Beware! Solabiz-innovation 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.
On the Solabiz-innovation website we can read claims that this is an award-winning broker with over 7 years experience and licenses from some of the leading regulatory institutions in the world. The problem is that none of this is true. The exact same claims can be read in a long string of identical fake broker websites we have reviewed. Fx Bit Option, SwiftPayOptions and Unitied Fx Forum are just some of the most recent.
Under no circumstances should you trust your money to Solabiz-innovation. Let’s see exactly why.
SOLABIZ-INNOVATION REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
Even if one hasn’t seen any of the other identical scam websites, one can immediately see that something is wrong with the Solabiz-innovation. Nowhere is the name of the company behind the website mentioned. This is basic information required of any legitimate business. Solabiz-innovation doesn’t even have a fake address, as most sister scam websites do. The only contact information is email. Links to Terms & Conditions and other legal documents redirect to the index page of the website.
Needless to say, you shouldn’t trust your funds to completely anonymous websites. This anonymity is itself evidence that the Solabiz-innovation does not have the licenses from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the United Kingdom, the Australian Securities and Exchanges Commission (ASIC) and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) of South Africa that it claims.
For the purpose of this review, though, we still searched the databases of these regulators for brokers with “Solabiz-innovation” in the name. To no one’s surprise, we found nothing.
Legitimate brokers provide on their websites not only the name of the company, but also the numbers of the licenses they hold. This allows you to quickly check whether there is a licensed broker behind the website. Depending on your location, it is advisable to choose a company that is regulated by an institution such as Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Australian Securities and Exchanges Commission (ASIC), UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or some EU regulator like Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).
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
SOLABIZ-INNOVATION TRADING SOFTWARE
Like the other identical scam websites, Solabiz-innovation mentions the two most widely used trading platforms in the industry, MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). But after signing up for an account, it becomes apparent that Solabiz-innovation does not have any trading platform, be it a convincing imitation. Only charts with actual asset prices can be seen on the client portal’s dashboard, which can be taken for free from the TradingView website.
Legitimate brokers offer clients a wide selection of trading software, including desktop, mobile apps and web-based platforms. Most often those include the aforementioned 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.
SOLABIZ-INNOVATION TRADING CONDITIONS
The Solabiz-innovation website mentions three types of trading accounts, Basic, Classic and Platinum. However, the only specific information about them is the minimum deposit, which is 500 USD for a Basic account. In comparison, most legitimate brokers offer starter accounts with a minimum deposit of just 100 USD or even less.
A leverage of 1:500 is also mentioned in the website, which also indicates that Solabiz-innovation could not be a broker licensed in the UK or Australia. The FCA and ASIC, like EU regulators, limit leverage to 1:30 for trading in major currency pairs and even lower levels for more volatile assets. High leverage creates the opportunity for more significant profit, but correspondingly increases the risk of sudden and excessive losses. All leading regulators therefore restrict leverage for retail traders.
The website also shows the promise of a spread of just 0.2 pips, but that doesn’t mean anything given that Solabiz-innovation doesn’t even have a real trading platform.
SOLABIZ-INNOVATION DEPOSIT/WITHDRAW METHODS AND FEES
On the main page of the website we can see the logos of some popular payment methods such as Visa, MasterCard, Skrill, PayPal and Neteller. However, the Solabiz-innovation deposit menu itself only includes cryptocurrencies:
Cryptocurrencies as the only payment method option are a big red flag. Scammers prefer cryptocurrencies because these transactions are not subject to refunds.
If you’re interested in legitimate brokers that accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies alongside more transparent means of payment, take a look at this list.
Information on fees and withdrawal terms is nowhere to be found. As mentioned, the Solabiz-innovation does not have Terms and Conditions, so it is unclear what traps the fraudsters may have set.
HOW DOES THE SCAM WORK
Scammers who promise easy money without any effort are nothing new, especially on the internet. But given the excitement around bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in recent years, malicious actors have run rampant more than ever, capitalizing not only on people’s desire to solve their financial woes with a magic wand, but also ignorance and misunderstanding of how blockchain and complex financial instruments actually work.
If your curiosity is stirred by one of the many flashy websites promising easy riches, and you provide your contacts, you will soon be contacted by skillful and persuasive scammers who will convince you to start with a relatively small and “risk-free” investment. If you agree to this, you will be transferred to even more skilled at convincing scammers, who will persuade you to invest even more. Any money you give to such people is money you are unlikely to get back.
Any attempt to withdraw deposits or alleged profits will be hampered by numerous and significant fees, as well as harsh and often prohibitive conditions written into the terms and conditions – such as high trading volume requirements, unexpected “taxes”, or withdrawal fees as high as 10% or even 20% of your funds.
WHAT TO DO WHEN SCAMMED
When you find yourself scammed and seek advice and help online, you are likely to receive offers from individuals and companies who promise to refund your money for a fee that you have to pay in advance. Don’t trust such offers or recommendations from anonymous commentators on the internet – this is also a well established scam.
The best chance to get at least some of your money back is to request a chargeback, but this applies only if the transfer is made via credit card. It is of course advisable to notify the relevant authorities of the fraudsters’ activities and to spread the word online to warn other people who may fall victim to the same scammers.
