Beware! TopPrimes 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.
TopPrimes is a very indistinct broker – there seems to be an endless amount of shady companies like it. TopPrimes has all of their worst features too – no regulation, malicious Terms and Conditions and questionable software. We will expand on all of them to hopefully convince you that trading with TopPrimes is a terrible idea – but not before making the disclaimer that opening an account with the broker seems impossible at the time of writing. Any attempt to do so just leads back to its home page. This is incredibly unprofessional, of course – no legitimate broker would leave such a first impression in its clients. But, given how shady TopPrimes is, we cannot help but think it is for the best – after all, the broker cannot hurt anyone if it cannot open them an account first!
TopPrimes regulation and safety of funds
TopPrimes is not a regulated broker – it does not hold a license with anyone and it operates from offshore scam haven St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Here is the company confirming that as well:
The problem with St. Vincent is that it does not regulate its Forex markets in any capacity – meaning that any broker operating from there cannot even prove it is not running a scam, much less provide you with any protections from the volatility of the markets that legitimate brokers have available. For example, in the UK, these include, but are not limited to, access to guarantee funds that pay out up to 85 000 pounds per affected trader if a broker should go under. Therefore, trading with a legitimate broker is always the smart thing to do!
TopPrimes trading software
TopPrimes seems to provide access to some kind of web-based trading software. However, without an account we only got as far as the following log in screen:
This means that we cannot know how the software stacks up to industry standard Metatrader 5.
TopPrimes deposit and withdrawal methods
TopPrimes claims to accept deposits via credit cards alone. That might not be true – without an account, we have no way of knowing. If, however, the broker does accept credit cards, that is quite the relief for traders who have deposited with it – cards allow for a chargeback to be filed within 540 days on any deposit. And a chargeback is the only way to get your money out of TopPrimes’ hands – the broker has the following clause in its Terms and Conditions:
It states that traders cannot withdraw until they have achieved a certain turnover. Here is the volume of said turnover:
The trader is required to reach at least a fourth of the deposit issued, in lots. A standard lot is worth exactly 100 000 units of base currency – and, therefore, in the example TopPrimes gives, the trader would need to achieve a turnover of five million dollars to be able to withdraw!
How does the scam work?
Unfortunately, we have no choice but to consider TopPrimes a total scam. What’s more, we know exactly how that scam works, as we have seen it hundreds of times before. Here is what usually happens:
First off, someone makes an account with the broker, and are required to leave a phone number. The scammers then use said number to start calling around the clock, demanding more and more money from their victims. They are masterful manipulators and will only stop calling if their victim either runs out of money or realizes they are being conned – at which point, they will cut them off and move on to new targets.
What to do when scammed?
If you recognize yourself in what we described above, you might have been the victim of a scam. Here is what to do to limit your losses:
First off, recall whatever credit cards and forms of ID the scammers had access to – and get new ones issued ASAP! Also, get rid of any remote control software they had you install on your PC.
Secondly, contact your bank to see if a chargeback is possible – and if it is not, do not trust any recovery agency which demands an upfront payment for its services – all of them are scams as well.
Finally, do not hesitate to leave a comment with your thoughts on TopPrimes in the section below – in doing so, you will be helping us raise awareness of the scam, which is the best way to combat it!
