Fraudulent online trading platforms boast a very professional design and look. They try to arouse the curiosity of potential victims, claiming to have a found a way to get rich quick.
They offer a range of financial products that are no longer limited to binary options, forex trading and CFDs. They also offer regular investments (e.g. currencies, shares) as well as alternative investments (gold, precious metals, etc.) and virtual currencies. Their offers adjust to the trends and generally target the product that elicits the most media interest.
These platforms usually target their victims by means of fake advertisements on social media, in which the identity of well-known individuals is used without their knowledge. After clicking on the fake ad published on social media and having given their contact details, the victims are usually swiftly called by fraudsters presenting them with an investment offer.
These platforms act very aggressively. Scammers even try to persuade victims to allow them to take control of their computer remotely. They take this opportunity to carry out the transactions themselves. The fraudsters also try to persuade their victims to invest increasingly higher amounts of money.
Do you suspect that the offer being made to you may be fraudulent?
Have you been the victim of investment or credit fraud and you don’t know what to do?
If so, please contact the FSMA directly.
Don’t fall into the trap, follow our recommendations!
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Always check the identity of the person or company contacting you (have you checked the name, registered office, home country, contact details and whether it holds an authorization to make you this type of offer?).
If you cannot clearly establish the company’s identity, it should not be trusted. If the company is based outside the European Union, you should be aware of the difficulty of legal recourse in the event of a dispute.
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Be wary as well of ‘cloned firms’.
These are companies that pass themselves off as different, lawful companies even though they in fact have no connection with the latter. These are in fact committing identity theft. A close look at the email addresses or contact details for the companies in question may prove useful in order to detect potential fraud of this sort.
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Always ask the person contacting you to provide clear and comprehensible information.
Never invest if you do not understand precisely what is being offered. Be sure always to verify the information you are given.
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Be wary, too, if the company or its website is fairly new.
This is often the case with such fraudulent online trading platforms, which are generally less than a year old.
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Be wary if your contact person asks you to transfer money to a bank account in a country that is different from the one where the company’s registered office is located.
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Lastly, be wary of (promises of) disproportionate returns.
If a return seems too good to be true, it usually is.