Beware! Tyson Global 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.
Tyson Global tries to portray itself as a regulated and award winning broker offering forex and CFD trading. In reality it is a low quality website behind which fraudsters are no doubt hiding.
At the time of writing this review, the Tyson Global website lacks basic information and functionality. But there are plenty of clues that this is not a legitimate broker and should therefore be avoided.
TYSON GLOBAL REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
The Tyson Global website is obviously aimed at Asia – the default language is Chinese, there is also a Korean version. However, we can see a claim that the company behind the website, Tyson Capital Group Co. Ltd., is registered and regulated in the United States:
There is a lot wrong with this description of alleged Tyson Global regulations, which makes it clear that this is not a genuine broker.
First, Tyson Global claims to be regulated by the U.S. financial industry regulatory authority (FINRA). To operate as a forex broker in the United States, a company must be registered by a different institution – Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Tyson Global also claims to have a Money Services Businesses (MSB) transaction license of the U.S. Department of finance. Such a license would not allow a firm to offer brokerage services in the United States. But even if that were not the case, the license number listed by Tyson Global actually belongs to an entirely different company:
The website also claims that Tyson Capital Group Co. Ltd. is a member of the National Futures Association (NFA). This is indeed a requirement for brokers in the United States. But no broker with that name can be found in the NFA database:
Tyson Global is apparently lying about being a regulated broker, hoping that potential victims of the scam are unfamiliar with the US regulatory framework.
If you have decided to trade on the financial markets, you need to make sure that your chosen broker is indeed licensed and supervised by a powerful regulatory institution like Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) or Australian Securities and Exchanges Commission (ASIC). Clients of these brokers receive protections such as negative balance protection and segregation of the client’s funds from the broker’s funds.
In the EU and the UK, brokers must also participate in guarantee schemes that cover a certain amount of the trader’s investment if the broker becomes insolvent. These guarantees amount to up to 20 000 EUR in the EU and 85 000 GBP in the UK. However, the likelihood of such a bankruptcy is low because regulators also have significant net capital requirements that companies must maintain – EUR 730 000 in UK and Cyprus, AUD 1000 000 in Australia and at least 20 million USD in the United States.
TYSON GLOBAL TRADING SOFTWARE
Tyson Global claims to offer a custom, award-winning trading platform called TGtrade. An installation file can be downloaded from the website, but it is extremely questionable and we decided to follow the warnings of the operating system and not install it. Given the overall picture with Tyson Global, there is a strong possibility that this is not a trading platform at all, but some kind of malicious software.
Our attempts to register a Tyson Global account were also unsuccessful – the registration form requires an invitation code. It is possible that the website is still a work in progress, or that this fraudulent scheme relies on victims being referred with “invitation” from other websites.
Legitimate brokers offer clients a wide selection of trading software, including desktop, mobile apps and web-based platforms. The most widely used platforms in the industry are MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). These platforms have established themselves as industry standard because they offer a wide range of features, including a variety of options for customization, multiple account usage, designing and implementing custom scripts for automated trading and backtesting trade strategies.
TYSON GLOBAL TRADING CONDITIONS
One sign that the Tyson Global may still be unfinished, or simply a low-effort scam, is that nowhere is info given about the supposed terms of trade. There are no descriptions of different types of trading accounts, nor are basic parameters such as minimum deposit and leverage specified.
From the little information available, it seems that the spread offered for forex trading is 5 pips. In comparison, typical levels in the industry are around 1 pip, and levels above 2 pips are considered too high and disadvantageous for the trader.
Only very general wording can be seen in the Tyson Global Terms and Conditions. There is no specific information on fees and conditions for deposit and withdrawal.
On the website one can see mention of payment methods such as debit cards and wire transfer, but again there is no specifics. Legitimate brokers typically offer clients a wide choice of transparent payment methods, including bank transfer, credit/debit cards and established e-wallets such as PayPal, Skrill or Neteller.
HOW DOES THE SCAM WORK
Many people are looking for ways to make money passively, but do not have the necessary knowledge to invest in the financial markets themselves. This makes them a target for the many online scammers posing as brokers. If you come across some of them and give them your contacts, you will be contacted by skilled scam artists who will assure you that they can take on the incomprehensible aspects of investing for you. You will only be required to invest and take profits.
But when you try to collect even just a fraction of your money, it will turn out to be impossible. Your supposed profits will suddenly evaporate, or you’ll find that you have to meet impossible traded volume requirements first. Fraudsters often insert huge withdrawal fees into client agreements amounting to 10%, 20% or even more. You won’t be able to hold scammers accountable because they hide behind fake names and shell-companies offshore. Scammers also typically use non-refundable payment methods.
WHAT TO DO WHEN SCAMMED
First of all, you should be very careful not to fall straight into the clutches of other scammers. Another common scam is to promise money recoveries from fake brokers for an upfront fee.
If you used a credit or debit card for the transactions, you can charge a chargeback. Visa and MasterCard have a long period in which they allow such requests – 540 days. But keep in mind that fraudsters can dispute if you have provided them with a copy of your ID and proof of address. It would also be helpful if you alerted the authorities in your country and other people online to the activities of the scammers.
