Beware! TopTrades 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.
TopTrades’ generic name is just one of the many unclear and lackluster aspects of this broker. For reasons we shall soon see, the broker has no actual trading conditions, which speaks volumes for the suspicious nature of TopTrades. Read on to see what other absurdities this alleged broker holds.
TOPTARDES REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
One thing that is very noticeable is the total lack of legal documents which basically means that the company can do whatever it wants, without ever thinking of the user’s rights and its own legal obligations towards the client. This is always the sign of an unregulated broker. Furthermore, the footer (where the only information is found) claims that the broker’s parent company, Goodfield Limited is authorised and regulated by the International Financial Services Commission of Washington DC. There is no such regulatory overseer. The closest one gets is the The International Financial Services Commission (IFSC) in Belize, which, as you might have guessed, has nothing to prove as liaison between it and TopTrades/Goodfield Limited. Finaly, to state that your finacial broker is regulated and based in the USA is a very courageous yet foolish claim, since the United States is the most austere environment for forex brokers; a reason for which only a handful of brokerage firms operate within its territory.
From what we have said we can safely conclude that TopTrades is 100% UNREGULATED, and therefore a risk to all those that invest in it!
Traders should be trading with risk-free brokers, that hold licensed from renowned and austere agencies, like the FCA or CySec , which have made a name for themselves as some of the top regulators. Readers should be aware that both agencies have adapted very strict rules of conduct, and their licensing framework guarantees safety and security for all clientele. A good example of this is the segregation of accounts which assures that client money and broker money are kept in separate accounts. Furthermore, FCA/CySEC brokers participate in a financial reimbursement scheme that cover traders losses in case the broker becomes insolvent. The FCA provides up to 85 000 pounds per person, while CySEC guarantees up to 20 000 euros.
TOPTARDES TRADING SOFTWARE
Once we registered we were faced with a very common aspect of many a illicit brokers, and that is the complete lack of a trading terminal. The one at TopTrades is nothing more than a “borrowed” chart from an official chart provider that DOES NOT allow for trading, but just for speculating the market. Unfortunately, for this reason, we cannot provide you with trading conditions for there are none. This technically makes TopTrades a simple scammer website that lies to users while draining them of their capital.
TOPTARDES DEPOSIT/WITHDRAWAL METHODS AND FEES
The dashboard reveals that users can fund an account via Wire Transfer, Bitcoin, MoneyGram, PerfectMoney, Skrill, and Western Union. The minimum deposit is $10.
Withdrawal information is not available if one hasn’t deposited yet. And what’s more is that there are no actual legal documents or any other helpful pieces of information to give us withdrawal information.
Unfortunatelly, this is all the info we can provide you concerning payment procedures. Traders should have drawn their own conclusion about this broker. In any case, here it is: this is a complete scam.
We strongly advice traders to only deposit the minimum deposit, or better yet – not deposit at all! As for the withdrawals, scammers are known to either deny such requests, or impose incoming and unexpected charges.
How does the scam work?
Users will be in the middle of a scam without even knowing it, that’s how efficient these scams are. Yet, clients will also be surprised that the most utilized scammer structure is laughably easy to grasp, making it predictable. We have dedicated the following section to the reveal of how the scam works.
The internet is filled with ads, it’s the fuel of the industry, and a big chunk of said advertisements are misleading and some are downright deceitful. The ads concerned with unregulated forex brokers are often very promising, and most of the times utilize completely false claims of immediate profit. Those tempted enough will be redirected to a robo-scam website that further guarantees profits. The only thing that separates the user from the unrealistic promises is a fast registration process that requires a phone number and an email address. After inputting this info unsuspecting users will start getting phone calls from illicit broker representatives, whose one and only job is to initialize the scheme by pushing a trader to make that first deposit of around $250. After that’s done, the senior representatives will be calling. These expert scammers are extremely good talkers, and will start working on you to start putting even more money in. They say that the more money invested, the higher the profit will be. At this point most traders start seeing the big picture, and will want to withdrawal their money and get out fast.
However, the scammers have anticipated this development, and are ready to counter any withdrawal request. Typically they find excuses for delaying the request in the legal documents that hold specific clauses for these purposes. The reasons are many. One thing to remember is that all illicit brokerage firms will deny the withdrawal request for as long as they can, because of the imposed time limit traders have for filling a chargeback. Once the crucial due date is not met, any chargeback requests will be denied.
What to do if scammed?
Those of you who deposited using VISA and MasterCard wil be glad to know that both companies have extended their chargeback time span to 540 days, especially if the reason for it is an online scam.
Scammers will steal directly from a bank account, if the traders has provided crucial details, like banking password or security code. If it get down to this, be sure to either block the account or change the password.
Sometime victimized users will stumble upon the so called recovery agents that promises to magically reclaim all lost investments, for a fee that is. Needless to say, they will not get back any of the lost funds, and will basically scam you a second time.
