Beware! Kruger Exchange is an offshore broker! Your investment may be at risk.
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Kruger Exchange is a CFD brokerage which emphasizes on crypto currency trading and we believe is based in Bulgaria. It provides а web-based trading platform, and not the MetaTrader 5 trading platform, and we could see a spread of $24 on BTC/USD. Clients have at their disposal a leverage of 1:400 and a wide range of crypto pairs. The required minimum deposit is $220 which is nothing out of the ordinary in Forex trading.
Kruger Exchange regulation & safety of funds
According to the website of the brokerage the company behind Kruger Exchange is based in Bulgaria with an address Sofia City, Slatina Region, Hristo Smirnenski R.A., bl. 64. Here is a screenshot:
We do come upon a Bulgarian contact address on the website. Bulgaria a member-state of the European Union and online Forex trading is duly integrated within its regulatory framework which is modeled after the ESMA guidelines. However, we find no mention of a license by the Bulgarian authorities – thus we may safely conclude that the brokerage Kruger Exchange does not fall under any regulatory oversight whatsoever. However, the brokerage does inform us about its trading conditions and it provides a web-based trading platform. Through a demo account we could get a look at it. Here is a screenshot:
The spread on BTC/USD is $24 which is quite favorable and way below the industry average. Furthermore, the leverage extended to traders is quite generous – 1:400, although we emphasize that trading with such a high leverage hides the risk of losing more than your initial deposit.
Putting aside the trading conditions of the brokerage – while researching the brokerage on the web we came upon an official warning issued by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK. Again, you may see for yourself:
On it we read that the British financial watchdog suspects Kruger exchange of taking part in scam operations and further states that it has illegally targeted British traders without proper authorization from the relevant authorities. Being blacklisted is perhaps the most clear-cut sign of trouble in Forex trading. We may safely assume that potential clients of the brokerage may be 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.
Lite FinTech deposit/withdrawal methods and fees
Potential clients of the brokerage may deposit or withdraw via a wide range of payment methods. They include the standard Visa, MasterCard and bank wire, as well as Skrill, Neteller, giropay, moneta, iDeal, SOFORT, AstroPay, QIWI, CASHU, Neosurf, paysafecard and others. Going through the terms and conditions of the brokerage we did not come upon any worrisome withdrawal conditions.
However, this is no guarantee the brokerage won’t charge any unexpected fees. This is why we advise traders 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 Cashless PayGroup 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 a chargeback 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.
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 Lite FinTech – 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.
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!
Sam
I am a victim of a scam. In the beginning of February I opened an account with Kruger Exchange and deposited £250 on their trading platform. I instantly received a call from one of their brokers called Michelle Suchi to introduce the company and say that I could not make any money with £250 but that if I opened a premium account she could trade with me and make big profits. I was not convinced but she kept calling me everyday until she managed to convince me to deposit £5000 GBP. I am not financially educated so unfortunately I believed her. Although I told her that I did not have the money she convinced me to use my credit card saying that before the next statement was due I would have doubled the money and be able to pay it back to the bank. Now I realised how stupid I was but at the time I believed her and made the payment. She arranged some Skype trading sessions with me to teach me how to trade and to trade with me. On the second session we made over £2000 GBP profit. Two weeks after I had a personal issue with my grandmother and she had to be hospitalised and I urgently needed money to pay for her medical assistance. I then massaged the broker at KrugerExchange explaining the situation and asking to withdraw my funds. (At the beginning I was told that I could withdraw funds at any time as long as my balance was sufficient). There is when the nightmare started. She was not calling me back and always saying that she was busy. At some point she called me and said that I could not withdraw my funds until the 15th of march but that the money would be in my account by that day and that she would transfer me to a different broker because as I was not interested in trading anymore she could not keep me. After I wrote a massive email complaining, a few days later a received a call from another broker called Jessica Smith saying that she was Michelle’s (my original broker) supervisor. She then said that I could not withdraw my funds unless I traded with her stating that my account was under some sort of contract and that I had to generate liquidity before getting my funds back. I said that I did not want to trade any longer and she was really rude to me on the phone saying that she was losing money every second she was with me on the phone and that if I didn’t want her help to get my money back she would have to call me back another day.
I then wrote another email complaining and I got a call from a guy called Adam claiming that he was from the financial department and saying that he understands my frustration however if I don’t trade as they want, they can hold my funds for months. He said that I had to do only one trade that would be an assured trade and then I could withdraw my funds. So Jessica called me back and told me to place a trade on the platform and leave it open saying that by Friday the 15th I would get my money back. Friday came and I did not hear from them nor got my money back. So I went to check the platform online and the website was down, the URL no longer existed. I then emailed them and the emails bounced back as the server did not existed. The following day Jessica contacted me saying that they changed the domain to kruger-exchange.com instead of krugerexchnge.com and when I asked about my money she said that as I don’t want to trade I can’t take my money out until I generate liquidity and finish with the alleged contract that my money is on. She then added a USD3900 bonus to my account as an apology for the inconvenience. Which is nonsense since I can’t withdraw the money. Now I owe £5000 GBP to Visa and HSBC and my grandmother is not getting the assistance needed. I am a full time student and having that huge debt is gonna ruin my finances. I reported to the Financial Conduct Authority, to HSBS (which is trying a charge back), to VISA and to Action Fraud whom has taken on the report and has logged it and has provided me with a Crime Reference Number. I uploaded pictures of emails and my trading platform on Forex Peace Army. (I can’t find a way to upload it here)
Sam
Following up my previous post. After exchanging emails with KrugerExchange, they finally authorised my withdraw request. I have already received the funds in BTC and they only have deducted some fees from the transaction when I originally purchased bitcoins. I have not received the profit yet as it is subject to the terms and conditions of the leverage that was put into my account but according to KrugerExchange I can trade on the profit as I wish. Therefore I would kindly ask for this post to be removed or marked as resolved please.
Thank you for the platform and space to express my concerns.
Steve
I had exactly the same experience, the same people Jessica and Adam called me. My losses were 60k. Did you have any luck with refunds from the card companies?
Steve J
Sahil
I too fell into it. They never allow us to withdraw single dollar from the account. They only pushes us to deposit the money. Once we make deposit, they show us the profits only. And if they feel like we are going to withdraw the money, they will make us trade before trading and on that trade we will loose all the money including we deposited.
I suggest all those who check this review about Kruger Exchange, never to invest a single dollar with them. Anyhow I lost my money, I don’t wont others too to lose money.
Pete
I have lost over 14 thousand pounds in the same context as above and have not had a penny returned despite asking. The same issue with requesting a withdrawal, no contact for 10 days when I refused to deposit further funds into the account and then the entire contents gone despite being told all my money would never be traded on in one hit to reduce risk. My account is now -$4000.
Do not invest any money. Complete scam.
Laura
I originally set up my Kruger account back in December of last year, however I didn’t deposit any funds until the end of January this year. When I deposited, I can only say that it was definitely a pressured deposit. Regardless I still fell for the scam that this is.
I only deposited the £250 minimum required but was told this should be able to make me a healthy profit and was assured I could withdraw my money at any time. After many excuses as to why trades weren’t going ahead and profits weren’t being made after around a month I decided to withdraw all of the money in my account. That’s when yet again more excused came out. Apparently, because I signed up using the robot, I was in a subscription (which I was never informed of or agreed to) meant I couldn’t withdraw my funds until the end of March, so until that time, my account manager Red Pollard, would do trades to increase my profit. Yes trades were opened which did make some money but I have now been trying to contact him for 3 weeks via WhatsApp, I tried calling via WhatsApp but no answer. I put in a withdrawal request on Monday but have had no correspondence regarding this. Finally today my ‘account manager’ has responded to my messages to apologise for not contacting me or speaking with me but he has been ill. Since having the reply I have asked numerous times for him to authorise my withdrawal request and even respond to my messages and WhatsApp voice messages but yet again nothing.
The long and short of if is that they are con artist but I WILL NOT give up and will keep calling, messaging, emailing etc until I am answered. With that can I ask, does anyone have a number or better email address that they have got a response on?
Good luck to you all that are pursuing these thieves.
Sunny
There is another broker Mr. Henry Lloris who contacts to people from call center. As we heard many voices in background, in basis of that we can assure that he is calling from a call center. I got a call from these numbers +447520665828, +447520665802, +447418350395 He asked me my bank details and ATM cards details of existing account which I’m having all financial activities. I asked him can I register my any other bank account except main AC then, he told me no you cannot. And you have to register main existing bank AC. when he asked me this, I doubt that he is not genuine. Again questions started raising in my mind why he asked me my main bank account. what is the purpose behind it so and so. During the communication he kept telling me that this call is on record and can be legal action in case of not complied with Kruger Exchange policy, you have 7 days to deposit cash if not then you will be fined by the company legally so and so. I kept asking many question regarding area office, business training, Contact details of trainer, any co-money maker as he claimed here is a man who makes $25000 in a month he denied to disclose anything in this regard mentioning due to company policy he cannot disclose.
I was wondering how this man is talking. Even he kept forcing me to provide my bank account as soon as possible…. …. above comment I found relevant to my experience that’s why I thought to share mine one. Do not waste your hardly earned money trusting on unseen frauds who tries to rob people with the help of technologies through online, sitting in unseen place.
Be aware!!
Do not get lured yourself from these fraudulent
Laura
Update – Con Artists
Following on from my previous post, I can now give an update.
I did, after numerous emails, received my initial deposit back from Kruger Exchange but none of the profits made from successful trades. For the last week now I have been in daily email contact with the compliance team (mostly) and the finance team. Originally that informed me that I was entitled to withdraw just under £100 after the leverage that was put on my account was deducted, that I had made in profitable trades, which was around nearly £200 short (at the the current btc to gbp value to exchange). It is also not what the platform has stipulated was funds ‘available to withdraw’. I therefore have been contesting this. Yesterday I received an email stating that actually the amount I can withdraw to close my account was closer to the equivalent of £183 in profit and that a mistake had been made with the leverage they deducted and that they should have deducted less. Finally I felt we were getting somewhere but still couldn’t see why it was over £100 short from my calculations. In the email they attached an excel document with all of my trade history on. That’s where I noticed the problem. One of the successful trades that had made a fairly large amount of profit had ‘disappeared’. I logged in to my account where I could see my most recent trades and the missing one was detailed the evening before and it was gone. Luckily, I am quite a savvy individual and had taken a screenshot of those trades (including the missing one) the night before. I therefore emailed them again explaining all this to them but have been told today, again via email, that I am mistaken am getting confused and no trades have been removed. I HAVE EVIDENCE!!!
The long and short of it all is that the story continues. Again I will update when there is some closure.
Actually, interestingly enough, any profits that I want to withdraw have to go in to a btc wallet, instead of them paying me directly as they have done before! Why is this?!
Keep fighting for what is rightfully yours!!
Laura.