Beware! Fort Trades 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.

 

Fort Trades is a CFD brokerage allegedly registered in Hong Kong. It states that it provides the MetaTrader 4 trading platform and an extremely generous leverage. Traders are extended a leverage of up to 1:500. Furthermore, there is a wide range of trading products from which to choose, including cryptos. The minimum deposit is $10 000 which is, however, in our view, excessive.

Fort Trades regulation & safety of funds

There is an extreme lack of clarity regarding the brokerage, its address and regulatory status. Although we read on the front page of the website that the brokerage is “regulated” by the Chinese China Securities Regulatory Commission, however, when clicking the license section of the website we come upon a license issued by the regulators in Belize.

However, we couldn’t find any mention of Fort Trades ltd in the online registry of the regulatory agency. Furthermore, such misleading information and irregularities highly incline us to suspect that the brokerage has ill-minded intentions towards traders. Such attempts are typical of scammers that are willing to risk their reputation if they can hustle out money from traders. Even though the brokerage states to be registered in Hong Kong, we cannot be sure because all of the information on the website could potentially be false.

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.

Fort Trades deposit/withdrawal methods and fees

Clients may deposit or withdraw only via Bank wire, MoneyGram, PerfectMoney or BitCoin. Popular e-wallets such as Skril or Neteller are missing. Going through the brokers website we couldn’t find any worrisome withdrawal conditions. As a matter of fact, the company states unambiguously in their terms that clients are free to withdraw at any time. However, having in mind all the irregularities mentioned above, we can’t be sure about the brokerage.

Precisely due to this we also remind readers of all the ways a they 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?

We strongly believe the best prevention of scamming would be well-informed traders that can easily deduce if a certain set-up is legitimate and if it is not. This would be done best when they know how scammers operate. Here is a description of the typical three steps:

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 motive here is quite straightforward – traders have a limited time window for filing a chargeback with their bank and get their money back. The “recovery department” will simply want to mislead you into missing this crucial period and, along the way, losing any chance you might have of getting the money back. Due to the high instances of fraud – both Visa and MasterCard have taken upon themselves to circumvent scammers in forex trading. Backing up their intentions – MasterCard has already increased  the previous time period of six months for filing a chargeback to a year and a half and Visa is expected to follow suit in December.

What to do when scammed?

As was mentioned above, scamming is quite the 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. 

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!

Top Forex Brokers

BrokerCountryRatingMin. DepositWebsite
US4.99/5$50 Click for a special offerWebsite
UK, Cyprus, Belize4.94/5$5 Click for a special offerWebsite
Australia, Cyprus, South Africa4.93/5$100 Click for a special offerWebsite
Cyprus, SVG4.8/5$100 Click for a special offerWebsite
UK, Cyprus, Australia, SA4.8/5$1 Click for a special offerWebsite

1 Comment

  1. Watch out guys! Fort Trades is a SCAM!!! They won’t let you to withdraw any funds. They deceived me for 10k USD and deleted my account after my withdrawal request. KEEP OUT & STAY AWAY!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *