Three Scam Brokerages Gone – ForexGen, SigmaForex, VelocityForex

Three Scam Brokerages Gone – ForexGen, SigmaForex, VelocityForex

(Hopefully For Good)
by Pharaoh

Suffering from an untreatable case of writing addiction.

I’d like to thank the FPA’s Scam Investigations Committee for letting me write this article. I’ve been waiting for this day to come for a long time now.

Back in the ancient days, when the Earth was still cooling and the FPA was still called ForexBastards, a very bad brokerage ripped off a trader for over $160,000. Felix posted what Rob wrote about this company in the forums. Suddenly, a bizarre fellow showed up in the forums here promoting these scammers. I did some searching and spotted the same guy spamming many dozens of web forums with fake advertisements pretending to be conversations between potential clients and happy customers. Once ForexBastards became the FPA and Scam Investigations were formalized, they scammed another trader, refused to even reply to messages from the trader or the FPA, and then attacked the FPA with hundreds of blogs filled with half-truths and obvious lies. Throughout all this time, the number of complaints against this broker was amazing. Last year, they tried to negotiate with the FPA to get the scam findings lifted, but broke off all contact when the FPA asked them to remove only 25 of the hundreds of remaining hate blogs.

A few weeks ago, I noticed that their website was down. I didn’t say anything publicly. Announcing that a scam broker had gone out of business only to have them pop up the following week with a bizarre story about how the FPA orchestrated the whole thing would be a waste of time and only feed their anti-FPA troll sites.

I dug deeper. Emails send to the broker didn’t bounce, but went unanswered. I found a small part of the website still functional and tried the live chat. Clicking on it gave me an “Your request could not be completed because the account you are trying to reach is disabled. ” error. I got word from a friend that their MT4 demo server seems to be offline.

I wish the scam cases could have been resolved, but this brokerage’s scam rotted it to the very core. Sometimes, a company is so bad that there isn’t really any hope of reform. I am proud to say that the multiple warnings issued by the FPA against this broker helped put an end to their reign of forex account destruction.

I now feel sufficiently confident that they are really gone that I’m willing to announce the death of the worst scam brokerage the FPA has ever dealt with (so far). I can’t even begin to express my happiness in announcing that

FOREXGEN IS DEAD!​

I’d like to thank every member of the FPA as well as every reviewer who told how badly they were mistreated. Combined actions to warn potential customers about these scammers helped to finally put them out of business.

Discussion article for all 3 cases against ForexGen.com

Complaint for Case 1 against ForexGen

Complaint for Case 2 against ForexGen

Complaint for Case 3 against ForexGen

FPA Scam Finding #1 against ForexGen

FPA Scam Finding #2 against ForexGen

FPA Scam Finding #3 against ForexGen

Note: This was when the FPA would investigate additional scam complaints against a company. Later, it was decided that a company which earned a Scam Finding did not deserve the resources required to investigate it several times.

Sometimes, you get a two for one special on good news. Sigma Forex was declared to be a scam in early 2010. Some people linked it to ForexGen, but there never was any solid proof. At about the same time that ForexGen.com’s website went down, I noticed that this broker’s website was also down. It looks like these companies really are somehow linked, since both websites had been moved to the same private server in a hosting facility.

This broker spent months skimming the edge of scam findings. Getting simple withdrawals took 2 months or more in many cases. FPA Investigator Tessa had to threaten them with a scam finding over and over again to pay money that they admitted that they owed. The brokerage had a business license in the UK, but wasn’t FSA registered. The license is about to be dropped since required reports are overdue.

Like Forex Gen, I didn’t want to announce this one and have them come back. It’s been long enough. Whether they really are part of ForexGen or not, I am thrilled to announce that

SIGMAFOREX IS DEAD!​

Once again, it was FPA members and reviewers who helped get the word out. Scam brokerages can only survive on money taken from people who haven’t heard about them.

It was companies like Sigma Forex and ForexGen that inspired me to write about Ethical Vengeance Against Scammers. The fall of these companies shows that not only did the FPA work against them, but that some traders used the methods I describe to to spread the word even farther.

Article about Sigma Forex

Original complaint against SigmaForex.com

FPA Scam Finding against SigmaForex

As I was preparing this, I got a message from the FPA’s AsstModerator to check another scam broker’s website. Their website isn’t giving an error, it’s pointing to a search engine. This company decided it didn’t like traders who made profits, so decided not to pay them.

So, after a first course of fried ForexGen, and a second course of slice SigmaForex, please allow be to present dessert. I am very happy to announce that

VELOCITYFOREX IS DEAD!​

The only thing that makes this one less than perfect is that Velocity was just some kind of IB/WL for StartForex. That company continues to operate.

Article about VelocityForex/StartForex

FPA Scam Finding against Velocity Forex

Be wary. These companies do look like they really are gone. They might come back under new names. They are more likely to come back under different names. If you have any more information about the people behind these companies, post it here for all to see.

This is what the FPA is all about. Bad brokers can no longer rob traders with impunity. They must pay money legitimately owed to traders. If they don’t, the FPA provides a place for traders to voice their individual complaints as well as to operate as a group to drive business away from those who would steal money owed to traders. It would be nearly impossible for any single person to drive a bad broker under. Only by operating together can we generate enough publicity to make it hard for scam brokerages to hide their crimes from potential new victims.

Have a nice day, unless you’re a scammer.
:D

Author Profile

Pharaoh

Pharaoh

Pharaoh is one of the FPA's oldest members (he claims to be about 4000 years old, but we think he's exaggerating a little). He says he created the world's first trading pair (Cow/Goat) while ruling ancient Egypt. Although there are no archeological or historical records to support this claim, we can't find anything to disprove it. Although he's not as active at the FPA as he used to be, he still holds the highest post count of all FPA members.

We don't understand how he does it, but Pharaoh has an uncanny ability to spot scams faster than anyone else we've seen. He claims to have known a number of companies were HYIP scams just by their domain names and that each time an examination of the website proved him right. He's also famous inside Forex Peace Army for warning about Ponzi schemes, even ones run by large and well established companies. He's been in a number of threads trying to warn people away from active Ponzi schemes. In spite of the efforts of shills and those gullible enough to believe in free money to discredit his words, he keeps up the warnings. In each case, the company ended up either disappearing with all client money or being shut down by the authorities.

In addition to investigating scams, Pharaoh has written a number of articles on a wide rage of trading topics, including forex broker selection, risk management, and how to select a good account manager. He's also covered other items of interest to traders, such as protecting wealth and purchasing precious metals.

Pharaoh claims to be a business consultant, but says he makes most of his income by running a globe-spanning hamster smuggling operation. If we are to believe him, he's currently working on a network of hamster tunnels under southern Europe.

Info

2704 Views 26 Comments

Comments

O
onewithzachy
13 years ago,
Registered user
YES YES YES.

We should also tell MetaQuotes - the maker of MetaTrader Trading Platform - that there's people out there that used their product to scam people.
They could and must do something about it - like perhaps not giving MT4 updates or something. Otherwise MetaTrader will be known/famous as trading platform to scam people.


As always : EXCELLENT JOB FPA.
B
bash 4 cash
13 years ago,
Registered user
The New Day has come

if every one of us(traders/investors) can just come together and support FPA beyond their current activity, i think the world will be a better place.
You cant imagine how many businesses and families whom this SCAMMER has put into eternal mess now.
May be FPA can work out a strategy to see how the victims can become a victor by punishing the peole behind this SCAMMING..

Thnak you the FPA Team
A
arcsaber
13 years ago,
Registered user
excellent FPA...

Thank You...
J
jamil.raza
13 years ago,
Registered user
Excellent job by FPA:)
M
Mr. Madruga
13 years ago,
Registered user
Why not?

Why not a scam investigation against metaquotes now? We already have all proofs from mt4 scam tools for bastards brokers :mad:
haha
Have metaquotes listed as scam would be funny.
S
SAMMYFX
13 years ago,
Registered user
Truly my heart goes out to the affected victims of these scammers. There are littte tests one can apply while choosing a broker. Traders should devote their time to know and apply these tests b4 handing their money to any broker.
B
BlueMental
13 years ago,
Registered user
Here is a thought.

Since Brokering is a public business, it would appear to me that if a broker was worth anything at all, that when one does a whois search on the domain name, that some relevant information that is traceable to a company would be a sign of integrity.

For example, if you do a whois search on MBTrading, it shows MBTrading Inc. as the Registrant, together with their actual physicall address. Dukascopy shows the same, and MIGBank shows the same.

These brokers are not hiding behind anything. They have not used a third party or tried in any way to withold any information about their domains. In fact, they have several telephone numbers and names whom one can contact for the relevant details required.

However, if you do a whois on any of the first two scam brokers, you get a domainbyproxy registrant. This in itself is not illegal at all, but if one were to be funding a company with thousands of dollars, it would seem to me to be very dubious that I would send a single cent in their direction.

The third one, velocityforex lists the following:-
Registrant:
Jack Earnest
1220 Augusta, Suite 600
Houston, Texas 77057
United States

This is at least better than a thirdparty registration, and at the very least it appears that the intent to be a scam was not there in the first place. At least they were not hiding from the start.

So here is the thought that I came up with, for any broker to be worth their salt, they could CHOOSE if asked by FPA to offer their company registration names and domain details that would show the traders that they have nothing to hide. Sort of like a add on token in the Forex Review page that shows 'click here for all to see' icon.

Not showing this data to the public would not infer that the company are scammers, but would reflect that they might not be as honest as one would hope.

It would also allow all to see if 4 brokers all run from the same domain and servers.

In short it would make life a touch more difficult for the scammers to get an uinfair advantage to sucker newbi traders.

BlueMental
V
venziro
13 years ago,
Registered user
This what I call As Real Security Agency

I think this was a great step foward by FPA. And I think world should declare FPA as a legal international Agency .... so FPA can work with interpol and world cybercrime to take out the scammer. Good jobs
R
RahmanSL
13 years ago,
Registered user
Well done Pharaoh and the FPA!

I know one can go to “Forex Brokers Reviews” section and read up on each Broker before choosing one as one’s trusted (hopefully) broker. This, believe me, is not only time consuming & rather frustrating (especially if one is not so versed in English) but an extremely daunting task (especially for Newbies) due to the opposing good & bad reviews posted there on every single brokers.

So, due to the vast experiences of the FPA crew, wouldn’t it be better to rank each broker with (for example):

Most Trusted – Trusted – Many Pending Issues – Doubtful – Suspect Scammer – Definite Scammer - Unknown

I think this was mooted (in one form or another) some time ago, but somehow (for some reason or other) the FPA seem reluctant to do it.
I believe this would lend more ammunition to the FPA in forcing otherwise un-cooperative brokers in attending to their genuine client(s)’s grievances.
Plus Newbies can just check out those first & second brokers and discard the rest.

P/S Pharaoh, where is that “Most Definite” scammer broker Forinvest listed? :)
S
sonny77
13 years ago,
Registered user
Hello there,

Thank you for your information

My Regards

Pardeep kumar ( Sonny )
K
KAMARUL IZWAN
13 years ago,
Registered user
Nailing Down The Forex Scam

Well Done Fpa For Nailing Down This Three Scam Brokerage,

Once Again Bravoooooooooo
O
oluwafiropo.ojo
13 years ago,
Registered user
Re: Scam Brokerage

Felix, and all the member of investigating committee, thank you very much for exposing these brokers.
P
Pharaoh
13 years ago,
Registered user
P/S Pharaoh, where is that “Most Definite” scammer broker Forinvest listed? :)

Ah, another of my, er, favorite brokers. I look forward to the day I get to write their obituary.

They are labeled as SCAM and listed here:


https://www.forexpeacearmy.com/forex-reviews/6278/www.forinvests.net


Also, for a broker that claims to not be in the Middle East, they've entered themselves in the Forex Expo Awards Broker of the Year competition in the Middle East category again.

Might be good to drop by the voting website and support a different broker.
B
believe77
13 years ago,
Registered user
Bravo FPA.
Excellent job.
Thank you
:)
R
RahmanSL
13 years ago,
Registered user
Hi Pharaoh,

I did went to that site, and...aiyoyoh...looks like our "beloved old friend" SwissAdvisor has been extremely busy voting for his scum company ForInvest with 555 votes against their nearest rival FXopen. For lack of other choices, I have put in my two bits vote for FXopen.

Can't the FPA inform that organizing company that multiple voting was very obviously made by that scum ForInvest broker's own people, as no one in their right mind would vote for them?
B
BluePanther
13 years ago,
Registered user
Congrats to FPA!

Another dirty job cleaned up and put away - for good hopefully! Thanks to FPA!

Please show your support and spread the word.
Please show your support and donate! (if possible)

FPA - SUPPORT THE COMMUNITY THAT SUPPORTS YOU!
F
fullerd
13 years ago,
Registered user
wow, that sounds really good. I hope they never ever come back again. These groups ought to be removed from the face of the earth.
B
brucewhain
13 years ago,
Registered user
Well... I was actually sort of sad to see Velocity4X go because back in 2007 they were a really good broker based in Chicago. Then when the $5,000,000 thing came in they weren't able to scrape it together and sold a majority share (according to my understanding) to Gain Capital / Forex.com, one of the biggest brokers.

They retained offices in Chicago but the price feed was from Gain in NJ. As soon as trades started being handled in NJ the re-quotes began. it was like you had to nag them to open a trade. Gain Cap was nasty in other ways too: As soon as the change took place they notified us there would be no more hedging -this was long before the law - but were apparently not able to handle the coding problem involved in getting MT4 to disallow it. The price got really schizzy with spikes, probably artificially induced.

I know it was Gain Cap because I finally had to call and deal with them to get the account closed and get the money back. They were ok about that.

Must be they ran it into the ground and sold it to some REAL nerds.
R
rockydewantara
13 years ago,
Registered user
Yess FPA is The Best...
V
vinaynoah
13 years ago,
Registered user
I appreciate it FPA.

Well done. I am thankful for the fight you are doing against scammers. It’s good if you add a list in FPA website of trusted brokers that is recommended by FPA. I really confused to choose right broker.
A
amar_butt
13 years ago,
Registered user
Bravo!! weldone!! maladeyat!! excellent!! :) excellent piece of work. very well appreciated...... keep it up FPA team
M
m1refaat
13 years ago,
Registered user
WellDone

Well done Pharaoh and the FPA!
M
monkata
13 years ago,
Registered user
Nowadays it is not just about being a successful trader, searching and finding reliable broker is a big part of it, too. I appreciate FPA's work of keeping less scammers out there.
F
f-man
13 years ago,
Registered user
Who is next?

Which broker do you think will follow them?
S
shaunna75
13 years ago,
Registered user
Thanks for the info!

Thanks for the info! Please continue to update what traders have closed to avoid getting scammed.
R
RahmanSL
3 years ago,
Registered user
I forgot about this article by that Ancient One who created the first trading pair...i.e. camel/goat...back when he ruled upper and lower Egypt.

The below caught my attention which reminded me of soon-to-be EX-President Trump claiming his election lost was due to "massive frauds".
"...scam broker had gone out of business only to have them pop up the following week with a bizarre story about how the FPA orchestrated the whole thing..."