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We the members of the Scam Investigations Committee of the Forex Peace Army have deliberated on all the evidence available to us and have reached a conclusion. It is our opinion that...
The FPA has been suspicious of the company known as International Foreign Currency for some time. When it was first added to the FPA's reviews, company representative Mike Kritch posted a review from the same location in the Bahamas as a 5 star review left by an alleged customer. When contacted, he claimed have have had a meeting with the customer in the Bahamas. We asked that this happy customer please leave a review after the trip was over. There never was another review from that person.
When other problems arose, negative reviews kept getting withdrawn as a condition for further negotiations on the issues. Despite this, the issues were never resolved. One reviewer even requested that a review be withdrawn because he had received legal threats from IFC over the contents of a review. The FPA never takes down reviews because of threats against the FPA, but sometimes reviews are taken down at the request of reviewers.
FPA members Jetset2009 and Thasler had a managed forex accounts with International Foreign Currency. It appears that IFC violated the terms of the LPOA for trading accounts. Mike Kritch also told Jetset2009 that his account could be wiped out in a single trade of 60 lots his account. Two weeks later, IFC initiated a trade of 60 lots wiped out the bulk of his $141,000 account.
Both FPA members involved as well as others the FPA was in contact tried to negotiate a reasonable settlement. They were met with delaying tactics and eventually silence.
After Kritch and Gallagher stopped replying to emails, FPA Investigator Gerard attempted to contact IFC on behalf of the traders who had lost so much. There was no response.
We further note that despite this company having an address in Boston, there is no current NFA registration for it.
We consider an account manager's failure to exercise proper precautions with client funds to be a breach of ethics. We consider failing to follow the guidelines from an LPOA to be a serious violation of ethics and also believe it is a violation of the law. We consider deliberately wiping out an account to be just as bad as refusing to return funds owed to a client. We also consider the interference with the FPA's reviews to be another breach of ethics. We leave it to the NFA to determine exactly which rules may have been violated by their failure to register.
Thus, we officially find that IFC is a scam. We offer International Foreign Currency the chance to resolve this issue by compensating JetSet2009 and Thasler and others for all losses due to improper management or deliberate losses incurred in their accounts. We will also require that IFC take steps to make sure that abuses of client accounts or violations of LPOAs never occur again. Additionally, IFC must promise to not interfere with the FPA's reviews in any way again.
We extend our sympathies to Jetset2009, Thasler, and others for the loss of their money. We thank FPA Investigator Gerard as well as FPA's AsstModerator for their efforts on this case.
IFC is hereby blacklisted by the Forex Peace Army. We urge traders not to place money with this company. We urge anyone who has an account managed by them to revoke their LPOA as quickly as possible. We hope that all the victims manage to find additional legal means to seek compensation.
Discussion thread for this scam finding
Original Complaint thread
The FPA has been suspicious of the company known as International Foreign Currency for some time. When it was first added to the FPA's reviews, company representative Mike Kritch posted a review from the same location in the Bahamas as a 5 star review left by an alleged customer. When contacted, he claimed have have had a meeting with the customer in the Bahamas. We asked that this happy customer please leave a review after the trip was over. There never was another review from that person.
When other problems arose, negative reviews kept getting withdrawn as a condition for further negotiations on the issues. Despite this, the issues were never resolved. One reviewer even requested that a review be withdrawn because he had received legal threats from IFC over the contents of a review. The FPA never takes down reviews because of threats against the FPA, but sometimes reviews are taken down at the request of reviewers.
FPA members Jetset2009 and Thasler had a managed forex accounts with International Foreign Currency. It appears that IFC violated the terms of the LPOA for trading accounts. Mike Kritch also told Jetset2009 that his account could be wiped out in a single trade of 60 lots his account. Two weeks later, IFC initiated a trade of 60 lots wiped out the bulk of his $141,000 account.
Both FPA members involved as well as others the FPA was in contact tried to negotiate a reasonable settlement. They were met with delaying tactics and eventually silence.
After Kritch and Gallagher stopped replying to emails, FPA Investigator Gerard attempted to contact IFC on behalf of the traders who had lost so much. There was no response.
We further note that despite this company having an address in Boston, there is no current NFA registration for it.
We consider an account manager's failure to exercise proper precautions with client funds to be a breach of ethics. We consider failing to follow the guidelines from an LPOA to be a serious violation of ethics and also believe it is a violation of the law. We consider deliberately wiping out an account to be just as bad as refusing to return funds owed to a client. We also consider the interference with the FPA's reviews to be another breach of ethics. We leave it to the NFA to determine exactly which rules may have been violated by their failure to register.
Thus, we officially find that IFC is a scam. We offer International Foreign Currency the chance to resolve this issue by compensating JetSet2009 and Thasler and others for all losses due to improper management or deliberate losses incurred in their accounts. We will also require that IFC take steps to make sure that abuses of client accounts or violations of LPOAs never occur again. Additionally, IFC must promise to not interfere with the FPA's reviews in any way again.
We extend our sympathies to Jetset2009, Thasler, and others for the loss of their money. We thank FPA Investigator Gerard as well as FPA's AsstModerator for their efforts on this case.
IFC is hereby blacklisted by the Forex Peace Army. We urge traders not to place money with this company. We urge anyone who has an account managed by them to revoke their LPOA as quickly as possible. We hope that all the victims manage to find additional legal means to seek compensation.
Discussion thread for this scam finding
Original Complaint thread
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