Beware! Investor500 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.
Investor500 is not a worthwhile partner in trading – indeed, there are severe issues regarding its regulation and its Terms and Conditions that lead to the conclusion that the broker is best avoided. Here is why we think that:
Investor500 regulation and safety of funds
Investor500 is completely unregulated – and what’s worse, there is not a single mention of where the broker operates from anywhere on its website. This essentially means that when dealing with Investor500, you are dealing with a completely anonymous company that cannot guarantee you it is not running a scam, or that your money is safe from the violent turns of the FX markets with it.
Licensed brokers on the other hand are required to comply with different regulatory requirements based on where they operate from – these requirements ensure that the company has what it takes to navigate the markets and that it is not running a scam – for example, in the UK, to ensure the former a company needs to hold over 730 000 euro in liquid funs to be issued a license. And to prove it is not running a scam, legitimate brokers from Britain are required to report on a daily basis on open and closed trades, so as to make sure no market manipulation can take place.
There are many more policies that UK brokers have to follow, but, as you can see, trading with legitimate brokers is much preferable than using the services of ones like Investor500!
Investor500 trading software
Investor500 provides access to a rather basic trading platform – it lacks the features of industry standard Metatrader 5, namely automated trading. Here is what the platform looks like:
As you can see, the spreads on it are within the acceptable 1 pip difference for FX majors – but the leverage Investor500 provides access to is simply too much, sitting at 1:200. Such amounts have been banned by most jurisdictions for retail clients. Therefore, most brokers that still offer them to such client classes are unlicensed and looking to attract more attention to their services – so be careful when you see a company advertise high-leverage trading in the wild!
Investor500 deposit and withdrawal methods and fees
Investor500 accepts deposits via credit cards and wire transfers. If you have deposited by card, you will be able to file a chargeback within 540 days of the transaction – but if you have used a wire transfer, you will have to contend with Investor500’s ridiculous withdrawal fees, as such payments are always final.
Here are the fees we mentioned above:
Investor500 charges any withdrawal a minimum of $35 plus a levy of 10% of the withdrawal amount to any account that has not achieved a turnover of at least 200 times. That turnover is impossible to reach and the levy is inescapable. Here is the broker’s fee on inactive accounts:
This is not something a legitimate broker would ever charge you!
To top it all up, the broker has an incredibly shady bonus policy that makes withdrawing any profits impossible – here is the clause in question:
It states that profits are to be divided in two categories, based on what deposit method was used to make them – the broker makes ones made with bonuses it issued ineligible for a withdrawal. The problem is that there is no way to know what money is made with what – and, therefore, the broker will simply claim all your funds as that non-withdrawable category!
There is a possibility to withdraw your bonus if you achieve another unreasonable turnover requirement – 25 times the bonus and the deposit amount. That will simply not happen!
How does the scam work?
It is undeniable – Investor500 is running one of the oldest scams out there – here is how the scam transpires:
Someone stumbles upon the broker’s website and is prompted to make an account – they must leave their phone number in the process, which the scammers will then use to start calling around the clock to harass them for deposits. No amount of money will be enough for them – and they will only stop if their client runs out of money or realizes what’s going on – at which point the scammers cut them off and disappear completely!
What to do when scammed?
If you have been scammed, you will need to take the following steps to ensure you do not suffer further losses:
Reissue whatever forms of ID, credit cards and so on the scammers had access to and remove any remote control software they had you install on your PC.
Get in touch with your bank and see if you can file a chargeback – but if it is not possible, do not trust recovery agencies that demand an upfront payment for their services, as these are all scams as well!
Finally, leave a comment below to help us raise awareness of the scam – the best way to combat it.
