Beware! SpectraFX 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.
SpectraFX is yet another offshore broker that does not really present us with a good reason to trade with. A valued quality among brokers is transparency – and SpectraFX does not have any of it! The broker does not have its address available anywhere on its website, and it does not provide us with access to its Terms and Conditions. Unfortunately, this leaves us with a lot of things we cannot know – we could not open an account with SpectraFX either. We submitted our information, and got the following message:
However, as you can imagine, a verification email never came. Still, from what we managed to gather from SpectraFX’s incredibly cryptic website, the broker is not really worth dealing with – here is why:
SpectraFX regulation and safety of funds
SpectraFX is not regulated – once again, a legitimate broker would be transparent about it, but SpectraFX does not mention regulation, one of the most important aspects of a broker’s service, at all on its website. This means that the company cannot have a license with any regulatory body worth mentioning, which in turn means that there is no way to know that we are not dealing with a scam!
It would therefore be a good idea to stick to brokers which hold licenses instead – this will provide you with unique benefits depending on where the company operates from. For example, traders with UK brokers enjoy access to a Negative Balance Protection policy, as well as guarantee funds that restore up to 85 000 pounds in losses if the company goes under. If you would like to know more, here is a list of UK brokers to pick from.
SpectraFX trading software
SpectraFX claims it provides access to industry standard Metatrader 5 – but any link to download the platform on the broker’s website is quite broken. Without the ability to make an account we cannot know what software SpectraFX really has access to – but considering there are a lot more legitimate brokers out there that have the revered platform available, there is simply no need to use the services of a company like SpectraFX!
Also, while we cannot know what the spreads with SpectraFX are, the leverage it advertises, 1:1000 is simply too much – such amounts have long been outlawed by the majority of regulatory bodies, on the grounds that they are too dangerous for retail traders. Unlicensed brokers have taken to offering them to attract more clients – and so, if you see such a high leverage in the wild, do be careful – odds are, you might be dealing with a scam!
SpectraFX deposit and withdrawal methods and fees
SpectraFX does not mention how it accepts deposits – but if you have managed to invest with the broker, we suggest filing a chargeback if one is possible – there is no telling what obscene fees SpectraFX has in store for you, or what complications the broker has put on its withdrawal process. This is because the company does not have its legal documentation available on its website, which is, once again, a breach of transparency!
How does the scam work?
It is quite obvious that SpectraFX is running a scam – the company does so by following a rather ancient pattern, which we have described below:
First off, someone stumbles upon the broker’s website – and from it, are prompted to make an account, leaving their phone in the process. Once the scammers get their hands on it, they will start calling around the clock to solicit deposits from their victims. These calls will only stop if the victim runs out of money, or realizes they are being conned – at which point, the scammers will cut them off and move on to new targets!
What to do when scammed?
Here is how you can limit further losses:
Reissue whatever credit cards and forms of ID the scammers had access to – also, get rid of whatever form of remote control software they had you install on your PC!
Secondly, contact your bank and see if you can get a chargeback – if that is not possible at all, do not fall for recovery agencies, which demand an upfront payment for their service – all of them are scams as well!
Finally, do not hesitate to comment below with your own thoughts on SpectraFX – that will help us raise the general awareness of the scam, which is the best way to combat it!
