Beware! Forex Premium 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.
Forex Premium gives the impression of being fully licensed broker in not one, not two and not three but in four jurisdictions. However, what this broker is trying to do is feed us lies. Beware because behind the facade of pretended legitimacy hides a scammer ready to fleece you should you entrust your hard-earned money to it. Here are the facts.
Forex Premium Regulation and safety of funds
Safe Side Trading LTD which owns and operates Forex Premium website is with address in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) and it claims to be licensed by CySec, IFSC Belize, FCA and ASIC. We searched the registers of all mentioned official forex brokers regulators – SySec in Cyprus, IFSC in Belize, FCA in the UK and ASIC in Australia. The name of the company did not appear in any of those. The bold claim about being licensed in those jurisdictions is nothing but lies trying to full potential traders into believing that this broker is legit. Now you know the facts and the truth.
Forex brokers in all the above-mentioned jurisdictions are strictly regulated by the respective official regulatory bodies and they must meet stringent requirements to get their license.
Belize brokers are under the supervision of the International Financial Services Commission (IFSC) and they must have an operational capital of a minimum of $500,000 and pay an application fee of $1,000 and annual license fee of $25,000. As you can imagine, scammers will never pay this much just for the benefit of looking legit. In addition to that, brokers must keep their clients’ funds segregated from their own. However, compared to FCA, CySec or ASIC, IFSC lacks the operational capacity to regulate internationally operating companies.
CySec forex brokers and UK forex brokers operate under regulations which are quite similar. They must deposit an initial capital of no less than 730,000 EUR, keep clients’ funds segregated with tier-1 banks, provide negative balance protection and keep a limit on leverage which is capped at 1:30 for forex currencies. The major difference is that although in both jurisdictions licensed brokers participate and deduct funds towards compensation funds or schemes from which clients can be reimbursed if the broker becomes insolvent, the amount of compensation is different. UK brokers participate in the local Financial Services Compensation Scheme which can provide up to 85,000 GBP per client whereas CySec regulated brokers deduct funds towards the local Investor Compensation Fund which provides the means to repay clients with up to 20,000 EUR per person in case of bankruptcy.
The regulations set by ASIC for Australian brokers differ from those in the EU and the UK. There are no compensation schemes or funds to reimburse clients if the broker becomes insolvent. However, the initial capital of 1 million AUD which Australian brokers must deposit serves also to protect clients in case of unfavourable events. Another major difference is that in Australia there is no limit on leverage which makes trading with Australian brokers attractive for the more adventurous and reckless traders. However, the situation is about to change as on 29 March 2021, the regulation for forex trade in Australia will change and a cap on leverage will be imposed to match the ones existing in the EU and the UK.
Forex Premium Trading software
Forex Premium trades in metals, futures, energies, bonds and commodities. We couldn’t get access to the trading platform as opening a trading account with this dodgy broker required providing personal and financial information which is a no-no when dealing with scammers. From whatever information is available on the website, we understand that the trading software offered to the clients consists of a web trader platform. This broker claims that it offers tight spread as low as 0.6 pips. However, if you look at the image below showing the different trading accounts, you will see that the spread indicated for the Basic account is 1.9 pips. For your information, spread that is wider than the industry average of 1.5 pips is not beneficial for the trader as the cost of transactions will be too high.
We want to mention that a web trader is not the best quality trading software that a broker may offer to its clients. If you research the links we provided above, you will see that all reputable and high-ranking legit brokers offer either MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5 trading platforms which are considered to be the best in forex trade and are choice number one for 80% of the brokers. This is quite understandable as both platforms are equipped with an excellent package of trading tools and instruments that enhances clients’ trading experience. For example, there is the auto trading option, trading signals, VPS, code base with customs scripts, the app market, the financial calendar, etc. In addition to that, the plethora of charting options and the array of technical analysis indicators help traders predict the future direction of exchange rates and make a profit.
Forex Premium Deposit/Withdrawal methods and fees
From the image below is visible that the trading accounts offered to Forex Premium clients are 4 – Basic, Classic, Standard and Premium. The minimum initial deposit for the Basic account is $350. The other accounts start at $1,000, $2,500 and $5,000 respectively.
The company offers a big choice of deposit and withdrawal methods, such as Bitcoin, Neteller, Skrill, PayPal, credit card, American Express, bank wire, Sofort, GiroPay, WebMoney and there is no fees on deposit. As per the information provided in the Deposit/Withdrawal section on the company’s website, we understand that withdrawals are instant with the exception of withdrawals made via bank wire which can take from 2 to 5 business days.
If a trading account stays inactive for over 3 months, then a monthly fee of $99.90 is applied.
Although this broker claims that it does not provide bonuses, there is however a remuneration given when a client refers a friend or a family member. Both parties earn $50 and this way, the broker claimed the clients can earn up to $10,000. Although it is not a bonus per se, it is a type of incentives, something which licensed brokers do not do.
How does scam work?
No one wants to be duped by scammers, but it happens all the time because they know how to manipulate people. As they say in one popular song “sweet dreams are made of this” and this is what scammers rely on – creating in people’s mind a sweet dream of being rich! Scams usually start by unsolicited telephone calls or ads on the Internet or social media promising quick and easy profit. It is easy to fall into scammers’ trap and once you make a deposit, you are done for! Scammers won’t let you get away easily even if you realise that you are being scammed. They will try to delay you when you try to withdraw your funds by asking you to provide this document or fill out this form, etc., in order to make you miss the deadline when you can file for a chargeback.
What to do if scammed?
You need to act very quickly. First of all, if you have made a deposit using a credit card, you must immediately file for a chargeback. Fortunately, VISA and MasterCard allow for 540 day period in which you can file for a chargeback. This is the good news. The bad news is that if you have made a deposit using bank wire or Bitcoin, the chances of you getting your funds back are nil!
Another thing you can do is cancel your credit card if the scammers have your CVV code. Check your PC and erase the software that gives scammers access to your personal data.
Be careful, because even doing all that we recommended, your unfortunate experience with scammers may not be over. There are so-called recovery agents. One of those may approach you offering to recover your funds for a fee. Do not trust them and always check the legitimacy of the recovery agent and the agency.
Also, be aware that some “victims” of scam may post comments after the review, saying how they lost money and how a recovery agent helped them retrieve their funds. They will even put the contact info for this so-called recovery agent. Do not trust them either as it is another case of scam!
