Beware! Formax Time 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.
Formax Time or FMTM says to be a forex and CFD broker, focused on the crypto currency market. We found 18 crypto coins in their portfolio, among which popular coins like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Monero, Zcash, Dash, NEM, Bitcoin Gold and Dark Coin.
Formax Time says they support the MetaTrader4 platform, but when we tried to download it and test their trading conditions with a demo account, we were offered a link for a trail version of MetaTrader5 from the website of MetaQuotes – the company that develops MT4 and MT5, which is in no way indicative of the trading conditions Formax Time actually offers.
In addition we have some very serious concerns about the legitimacy of the broker as a whole, which we will discuss in the following paragraphs.
Formax Time regulation & safety of funds
Formax Time is owned and operated by FORMAX TIME LTD – a company base on St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which is an offshore jurisdiction in West Indies.
Formax Time also says to have offices in Singapore, Belize, the Philippines and New Zealand and that is fine, but unfortunately they are not regulated by any major financial authority, such as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK or the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).
Have in mind that investing with a unregulated company is associated with huge risks, because with such brokers the safety of your funds depends solely on the integrity of the people running them.
With well regulated brokers things look different. Licensed brokers have to file regular reports, to allow external audits, to maintain at all times a certain level of operational capital, to keep all clients money in a segregated, protected from creditors account, and in certain cases even to insure traders capital.
With FCA brokers for example you can receive up to 50 000 GBP of your trading capital back in case your broker files for bankruptcy. Similarly, if you have a trading account with an CySEC broker the protected amount is 20 000 EUR.
Formax Time deposit/withdrawal methods and fees
In their presentation Formax Time does not tell us what payment methods do they accept, but they say they will send you their bank details once you submit an application to open an account. This could mean Formax Time accepts only bank transfers, which is unusual, as most brokers accept payments with major credit and debit cards like VISA and MasterCard and popular e-wallets like Neteller and Skrill.
Also with Formax Time, the minimum deposit requirement is unusually high – have in mind that most brokers would ask for an initial investment not exceeding 250 USD.
How does the scam work?
Usually scam brokers get to their victims through the so called robo scam websites, like Bitcoin Method and Bitcoin Revolution, which are especially designed to hook gullible investors to register and leave their e-mail and phone.
On a robo scam website you will probably watch a rather convincing video, telling you how easily you can get rich, investing with a “cutting- edge” trading platform or app.
And if you register, you will be instantly transferred to the web site of an unregulated, offshore scam broker, where you will be asked to deposit your first 250 USD.
Besides, your first trades will actually be quite successful and the money in your account will probably double in a day or two. This, however, will happen simply because your account will be manipulated, so that you can get more easily convinced to invest a more substantial sum.
And that is when you will receive a call from your “senior account manager”, who will professionally explain, that if you want to make some real money, you will simply have to invest more – at least 10 000 USD.
Investing those money as well, in the beginning everything will look fine until the moment you decide to withdraw some of your funds. It will suddenly turn out this is not possible, because your right to withdraw is linked to some minimum trade volume requirement and probably to the welcoming bonus you have so carelessly accepted, when you opened your account in the first place. Of course, the story might be different, but the bottom line will be the same – they will find a way to refuse to send you any money back.
What to do if scammed?
Immediately file for a charge back with your credit card company. Mind that if you are a MasterCard holder you have 540 days to that. Recently MasterCard changed their charge back policy exactly because of the numerous frauds by scam brokers. VISA is planning to adopt similar measures in December.
In case you have told scammers your credit card number or your online banking password, immediately block your credit card and change the password for your online banking service.
In the unfortunate event you have been defrauded and have lost money to scammers, do not seek the services of the so called recovery agencies. Those guys will simply collect an upfront payment and you will not hear form them again.
