Beware! 360SmartOptions 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.
360SmartOptions says to be one of the leading platforms in the United States offering binary options, forex and CFDs, which services the European market as well with its Cyprus license. On top of that the broker promises profitable investments in bitcoins and boasts with multiple awards for being “the Most Trusted Binary Options Broker” in the industry with over 150 000 registered clients.
Whatever 360SmartOptions may tell you, be aware that this bears all the hallmarks of a scam – the website is anonymous and the claims to be licensed in the U.S. and Europe false.
360SmartOptions regulation & safety of funds
As we noted 360SmartOptions is completely anonymous. They do not have any corporate background – nowhere on their website do they mention the name of the company that runs their business, where it might be incorporated and where it might be based. And they do not bother to tell us what is their address or phone number either. Basically the only way you can contact the website is through an online chat application called tawk.to.
And now about the 360SmartOptions claims that they are regulated in the U.S. by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), in the EU by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) and worldwide by the International Financial Services Commission (IFSC) in Belize.
Well, this is simply not true. For a forex broker to be licensed and authorized to operate on the U.S. market, it should be registered as a futures commission merchant (FCM) and a foreign exchange dealer (FED) with CFTC, and to be a member of the National Futures Association (NFA) – a membership that comes with very demanding requirements as for example to maintain a minimum operational capital of no less than 20 000 000 USD.
In fact the requirement is prohibitively high even for most brokers in Europe, which explains why only a handful of brokers like OANDA, Ameritrade, Interactive Brokers, Forest Park FX and FastBrokers are authorized to operate on U.S. soil.
As for the purported Cyprus license, we shall just note that since July 2018 all binary options bets have been banned in the European Union, so obviously, because 360SmartOptions is advertised as a binary options broker, it can not be licensed and authorized by CySEC to operate in the EU.
So as we already noted, 360SmartOptions is a fine example of a scam website – totally anonymous and falsely claiming to be licensed and authorized on various major markets with the deliberate intention to hook for new victims.
360SmartOptions deposit/withdrawal methods and fees
360SmartOptions prefers deposits in bitcoins and this is no coincidence. If you pay with bitcoins or any other crypto coins for that matter, you will not be able to reverse the payment in any way, if you realize you have been scammed. On top of that all crypto payments are more or less anonymous, which kind of explains why crypto coins are a payment method of choice for all scammers.
Otherwise our general advice when dealing with online brokers is to stick to more conventional payment options like VISA, MasterCard or major e-wallets like Skrill, PayPal, or Neteller. With major cards and e-wallets you will always have the option to file for a charge back if something goes wrong.
How does the scam work?
You should always remember that there is no thing like a free lunch. And yet scammers pretend to offer exactly this. They run numerous ads, which circulate the social networks, where potential investors are promised spectacular returns with zero risk involved and a symbolic investment. And you may also happen to come across one of scammers specially designed robo scam websites like Crypto Engine and Crypto Master Bot where again you you will be offered the investment opportunity of your lifetime, and all you will be asked to do is to leave your e-mail and phone.
If you do register, right away you will be redirected to the web page of a unregulated, scam broker, where you will be offered to open a trading account with about 250 USD. Besides, trading with the scammers might seem like a lot of fun at least in the beginning. All your positions will be winning and pretty soon the balance of your account will seem to have doubled. That however will be just a part of the scam as your trading results will surely be manipulated with the idea that later you will be tempted to deposit more.
And that is what your senior account manager will be telling you on the phone all the time – if you really want to make some big money, you should definitely invest more – at least 10 000 USD for a start. And then, when you request to withdraw some of your cash, everything will suddenly change. You will be told you have no right to withdraw, because you have not met some minimum trade volume requirement, you probably hear about for the first time. It could possibly be linked to your trading bonus or something else. No matter what the story will be, you can be sure that you will not be able to withdraw a single dollar.
What to do if scammed?
If you are a victim of a scam, your best course of action is to file for a charge back with your local bank, in case you have paid with your VISA or MasterCard. If you have paid with bitcoins, however, your funds will surely be lost.
And bear in mind that if under any pretext scammers have tricked you to reveal your personal banking details like your credit card number, online banking password and card security code, or if they have tricked you to install a remote desktop application like Any Desk or Team Viewer, you may be sure that scammers will attempt to steal money directly from your bank account. In that case you should block your credit card immediately, delete the remote desktop application and change your online banking password.
And do not accept any services from the so called recovery agencies. They will not help you to recover any of your funds, but simply will require some payments in advance, which will leave you with even less cash in the end.
