Beware! Best Swift 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.
Best Swift is a MT4 forex brokerage with a lack of clarity regarding its location. The brokerage provides the foremost trading platform at the moment – the MetaTrader4 and a spread of 2.6 pips on EUR/USD. The spread is above the industry average of a pip and a half and exceeds what we would call favorable for traders. Furthermore, traders are extended an extreme leverage of 1:1000 which tells us quite a lot about the regulatory status of the brokerage.
Best Swift regulation & safety of funds
Best Swift is owned and operated by the company bearing the name – Best Swift Technology Limited. From the website of the brokerage we couldn’t gather neither the address, nor even a contact number. This should immediately raise red flags both in seasoned traders, as well as newbie. If a brokerage does not disclose such crucial information as its address and does not give adequate contact information, chances are its a scam. Furthermore, we read in the website that it claims to fall under the regulatory oversight of the National Futures Association – the NFA which is main regulatory body in USA overseeing online Forex trading. However, after doing a quick check with the help of the online registry of the NFA, we can safely conclude that Best Swift is not licensed by the American regulator.
We did find a company by the same name registered as a Commodity Pool Operator:
We have to stress the fact that companies registered as Commodity Pool Operators have nothing to do with Forex brokerages and are not forced to comply with the rules and requirements of the NFA for Forex trading. Such purposefully misleading operation speaks about the ill-minded intentions of the brokerage and is a common trope we have seen often by other brokerage such as GWITMarkets. Furthermore, NFA-regulated brokerages have to meet rough and rigid regulatory standards such as a massive starting capital of 20 million USD and most importantly – a cap on the leverage. It is impossible for Best Swift to be both regulated by the NFA and offer a leverage of 1:1000. The brokerage does provide the MetaTrader4 platform and we saw a spread on EUR/USD of 2.6 pips. However, all that was mentioned beforehand highly inclines us to suspect that potential clients of the brokerage may be open to substantial risk.
Prestigious regulatory bodies, such as the UK’s FCA and CySec, require compliance with a number of strict rules that give significant assurance for the safety 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 scam traders.
Best Swift deposit/withdrawal methods and fees
From the website we learn that the available payment methods for clients are Visa and MasterCard, Bank transfer, Skrill, BPay, PayPal and Unionpay. We did find the following peculiar withdrawal provision:
There is no other mention of withdrawal fees on the website, nor in the terms and conditions of the brokerage either, but that is still no guarantee, because unregulated brokerages – especially those who present misleading information – often charge unexpected fees once the client has already invested funds. Precisely due to such instances we 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?
Unfortunately, much of the forex trading world is overshadowed by the huge numbers of scammers. All a trader may do is be well-informed and, in case he is the subject of a fraud – stay calm and not panic! The chance for panic is greatly reduced if such a situation does not take you by surprise. Here are the available options for scammed traders:
In most cases through clicking a tempting ad with promises for fast money, you will be redirected to a website such as The News Spy or Bitcoin Evolution where registration will require you to give your address, email and phone number. Your personal information will be immediately shared with brokers in call centers who are just waiting for juicy leads. After a few minutes hearing how the millions are sure to flow your way, you decide to deposit some $200-250. And just like that – the scammers take a 25 per cent commission from this initial deposit.
After leading you by the nose for a few hundred bucks, senior scammers will take you up and begin pushing you to further invest. You may even be swayed and further give it a shot. At this point, regardless whether you are in the red or not, you probably begin to consider closing the account and getting back your money.
However, now comes the “recovery” part of the scam. After stating that you wish to withdraw your money, they will know its time to redirect you to the “recovery people” who will further stall you in any way possible. The angle here is simple – remove the last guard you may have – filing a chargeback with your bank. You may do that only during a limited time-window, once it passes – your money is gone for good.
What to do when scammed?
Unfortunately, much of the forex trading world is overshadowed by the huge numbers of scammers. All a trader may do is be well-informed and, in case he is the subject of a fraud – stay calm and not panic! The chance for panic is greatly reduced if such a situation does not take you by surprise. Here are the available options for scammed traders:
You may contact your bank or credit card provider and file a chargeback, , as was noted above. The high instances of fraud have provoked both Visa and MasterCard to take effective measures against scammers in the business. Keeping true to 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.
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 and ready at anything to somehow retrieve their funds. They will say that in exchange for an up-front payment, you will get your money back, but no such thing will occur!
