Beware! This is an offshore broker! Your investment may be at risk.
RECOMMENDED FOREX BROKERS
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Open trading accounts with at least two brokers.
Bitcoinoie is a CFD broker, focused on the crypto market, offering crypto CFDs with more than 50 coins, including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Ripple, Litecoin, Dash, Stellar, Monero, Lumens, NEM and EOS. The broker also offers CFDs on commodities, indices and stocks, but all of them are paired against Bitcoin or other crypto coins.
When tested with a demo account the BTC/USDT spread was about 34 – 35 USD, which is in line with the market average. BTC/USDT spread between 15 USD and 50 USD is considered acceptable. Bitcoinoie offers three different account types, but we are not told what is the minimum deposit requirement. Leverage with the crypto CFDs is caped at 1:5 and the whole service is offered on an overly simplified web based trading platform.
Bitcoinoie regulation & safety of funds
Bitcoinoie says it is owned and operated by SolutionsCM LTD., a company with a contact address in Bulgaria. In the same time in the contact section of the website we find the address of another company – ООО «САМДАР», which is based in Moscow, Russia. And things get even more interesting, because when you open a demo account, at first you are transferred to a crypto wallet page, that says to be operated by a third company – AAATrade. Here you are invited to buy crypto coins, before you get transferred to the Bitcoinoie web based trading platform, where you can trade CFDs.
Keep in mind that all legit brokers should hold a license by an official financial regulator in the country they are registered. We say that because after checking the registers of the Bulgarian Financial Supervision Commission, we were not able to find any of the above mentioned companies there.
On the other hand we have found a Cyprus Investment Firm – AAA Trade Ltd, registered by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). Unfortunately, we were not able to establish any connection between Bitcoinoie and AAA Trade Ltd as the only approved domain name with the Cyprus company is www.aaatrade.com.
This means Bitcoinoie is not authorized to act as white label of AAA Trade Ltd, the AAATrade crypto wallet web page is probably simply a clone page and Bitcoinoie is simply a unregulated broker with rather limited credibility.
Keep in mind, as well, that most often unregulated brokers are involved in scam, while all legit brokers, regulated by respected financial authorities, such as CySEC, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK or the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) are obliged to follow strict financial and ethical rules. In certain cases regulated brokers are even obliged to insure traders money.
Traders with FCA brokers for example are entitled to a compensation of 50 000 GBP in case the broker files for bankruptcy. A similar compensation mechanism with all CySEC brokers guarantees traders up to 20 000 EUR of their capital.
Bitcoinoie deposit/withdrawal methods and fees
You can fund your account at Bitcoinoie in various ways – with all major credit or debit cards like VISA and MasterCard, with a bank wire or with a number of e-wallets like UnionPay, Skrill, Neteller, QIWI, FasaPay, Yandex, GiroPay, Ideal Payments, SOFORT Payments, E-Comprocessing, UniPay, eMerchantPay and Paysafe Merchant Services. We should note that Bitcoinoie accepts deposits in Bitcoins as well.
However, be aware that there is a special trade volume requirement, attached as a condition to withdraw funds. The requirement is linked to the bonus, you will receive, when you open your trading account and is in the amount of 30 times the bonus plus your deposit. Mind that to reach such trading volume can be quite challenging even for professional traders.
How does the scam work?
There are many ways you can get scammed and yet the most popular is when you get hooked with an internet video, telling you how to get instantly rich by trading the crypto or the forex markets with an innovative peace of software or a cutting edge financial company. The video will most probably be on a scam website like Bitcoin Kiwi System that will transfer you to a scam broker if you decide to register.
And if you believe that your fortune is just a click away and you fill the small registration form, leaving your phone and e-mail, next you will receive a call by a “professional financial adviser”, who will convince you to invest just 250USD and start making money right away. And if you invest those 250 USD, your first trades will actually go great and most probably in less than day the money in your account will more than double.
However, do not full your self that you have necessarily made great trading decisions – your account will simply be manipulated, after all you have just registered with an unregulated, scam broker. And that is when you will receive yet another call, this time by a “senior account manager”, who being impressed by your trading performance, will advise you, that if you want to make real money, you will simply have to invest more – 10 000 USD for a start.
And then everything will seem fine until the day you decide to withdraw some money. It will turn out this is not possible, because of some obscure clause in the Terms and Conditions of the broker, according which, in order to withdraw, you will have to reach a certain trading volume, linked to the welcoming bonus, you have carelessly accepted in the beginning. It could be something else as well, but the bottom line is – you will not be able to withdraw any funds.
Keep in mind, as well, that at some point the scammers will ask you to send them copies of your ID and a proof of address (your last electricity bill for example). They will cite the anti-money laundering regulations. The truth, however, is that if you send them your personal information voluntarily, thy will have a much stronger case, when you file for a charge back with your credit card provider.
Besides, some scammers might even try to trick you to install Team Viewer on the pretext to help you with the installation of some trading software or with the funding of your account. If you agree to that, you are basically granting them full access to your PC and you might be sure they will get to your credit card number and the password for your online banking and will try to steal money form your bank account directly.
What to do if scammed?
Immediately file for a charge back with your credit card provider, but keep in mind, you will be able to do that within a 6 month period only.
If, for any reason you have given away your credit card number or the password for your bank account or if you have agreed to install Team Viewer, immediately cancel your credit card, delete Team Viewer and change the password for your online banking service.
Finally, if you have lost money to scammers, do not wast your time with the so called “recovery agencies”. They will just take an upfront payment and will leave you even more miserable.
