I'm terribly sorry to hear about your acquaintance's brother. I've seen several articles about suicides linked to the financial devastation caused by these scams.
Over the years, I've put large amounts of effort into warning people away from scam forex brokers, binary options trading in general, and investing in Ponzi schemes. Some people have thanked me. At least as many (probably more) told me I was an idiot for not believing in the broker or the investment that promised them free money. I stayed out of one suspicious investment thread that hit my radar last year since I couldn't quite get enough information to clearly label it as a Ponzi. I'll also admit that being tired of the abuse I get in threads like that one played a role in me standing back to wait for what I felt would be the inevitable disaster. It just claims to have lost all the money to some sort of alleged software glitch. I do feel a little guilty for my silence.
On the other hand, I often see people complain here in Scam Alerts about a broker. When that person is told to report it to the authorities, the most common reaction is "Why? They won't do anything." instead of "Yes, I've made reports to these places. Is there anywhere else I should send the information?"
Would you like to know the #1 reason the police and regulators appear to do nothing? It's because so few people bother to provide them with information. Do you think the FBI or CFTC want to file charges and go to trial (with all the time and expenses that would entail) without having enough evidence to have a very good chance of getting a conviction?
If you are a scam victim, you need to do 2 things:
1. OF COURSE you want your money back and you should do whatever it takes to get it back.
2. Report this problem.
The problem with many victims is that they fail in the second thing. So many scam victims either don't report because "The authorities won't do anything" or "I want to put this behind me." Not reporting to the authorities is exactly what the scammers want. Failure to report makes it easier for them to keep scamming. In my opinion, either of these excuses is exactly the same as saying "Now that they are done with me, I don't mind if they from others, including my friends, family, and neighbors."
The fact is that the FBI has one binary executive on the way to trial:
https://www.forexpeacearmy.com/comm...ig-option-is-scheduled-to-face-justice.58427/
And Israel has finally charged some binary operators:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israe...nt-against-alleged-binary-options-operatives/
Neither of these would have happened without a large number of victims providing as much evidence as possible to the authorities.
Don't just settle for complaints to the authorities. Cases can take years to build and the scammers never stop scamming. Complain in Scam Alerts. Complain in the FPA's reviews. This is one of the best ways to get the word out and reduce the number of victims. You can also complain to the press. Because of the research and publicity provided by
Simona Weinglass of the Times of Israel, binary options were banned in Israel and many other countries.
Where to complain about binaries? Start here:
The ISA -
www.isa.gov.il/sites/ISAEng/CONTACT/Pages/default.aspx
The FBI -
www.ic3.gov
The CFTC -
www.cftc.gov
The SEC -
www.sec.gov
eConsumer -
www.econsumer.gov
Your local financial regulators - ask your local police and bank or else
look them up here.
Any regulator or registry the binary company claims to belong to.
Some of these places you report to will give case/complaint numbers. Add those to your Scam Alerts thread so that other people complaining about the same company can refer to your complaints.
If you stand by silently, scammers will thank you. If you report the publicly and to the regulators, you save others and bring them one step closer to facing justice.
