Beware! CoinOptions Trade is an offshore broker! Your investment may be at risk.
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Open trading accounts with at least two brokers.
CoinOptions Trade claims to be a regulated broker offering “bitcoin mining” and “crypto currency investments” with returns of up to 70% to 100% depending on your investment plan. However, as they do not disclose their trading conditions and offer no demo account, we can not comment on those.
Also our research shows that CoinOptions Trade falsely claims to be regulated in Cyprus and what is more, that the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CYSEC) has issued a warning against CoinOptions Trade. We will review the regulatory status of the website in detail in the following paragraphs.
CoinOptions Trade regulation & safety of funds
CoinOptions Trade has a contact address in the USA, but there is no information about the company that operates the website, so basically we are not sure where they are based. They also claim to be regulated by “The Financial Commission” and the “American Financial Services Commission (FSC)”, the latest actually based in Mauritius. Note that those two entities are not official regulatory authorities and are basically websites that provide “licensing certificates” lacking credibility whatsoever.
On top of that CoinOptions Trade claims to be regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), which is a legit regulator within the European Union. That however, proved not to be true. The CySEC license CoinOptions Trade shows on its website is forged and uses the registration number of another company – A-Conversio Capital Ltd. – a legit Cypriot Investment Firm, which has no connection to CoinOptions Trade whatsoever.
All that lead us to the conclusion that CoinOptions Trade is a scam website, offering unrealistic returns.
As always in such cases our best advice is to trade only with brokers holding legit licenses by official financial authorities such as the CySEC in Cyprus, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK or the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
CoinOptions Trade deposit/withdrawal methods and fees
The only payment options you have with CoinOptions Trade are a wire transfer, Western Union, MoneyGram and Bitcoins. Here, we should note, that with the above mentioned payment methods you do not have the option to file for a charge back, while under the new anti scam policies of VISA and MasterCard, for instance, currently you have 540 days to do that.
Also Skrill, not available with CoinOptions Trade, but otherwise one of the most widely used e-wallets around the globe, requires brokers to prove a valid financial license. As we already noted CoinOptions Trade does not have a legit license to provide financial services.
As far as the minimum deposit requirement is concerned, it is 100 USD – more or less what other brokers would ask as an initial investment.
If you proceed with depositing your money, however, you will be asked to confirm that you agree with the “Terms of Investment” of the website. Unfortunately that document was not immediately available, so basically if you deposit your money with CoinOptions Trade you will not know under what “Terms” you invest and what withdraw conditions you agree with. Our experience shows this is a perfect recipe for a scam.
How does the scam work?
Scammers rely on many resources to defraud gullible investors. They employ call centers and the so called “robo – scam” websites like Crypto Revolt and Bitcoin Evolution, which are especially designed to hook you with an irresistible offer for fast and easy returns, of course completely “risk free”.
And you will be simply asked to fill a small registration form with your e-mail and phone, and than be transferred to the web page of a unregulated scam broker, where you will be offered a trading account with a minimum initial deposit of about 250 USD.
Besides, your initial trades will be surprisingly successful and pretty soon the money in you account will almost double. That, however, will not be real. Your trading results will simply be manipulated so that you will more prone to the idea of investing a larger sum. And surely you will receive a phone call as well. It will be your “senior account manager”, who will basically explain you, that if you want to make some real money you will simply have to invest more – like 10 000 USD or so.
And if you invest those money, probably you will not realize that you have been scammed until the very moment you decide to withdraw some of your funds. Than it will suddenly turn out it is not possible, because of some minimum trade volume requirement, you have agreed with, when you have accepted your trading bonus in the first place. Certainly it could be something else, but the bottom line will be the same – you will not see a single penny back.
What to do if scammed?
Probably the only chance you stand to get your money back is by filing for a charge back with your credit card company. Fortunately, as we noted, that will be possible within 540 days if you have made your deposit with VISA or MasterCard.
And if by any chance you have revealed to scammers your credit card number or online banking password, immediately change the password and block your credit card.
Finally, do not put your trust in to the so called recovery agencies. They will not recover your money, but will simply take some cash in advance and basically that is the last time you will hear form them.
