to withdraw funds and we would be having the same conversation all over again.
This is unfair, unethical and perhaps not legal. I have done nothing wrong or unethical in my trading activities with Investtechfx and have been successful only through experience and using good judgment despite your disabling some of the features of my EA. Our agreement dated 11/8/2010 states: "As discussed, I agree to leave my account balance as of 11/8/2010 plus 15%, which equals $38,500, in my account #14224 with Investechfx until October 31st, 2011. It is further understood that I will be allowed to use my Expert Advisor in trading and be allowed to withdraw at any time any amount above $38,500 with no problems or delays. I look forward to recommencing trading on Tuesday 11/9/2010. Thank you, Fred Maseda" You have not lived up to your part of the agreement so I consider that agreement null and void. If I am not allowed to withdraw funds as quickly as they accumulate in my account there is no point in having the account. Additionally, I have paid Investechfx $14,743.20 in commissions since I opened my account in August of 2009. Taking all of this into consideration I have decided to discontinue doing any business with Investtechfx and wish to withdraw all of the funds in my account #14224 in the amount of $52,261.60 USD. Please have this amount transferred to my PayPal account as soon as possible. Fred Maseda”
Investtechfx now claims not to be a broker but merely a “platform”. They are doing some slippery maneuvering trying to stay ahead of getting caught in an illegal situation. I do not know the laws of Canada but this activity seems fraudulent to me. It will take someone with good computer skills and internet expertise to get these guys. One very valuable website for LOTS of background on Investtechfx is: https://www.forexpeacearmy.com/public/review/www.investtechfx.com
These guys are the best I have found on exposing Investtechfx scam operations and know the FOREX business.
New thread in the Scam Alerts Folder:
Review is submitted by Gonzzo on 01/26/11
The company was first contacted about the issue on 12/10/10 the last contact was on 01/26/11
Details: I have contacted Alan numerous times by phone regarding withdrawing funds. The final conversation was a pure stonewall. Alan just said "You cannot withdraw any funds until October. That's it."
Company representatives' emails: Alan <investtechfx3@yahoo.com>
