Is Your Trading Room (YTR) GPT program a ponzi scheme?

[Daytrader50]

Guys and Gals, I am very grateful for all of you sharing what happened to you because I was just "invited" to join a prop group based in Austrailia but has offices in California(hhmmmmm......) and they are called Vertue trading and a guy named Alan Vertue owns it. They clear thru a company called Star Financial, and have an educational program called "The diamond program." IS THIS THE VERY SAME CO. THAT SOME OF YOU POSTERS GOT SCAMMED WITH, JUST A DIFFERENT NAME, SAME PEOPLE? I too was scammed out of money by getting involved in a prop room called Velez Capital management and when the company suddenly went bankrupt, The owner, Oliver Velez, claimed his silent partner fleeced the company. How can anyone take all the trading capital out of a multi million dollar acct without the other partners signature? So they opened up and under a different name said they were going to make us all "whole" again so we don't pay for one mans dishonesty. This was a ruse to buy time. They then went bankrupt again and opened up a 3rd company! No one got anything back. This sounds like the same thing. I was looking for what the angle was but when I signed up for vertue tradings free trial and had access to the "special members section" oooooooooohhhhh......I read that you put up no money, keep 75% of the profit...and all you do is...PAY FOR THE EDUCATION! RED FLAG! So I could never give this co money after hearing this from all of you as it sounds like the same players. Is it? By the way this is my first post here and all of you seem to be really good people. Nice to meet you all. I am in Florida, USA by the way.

 

[Daytrader50]

Amen to that Pharoah. When I was caught in the same scheme here in the states, when the prop room changed its name "Because we want to market it better in Japan" I knew instantly this was a fraud and I expected lawsuits to come flying,since we had members over 1000 maybe 2000 strong all over the world. But nothing happened! They all waited to give the company time to remove all the money in the accounts and scrape every last nickel out without raising suspicion, and when I contacted an old man who on his own ran a newsletter for us members about what I thought went on, I was greeted with many,many "take it easy" Give Oliver a chance" all the way to "Do you really think a best selling author would defraud all of us?" I was amazed that 1000 people couldn't see that the emperor was not wearing any clothes. Only me! But I wasn't about to invest thousands for a lawyer on my own, and then have the other 1000 people benefit. So I waited till the second company went under. Then complaints slowly started coming out. But 95% of the members just kept waiting as if some magic genie of justice was going to re-imburse them. I assured them all in the newsletter that we have so much strength in numbers, and after a while of me pleading every weak to do something as a group, even the newsletter writer asked me to back off and let whomever wanted to contact me, email me. And I did. Not one person asked me to testify or write a letter, nothing! And Oliver and all the crooks who backed him are living off the $10,000 ,times 1000 members(you do the math)all because everyone waited for someone else to act. Surely the main guys would be doing time if just a couple dozen people banded together. This co. was very shrewd. Almost Hitler like genius. Why? They knew they could get away with it...and they did!!! Just a matter of making one website disappear, claim someone else is at fault and then declare "I wont rest till all of you are made whole again." And then have the gall to have a facebook page getting more prospects I mean lambs ready for the slaughter. Wash, rinse and repeat. I hate to say it but it shows me that maybe day traders as a rule are a very lazy lot if no one thought a 10-12 thousand dollar loss was worth doing anything about. You cant have 1000 "witnesses" sign a petition and expect to have even the best lawyer get you off. But as I said, they were geniuses. Just very greedy and sick.

 

[Pharaoh]

Sadly, this sort of thing happens all the time.

Victims either can't admit that they've been ripped off, or give up after one or two requests to get paid.

Worse, I'll wager that at least a few of them will blame you. It's very common when a ponzi scheme unravels for the victims to say that those who reported it somehow ruined their "perfect" investment.

This is why a lot of bad brokers throw up obstacles to withdrawals. Take 1000 people who have $1000 in a brokerage and want to withdraw it. Ignore their initial withdrawal requests and then make the ones who complaint jump through hoops for at least a month. I'd be amazed if more than 500 of them persisted. In general, at least 500 will quietly give up, leaving the broker with half a million in cash. Probably less than 10 will even bother to try to complain to regulators.

One of the biggest reasons scammers prosper is because victims don't fight.

 

[Daytrader50]

Yes, victims dont fight hard enough. Yet its funny, in certain countries they would kill you for stealing $20 worth of____anything from them. Just to make a point. But to be fair, we have no one, no regulators website or any 800 number to call to get the DA in your state on the line. Half the problem is that we seem to have no budget for enough Internet police. I was told in 2004 that almost all Federal agencies havent got enough agents to keep track of potential terrorists communicating on the Internet and that takes first priority. I say it might be true, but so what? When I was on Wall Street 17 years ago, there were so many brokers doing wrong and so many scam firms out there , some made millions before they even got a letter from the NASD or SEC. I dont understand who protects the public on the Internet. For Gods sake, take another $2 a week out of everyone's paycheck and start a task force so big no one would think of doing a straight out scam where they close up and ignore you ever again. Even on Wall st., when they did prosecute 1 out of 50 crooked firms, they almost never got jail time. I no longer can tell my children honestly that crime does not pay. Unless you have really lousy lawyers. lol

 

[donne]

I was with Verture Trading until they lost 10% of my funds. I gave notice of 30 days, (as ws pointed out to me by Nic) and the account closed. Next month, $299 taken out. This was refunded and Nic said he would ensure it wouldnt happen again. ded to
As of 27 th Sept 2013, $299 was taken from my Mastercard account.

All emails and phone calls to Verture since then have not been responded to. Jeff Parkes,the sales rep: Nada. A call to Nic's phone goes dead within seconds. Emails to support and to account email address: Nada.
I called the number on their website and got a completely different company.

Any advice and comments appreciated. Is there a regulatory body in Australia I can complain to?

 

[donne]

Just after posting re money taken from my account by Verture, Nic phoned me and said the money was being refunded. Apparently no emails got through to him.
As for any other issues with Verture trading addressed here, I suggest due diligence.

 

[Pharaoh]

If it happens again, call your credit card issuing bank. Ask to speak to the fraud department and discuss the option of a chargeback.

Imagine if a company "accidentally" kept billing 20 former clients and only refunded the ones who complained. If even 1 in 20 didn't notice, this could be profitable.

 

[saroq]

My opinion is don't have any dealings with Verture Trading (Vertue Trading | Online Forex Trading Academy Australia) You can find my posts about them by Googling "forex odyssey trading system" I traded their PayMaster and Escalator EAs exactly as their system directed for 13 weeks and never had a week where I made money. Their system / strategy is not worth the money they ask you to pay and their education is 3rd rate at best.