Beware! VATFX is an offshore broker! Your investment may be at risk.
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VATFX is a forex brokerage located in the British Virgin Islands. It allegedly provides a MT4 trading platform without a demo account option. Furtheremore, the brokerage is quite unclear with its trading conditions and some sections of its website do not match the information presented on others. From what we could gather there is a minimum deposit of $100 and a leverage of 1:400. The high leverage immediately strikes us as implausible for a regulated forex broker in Europe. The spread is stated to be 3 pips which is about twice the industry average.
VATFX regulation & safety of funds
VATFX is the brand logo, as well as the domain of the brokerages website, however, all services are said to be provided by Noble Trading which is supposedly owned by UNITED CAPITAL GROUP LTD, registered in the British Virgin Islands. However, in the FAQ section of the website we read the following: ” Noble Trading Solutions LLC is a company registered in United States of America and supervised by US Secretary of Treasury.” We must first say that the US Secretary of Treasury is not the regulatory body charged with overseeing forex trading in the US – that will be the NFA. After checking with the online registry of the NFA – we can safely confirm that no such company figures among the list of NFA members, nor is it registered with the CFTC. Such ill-minded attempts to mislead traders, coupled with the obvious lack of credible regulation, incline us to doubt whether potential clients of the brokerage are not open to substantial risk.
We urge traders to exclude such risk in trading by only associating with brokers regulated by prestigious regulatory agencies, such as the FCA and CySec, which require compliance with a number of strict rules that give significant assurance for the security of the clients funds.
The segregation of accounts is among the rules which are especially important in the trading world, because it drastically lowers the risk of possible commingling.
Another is the participation in a compensatory scheme by which the client’s losses will be covered in the unlikely case the broker goes bankrupt or attempts to swindle traders.
VATFX deposit/withdrawal methods and fees
Potential clients of the brokerage may deposit or withdraw via VISA and MasterCard, bank/wire transfer, Skrill, Neteller and PayPal. We must further say that we came across troublesome provision in the broker’s website. There are deposit fees for deposits via credit card in dollars. Depositing funds will be charged 2 per cent. Furthermore, there is a withdrawal fee of $30 for amounts lower than the threshold of $1000. Such fees may not be quite as excessive as what we have seen from other scammers, but coupled with the irregularities mentioned above, they act as an unambiguous red-flag regarding the brokerage.
We must also remind readers of all the ways a trader may test the brokerage’s intentions. Firstly, traders are advised to always put up only the required minimum deposit, instead of risking a bigger amount with no certainty. Afterwards, they may also try to withdraw a small amount in order to check for any unexpected fees or delays. Such fees and delays are usually the signs of a scammer.
How does the scam work?
Even though the forex trading world is extremely large and encompasses millions of people around the globe, the most common scamming is pretty simple and straightforward and as such – it’s not particularly daring to avoid. Here is a quick overview of how it is done:
Through clicking an ad with promises for fast money, you will be redirected to a website such as Bitcoin Evolution or The bitcoin miner where registration will require you to give your address, email and phone number. After sharing your personal information, you will being receiving calls from brokers, compelling you to invest with them and win big. After a few minutes hearing their pitches, you decide to deposit some $200-250. And just like that – the scammers take a fat commission from this initial deposit.
After they are done with you, senior scammers begin working you into putting even more money. They say it’s the only way to profit from trading even more. After making the mistake of investing even further, you’ll begin wanting to get out of this and withdraw what you have left.
Unfortunately, the con-artists have no such thing in mind. They will now begin persuading you to wait it out and not withdraw right now. The angle here is pretty blunt – traders have a limited time period for filing achargeback with their bank and get their money back. The “recovery department” will simply want to mislead you into missing thе crucial period and, along the way, losing any chance you might have of getting the money back.
What to do when scammed?
As was mentioned above, scamming is quite common in the trading world and, sadly, even you might suffer from it. In such an unfortunate case there still may be some available options for you.
You may contact your bank or credit card provider and file a chargeback. It is important here to take notice that both Visa and MasterCard are taking measures to combat unregulated forex brokerages by classifying all forex transactions as high risk. And with the case of VATFX – they are correct in doing so. Furthermore, supporting their intention with clear actions – MasterCard has increased the previous time period of six months for filing a chargeback to a year and a half. Visa is expected to do the same in December.
If, however, you have provided the broker with your credit card details, immediately cancel your credit card.
If you have given information regarding your online banking pass – you should switch it asap!
Beware of potential calls from self-described “recovery agencies”! They prey on scammed and vulnerable traders who are desperate to recover their losses. They will require an “up-front” payment to help you, but after paying them, no such help will be coming your way!
