Beware! AlphaCryptoMarket 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.
AlphaCryptoMarket is presented as one of the leading binary options, forex and CFDs platforms in the United States, properly licensed and authorized not only there, but also in the European Union and Belize.
That surely sounds great, except that it is not true. If you are about to deposit your funds with AlphaCryptoMarket, think again and read the following review.
AlphaCryptoMarket regulation & safety of funds
AlphaCryptoMarket says to be owned and operated by ALPHA CRYPTO MARKET LTD, which is presented as a legal investment company incorporated in the United States, with headquarters in Texas.
And AlphaCryptoMarket also says to be regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) – the regulator governing the U.S. financial markets, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) and the International Financial Services Commission (IFSC) in Belize. See for yourself:
All those claims, however, turned out not to be true. No company by the name of ALPHA CRYPTO MARKET LTD is to be found in the registers of the above mentioned institutions.
Besides, for a broker to be licensed and authorized to operate on U.S. soil it also have to be a member of the National Futures Association (NFA) and to maintain a minimum operational capital of no less than 20 000 000 USD – an amount roughly equivalent to the capital required for the registration of a Swiss bank. That explains why just a few major brokers are licensed to operate in the U.S.
Basically dealing with unregulated websites like AlphaCryptoMarket is how people get usually scammed.
Brokers regulated by CySEC in Cyprus or any other national regulator of the 27 EU member states, as well as the the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, on the other hand, can be trusted, because they are subject to strict oversight and have to follow strict rules – both fiscal and ethical, as for example to report all client transactions, to allow external audits, to maintain at least 730 000 EUR as a minimum operational capital, to keep their clients’ funds in a segregated from their own trust accounts and even to insure their clients funds.
Thus with a broker truly regulated by the FCA your funds will be protected for up to 85 000 GBP.
AlphaCryptoMarket deposit/withdrawal methods and fees
AlphaCryptoMarket says to accept payments with various crypto coins including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Dash and Litecoin, as well as a few e-wallets, namely Payeer and Perfect Money.
AlphaCryptoMarket, however, does not seem to accept credit cards and that is peculiar, because if you have paid with a credit card you can always file for a charge back, while if you have paid with crypto coins you will not have such an option. Actually that explains why crypto payments are a payment method of choice for scammers worldwide. Otherwise the minimum deposit requirement is 500 USD, which is also twice higher than what traders would usually expect with most brokers.
How does the scam work?
For a successful scam operation first of all scammers need to get to your e-mail and phone. And they collect phone numbers and e-mails with aggressive ads on social networks like Instagram and Facebook, which lead to specially designed websites, like Crypto Engine and Crypto Master Bot. We have dubbed those websites “robo scam websites’, because there potential victims are lured with promises of guaranteed returns with a minimum investment and no risk whatsoever.
And if you visit a website like this and get interested, you will be asked to fill a small registration form with your e-mail and phone. That is how scammers get to your contact details.
Next you will be transferred to the website of a unregulated scam broker and will start receiving daily calls from your so called dedicated account manager, who basically will be telling you to deposit as much as you can – you will be explained that this is the only way for you to start making real money.
And everything will look great until the moment you decide to withdraw some of your money. The excuses why you can not withdraw may be various – you will told that you have not met some minimum deposit requirement, linked to your welcome bonus, or that first you have to pay some additional fees, or that you have to upgrade you account (which basically means that you will be asked to send scammers yet more money). Whatever you may be told, the bottom line is that you will not be paid a single dollar back.
What to do if scammed?
You may still have an option to get your deposit back, if you have paid with a major credit or debit card like VISA or MasterCard, or by a major e-wallet like Skrill, PayPal, or Neteller. If you were lucky to have used one of the above mentioned payment methods you will be able to file for a charge back with your local bank, if you have paid with VISA or MasterCard, or directly with the payment provider, if you have paid with Neteller, Pay Pal or Skrill. If you have paid with crypto coins though, we are quite skeptical that you will be able to recover anything.
And if you have been tricked to install one of those remote desktop applications like Any Desk or Team Viewer, or the scammers have convinced you to tell them your credit card number, card security code or online banking password, immediately block your credit card, delete the remote desktop application and change the password. Otherwise scammers will have full access to your credit card and bank account.
And if by any chance you get approached by one of those recovery agencies, do not agree to any of their proposals. They will not recover any of your lost funds, but simply will make you pay them some money up front and basically that will be the end of the story.
