Beware! Barclay Stone is an offshore broker! Your investment may be at risk.

RECOMMENDED FOREX BROKERS

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Barclay Stone does something very brave, and rather foolish. It attempts to create an associative bridge between it and Barclays, the British investment bank, without having anything at all in common with the international bank. This is the first major misdeed made by Barclay Stone. Other noteworthy aspects of the broker are all reveled in the following review.

Registering was simple and easy, and the follow up was a trading software which seemed to act as the main client area. This terminal gave us a EUR/USD spread of 1.2 pips, a very decent value, and a leverage cap at 1:400. The trading instruments offered here are forex pairs, commodities, cryptocurrencies, stocks, and indices.

Barclay Stone comes in the following languages: English, Polish, and Russian.

BARCLAY STONE REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS

This is one of the very rare cases where a broker claims to be located in St. Lucia. This small island nation has a financial regulator called the Financial Services Regulatory Authority, which seems to oversee many finical institutions. We went in the database of licensed entities to look for both Barclay Stone and the holding company Barclay Stone Limited, and were faced with the fact that there is no such registered company name with the local regulator.

And furthermore, it never says that Barclay Stone and its parent company Barclay Stone Limited is actually regulated anywhere. What it does say is that the company is registered in St. Lucia and functioning under the local laws.

Next on our list, is an alleged payment processing address in the UK. One thing we can say here; Barclay Stone is not regulated in the UK, you can rest assured about that.

Thus Barclay Stone is UNLICENSED, making this broker a risk to all investors.

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.

BARCLAY STONE TRADING SOFTWARE

Barclay Stone has adapted a familiar trading software. By familiar, we mean that we have seen it before, as used by previous illegitimated firms.

The trading platform here is a classic example of the power of visuals. Looking at the entire platform a positive impression might arise; however, if the trading terminal is divided intro individual segments users will start noticing how little this platform has on offer. The only options available, aside from buy/sell, are pending orders, some limited chart customizations, stop loss, and take profit.

Be aware that the broker can change the leverage without prior notice. This can ultimately change a user’s entire trading experience, and it can go both ways; either good or bad.

BARCLAY STONE DEPOSIT/WITHDRAW METHODS AND FEES

According to the user payment area, there are no deposit methods. See for yourself:

 

Either we are in a restricted area, or the broker choses its own customers via a process we have described in the last 2 sections of the review; if that were the case, then Barclay Stone gives away payment gateways only to those handpicked traders.

There is no way to get a hold of the real minimum deposit nor the supposed account funding options. Whether it is $250 as the website suggests, or not, is a question that we cannot answer. Furthermore, the website reveals that the user can deposit via bank transfer, VISA, and MasterCard.

According to the legal documents, the minimum withdrawal amount is $50. There are fees and commission as first indicated by the Terms and Conditions. The website claims that VISA and MasterCard withdrawals are charged a fee ranging between 0% to 3,5%.
The following clauses contain all the fees provisions that we were able to find, as well as other noteworthy clauses. The problem here is that only one of the following clauses reveal specific withdrawal fees; most of them are concerned with inactive accounts.

Before continuing, we have to mention that according to the Account Types subpage, there are free withdrawals, whose recurrence depend on the account chosen by the trader. For example, the Gold Account (min. deposit $10 000) has 3 free withdrawals per month.

If the users has no more than $1 in his or her account or has been inactive for more than 90 days, the broker has the right to close down the account.

In case traders make a withdrawal request when their accounts have not seen any trading activity from the last deposit, the broker will charge a fee of 20% (no less that $100).

The next clause is yet another dormant account clause. Here, Barclay Stone reveals a $100 monthly charge for all dormant account that are inactive for more than 60 days.

Barclay Stone, as other unregulated brokers have done before it, can change the Terms and Conditions without notifying the client.

Each $1 bonus received must be traded with 10 000 times ($1 bonus equals to $10 000 in trades). If the granted bonus is over $20 000 the trading volume increases to $20 000 for every $1 of bonus. Once the math is done, the results are incredibly ridiculous. Better not accept the deposit at all!

And of course, last but not least, we have the limited liability provision. With this at its side, Barclay Stone is technically untouchable by any legal claims set against it.

Although we have had many brokers before with much more controversial clauses, this does not change our conclusion of Barclay Stone. This broker is unregulated, and thus should not be entrusted with any of your funds.

How does the scam work?

The usual scam operates on a multi-level, though very basic model. The users will be tempted to click on an Internet ad promising quick and easy profits. If they do, it will take them to a website that will ask for their personal details, including email address and phone number. Once they submit this information, an avalanche of emails and phone calls will be unleashed. Scammers will promise the world to these potential traders in order to induce them to make an initial deposit between $200 and $300.

These “brokers” will get a fat commission from the deposited sums and will transfer the unsuspecting users to “senior” scammers. The latter are smooth talkers who will try to persuade users to invest more funds, using phrases like “now is the right time” and “the moment is perfect for making hefty profits”. Of course, these are empty words, and traders will soon have doubts whether they have not been played.

When they try to withdraw their money, these doubts will be confirmed: the con-artists will do anything to deny or at least delay their withdrawals. From trying to convince the traders that they are making a big mistake to withdraw funds now because they will lose big profits, to asking for additional documents or citing clauses in the accepted agreements, to transferring you to another department, there is a single objective to delay the users from filing for a chargeback with their financial institution and lose any chances of recovering their money.

What to do when scammed?

Anyone can fall prey to such a scam. In the unfortunate event this happens to you, there are a few things you can do. If you deposited using a credit card you should immediately file for a chargeback. In an effort to combat online fraud VISA and MasterCard have extended the period in which one can file a chargeback to a year and a half, so there is a big chance that you may be able to recover your funds. If however, you used a bank wire or bitcoin to deposit, chances to get your money back are almost none.

We should also warn against “recovery agencies” who prey on victimized traders by claiming they can recover their funds. These scammers will ask you to pay a fee for this service, but will only take your money and do nothing.

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20 Comments

  1. How does it work places I’m interested

  2. I have a Barclay stone account and pressure to make a deposit is alot. The promise to change my financial situation. Mr Micheal Mons and his secretary Ms. Laura I have deposited $250.00. The platform seem to need updating every week. We have increased my balance from $250.00 to $313.00 in a very short time. It seems promising at this time. Feel like I should wait to get my balance up higher before first withdrawal. Hopefully we can get it to over $500.00 and take my $250.00 off the table.

    1. I just stupidity deposited $250 also,ever since vthen I haven’t heard from anyone again till now,when I ask the lady who contacted me on phone she will tell me that the account manager will contact me that I should calm down, please is that how they treated you before you started receiving profile?

  3. Siavash Nakhjavanpour

    Barclay stone ltd is embezelment company. Theu just stole 16000usd of my investment. A guy calling himself Paul Rogers, an indian origin is one of the head of this seven heads snake. They have no tel no to call. No physical place to visit and no communication means at all to reach them.
    I would be grateful to all whom have been cheated by them to contact me and take a class action against them and remove them from the face of the earth and put them for ever in jail. Contqct me to create a group qnd gather all documentation against them. I know powerful lawyers in uk and Germany.

    1. It also happened to me today with $ 250
      ———–
      גם לי זה קרה היום עם250$

    2. Hello!
      I would like to join you in this case. I have a necessary documentation to to open this case.
      I invested $10,300 and lost al of it last Friday.
      Please reach out to me.

    3. I need help.
      Don’t know what to do.

    4. I also lost my money, about 15k. I’m in the United States, and will be glad to help you. Want the worst for them.

  4. BARCLAY STONE – SCAM !!!

    PLEASE BE CAREFUL!

    This broker – Barclay Stone – is REAL SCAM!
    Last Dec 2021 I deposited money, as per their personal adviser – Oleg Aksenov, I bought Shell and Total.
    My position lost today is just 200 USD, but they charged Swap – 970 USD. No explanations so far…

    Now, they are not responding to my messages at all.

    Guys, be careful, DON’T WORK WITH THEM – IT’S SCAM!!!

    1. Are you got your money back?

  5. Sorry, the Barclay Stone I dealt with was not a scam. I do agree with the comments about sales pressure to keep depositing more and more, and with the promises of high returns, not matching the sales hype. To be honest, they called me every week to talk to me about market events, economic forecast etc, etc. I was turned off by the gains, not much better than if I had been doing the trading myself.

    1. Are you think they not scam company, i deposit $250 and wrote so much negativity about, right now don’t know what to do…

    2. You will lose your money as soon as they took as much as they could and you could open a dispute in the bank. Be careful.

  6. I deposited $200 USD into my account. Using there forex auto trader I went from $200 to $3000. I upgraded to the next level by depositing another $2000, which gave me personalized info on more stock purchases in Europe and USA markets. With the Ukrainian war my (their) investment all went wrong. So I went from $5000 in equity to $500 in a matter of 4 weeks. Not a happy camper!

    1. so do you withdrew ?

  7. I just started last week with $250, and increased 11 dollars, I have been in communication with Nicholas Werner and Jennie Hoffman.

  8. I also deposited 250 under Mr Michael Mon and they started removing my stocks at #18 stocks with now a zero balance. I even took pictures of most of it.

  9. I put in 250 grew to 267 they want 3400 to position in Facebook

  10. Barclay Stone is Definitely a Scam. They are probably one of the biggest scams on the internet. Their Platform is Fake and Rigged. Their Equity swap program is a Fraud. They have Stolen my $75,000. I had about $158,000 in my account and the next day it was all gone without any Warning. Paul Roger is a Big Liar, A Crooked, Wicked, Cunning, Dishonest, Corrupt, Despicable and Ruthless man. Learn from my experience and do yourself a big favor by staying away from them.

  11. Hello anyone interested in getting there money back from Barclay’s stone please send me a message.

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