Beware! RedMapleFX 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.
With a name like RedMapleFX, one would think that this broker takes the business serious, yet as we shall see, the facade is just there to lure in traders. Furthermore, we could not deduce any trading conditions, for our registration did not foster any usuful trading info, even though there is a client area.
REDMAPLEFX REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
Both the Terms and Conditions and the Contact Us pages give us the same details. The broker is allegedly located in Honk Kong, and as such work under the local laws. In Hong Kong the the Securities and Futures Commission regulates the forex market, whose primary focus is on providing the necessary means of protecting traders’ money and interests. The SFC requires a capital of $640 000 for brokers to get licensed from them. Safe to say that the broker is not in the official SFC online database of regulated entities. Furthermore, there is no actual claim that the broker is regulated. When put together, we can safely conclude that RedMapleFX is UNREGULATED.
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.
REDMAPLEFX TRADING SOFWARE
As we mentioned previously, once we registered, the client dashboard did not give the opportuinity to access a trading terminal. There are two reasons that might explain this. Either the broker does not allow us to proceed to a terminal, or the broker does not have one at all. Which ever reason, the lack of a trading terminal is yet another evidence of the illicit nature of RedMapleFX.
However, the client are does offer asset chart, that reveal some forex instruments, yet all these charts are provided by a 3rd party chart provider.
REDMAPLEFX DEPOSIT/WITHDRAW METHODS AND FEES
Oddly enogh, the client area lacks both a deposit and withdrawal section. Typical scammer brokers have always had a deposit button clearly visible, yet RedMapleFX has no such button. Furthermore, the website, including the legal documents, offer absolutely no infomration on payment methods and fees. Our assumption is that this broker will utilize the scam scheme that we have detailed below.
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.
