Beware! Flixance 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.
Flixance says to be the leading forex trading platform of the day, created to bring you financial independence. They offer various currency pairs, as well as CFDs on commodities, indices, stocks, precious metals, bonds, ETFs and a selection of crypto coins, with a choice six account types, leverage as high as 1:200 and a web based platform.
Unfortunately the spreads we saw on their trading platform were far form attractive – floating about 2,9 pips, and the platform itself was some piece of unproven software, which simply can not be compared to professional trading platforms like the MetaTrader4. For example you do not have the option to run algorithmic trading sessions – something which can be done quite easily on a MT4 with the help of specially designed trading robots, called Expert Advisors.
That however is not the biggest issue with Flixance, but the fact that they are a unregulated broker with no credibility whatsoever.
Flixance regulation & safety of funds
Flixance says to be owned by an offshore company – Altridium Group Inc., based on the Seychelles. And just for the record, the phone code of their contact number is from the Czech Republic.
The local financial regulator – the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (FSA) do regulate forex and CFD brokers, although its regulatory framework is much weaker than the one of the financial watchdogs in Europe, the U.S. or Australia.
For example, the minimum operational capital requirement for EU and UK brokers is 730 000 EUR, while the only fiscal requirement for Seychelles regulated brokers is to have a locally registered company with a share capital of 50 000 USD, which must have at least 2 shareholders and 2 directors, but where a single person can act both as a shareholder and director.
And initially this payed up capital must be in a local bank on the Seychelles, but latter it can be used for the anything the broker wants and does not need to remain in the bank.
On top of that Seychelles brokers do not have to keep their clients’ money in a segregated, trust account, which means they can use their clients funds for their own needs, which is unacceptable and illegal in the EU, the UK, the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan and other properly regulated markets.
So far for the offshore regulated brokers. The problem here is that Flixance is not even regulated on the Seychelles. We checked the registers of the Seychelles FSA, but were unable to find anything relating to Flixance or Altridium Group Inc. there. So basically this is a unregulated website, which has no credibility whatsoever, and where your deposit will surely disappear, no matter how you trade.
So heed our advice and trade only with properly regulated brokers, like the once you may find in the registers of reliable regulators like the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) or the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Flixance deposit/withdrawal methods and fees
To start with, unlike most legit brokers, which accept payments with various popular e-wallets like Neteller, Skrill and PayPal, as well as credit cards, Flixance accepts only payments with bitcoins, and occasionally a bank wire transfer to a certain bank in Lithuania. This is peculiar, because wire transfers and crypto payments are 100% irreversible, unlike payments with VISA and MasterCard, where you can file for a charge back within 540 days – this is according to the latest ant scam policy of the two card companies.
Also, here we should note that Flixance collects withdrawals processing and handling fees, without specifying what, as well as an inactivity fee, also left to their sole discretion.
Finally, Flixance says it may take them 5 days or more to process your withdraw request, while with legit brokers that usually takes no more than 24 hours.
How does the scam work?
To get scammed first you should share with the scammers some of personal information like your e-mail and phone number. That is crucial for the scam to succeed, because scammers employ professional call centers, which use aggressive marketing strategies, quite too efficient at times.
And haw you might be tricked into giving your e-mail and mobile number. It could be through one of the so called robot scam websites like Bitcoin Revival and Bitcoin Profit, which are designed with the sole purpose to trap new victims. Such websites are usually constructed around a nicely cut video, where you will be told how easily you can get filthy rich by joining some innovative trading platform, where your money will be safe and profits guaranteed. And then you will be asked for your e-mail and phone for the small registration form.
After you registers, you will be transferred to the website of a unregulated, offshore brokers and will be invited to open a trading account with about 250 USD.
Beware that you first trades will be amazingly successful. That however will be just a part of the scam, as your trading platform will surely be manipulated. The goal is that latter you will be more susceptible to the idea of depositing more. And that is exactly what your “senior account manager” will be trying to convince you on the phone all the time – if you want to make some real cash, you will surely have to deposit at least 10 000 USD or so.
And most people do invest that kind of money, without noticing the scam until the day they request to withdraw some of their funds. They are simply told they are not eligible to withdraw because of some minimum trade volume requirement, they have not met, possibly linked to their welcome bonus. The pretext for canceling the withdraw request might certainly be different, but the result will always be the same. Scammers are will not pay a single dollar back.
What to do if scammed?
Your only plausible chance to get your deposit back is to file for a charge back with your bank in case you have paid with a credit or a debit card. The good news here is that both VISA and MasterCard allow chargebacks within 540 days after the payment is made. The bad news is that a chargeback is not possible with bank wire transfers, crypto payments or most e-wallets.
Be aware as well that sometimes scammers will attempt to steal money directly from your bank account. That will happen if you have shared your bank password and credit card number, or if you have agreed to install a remote control application like Any Deck or TeamViewer, and share your details. So in case scammers have your credit card number and online banking password, or they have access to your PC through Any Deck or TeamViewer immediately block your credit card and change the password.
And do not trust the so called recovery agencies, especially if you are approached by one. They will not help you get your money back in any way, but you will still have to pay some fees in advance, which will leave you even deeper into the red.
