Beware! WBIinvest 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.
WBIinvest claims to be a broker that has “produced enormous success stories during trading with our experts” and that has built “a strong relationship with our clients by helping them with information, the strategy for trading, and the safety of funds”. However, this is just a new domain of an old scam broker we have already reviewed – so don’t come expecting reliability. A reputable regulator has warned investors that this broker is a scam – so the best decision would be to forget about WBIinvest and choose a legitimate broker instead.
WBIinvest REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
WBIinvest has not provided any address or license information – so we have no idea where they are based. However, what we do know is that the broker has been targeting Italian customers – since the Italian financial regulator CONSOB recently warned investors about the broker’s fraudulent activities.
If a broker has attracted the attention of a reputable regulator in such a negative way, it would be best for you to avoid them – companies blacked-out by financial authorities are usually not to be trusted, and are most probably a scam. This is especially true for an anonymous broker like WBIinvest.
What is even more bothersome is that this is definitely a new domain of wbiinvest.com – another proven scam we have reviewed. It is a common practice among scammers to change domains as soon as someone figures out there is something shady going on – everything else, from the logo to the shady terms offered, remains the same.
The broker also offers you to download some remote-access software and give them access to your computer – supposedly, so they could help you trade. The real reason behind that is different though – WBIinvest would like to have access to your computer so they could easily get into your bank account, steal your passwords and rob you. Never install such software if a broker is offering – there is most probably something shady going on.
A much better choice would be to invest with a regulated UK, EU, or Aussie broker – these brokers are subject to some of the strictest laws and requirements in the world. As a start, they have to maintain the capital of at least €730 000 in the UK, and the EU, and A$1 million in Australia to prove their financial stability. Licensed brokers in the UK and the EU are also obligated to participate in compensations funds – so if such a broker goes bankrupt, their clients could receive compensation of up to £85 000 in the UK and €20 000 in the EU. Client money must be kept in segregated accounts and negative balance protection is ensured – you can never lose more money than you have in your account.
WBIinvest TRADING SOFTWARE
WBIinvest provided access to a functional MetaTrader 4 – the problem was that the terminal did not belong to this broker but to another one.
This is not the first time we have encountered a broker that is using the MT terminal of the offshore broker Monographic Technologies – which means either that this company is behind multiple scam brokers or that those brokers are using someone else’s software without their knowledge. In both cases, something is not right – and WBIinvest cannot promise you trading on their own platform.
There are many great brokers you could try MT4 with – and we definitely advise you to do that if you are serious about trading. This has been the most popular platform in the industry for years – although MT5 recently surpassed it in number of clients. MT4 is still beloved by many and it is easy to see why – the platform is not overly complicated but provides access to a ton of great tools. You would be able to use Expert Advisors that trade automatically, purchase VPSs to keep your trading bots operating at all times, set customizable signals, check out different add-ons on the MT market, use 30 different indicators, 9 multiple timeframes, and 4 pending order types, and much more.
Still, here is what a typical MT4 terminal looks like:
WBIinvest TRADING CONDITIONS
We would not exactly call WBIinvest a competitive broker – they are asking for a minimum deposit of $250 to open the most basic account when many great brokers would be happy to let you trade for less than $50, sometimes even for as little as $1.
The leverage offered by the broker could potentially go up to 1:200 – which sounds attractive but there are many top brokerages who can offer similar ratios. However, we always advise traders to be careful with leverage settings – since trading with higher leverage could lead both to bigger profits and to bigger losses. That is why leverage is restricted in many jurisdictions – UK, EU, and Australian brokers cannot offer anything higher than 1:30 to retail clients.
The spreads we got on MT4 were exactly 0 pips at all times – which is very improbable, especially for a broker who does not ask for any additional commission. Even the best of brokers cannot offer such amazing spreads. This makes us believe that the platform has been manipulated in some way to show those attractive numbers.
WBIinvest DEPOSIT/WITHDRAWAL METHODS AND FEES
WBIinvest allows you to deposit in a few less than conventional ways – through the online payment system GameChangers, the hybrid mobile wallet PayCent which mostly allows you to transfer money in different cryptocurrencies, and the crypto exchange platform Finanic. Depositing through Finanic, however, was not possible at the moment.
We could not help but notice the lack of possibility to deposit by simply using a credit or debit card – such transactions are fairly easy to get a chargeback on since both Visa and MasterCard have a policy that allows the transaction to be reversed within 540 days. That is why scammers would usually offer you different options, preferably cryptocurrencies. There is nothing wrong with crypto itself – it is an innovative and convenient technology that some legitimate brokers have already embarrassed. The problem is that all such transactions are irreversible which would make it impossible for you to get a chargeback when you figure out you have been scammed.
An additional issue is that WBIinvest charges some huge non-trading fees. The withdrawal fees were particularly impressive:
$50 for wire transfer does not sound too off the mark but $25 plus $10 for credit cards, and $25 for ePayments does – most legitimate brokers would not charge fees bigger than $2-$3 on such withdrawals, and some would even cover all transaction fees. There is an additional 10% for accounts that have not been verified or reached 200 in turnover – a ridiculous demand. No legitimate broker would blackmail you in such a way, or prevent you from getting access to your own money. Moreover, all of these withdrawal methods were not available with WBIinvest so we supposed they have not updated their Terms and Conditions in a while.
There is also a huge inactivity fee – after six months of no trading activity, the broker would withdraw 10% from your account. This fee can turn out to be quite huge, as you can guess.
The broker also offers bonuses – which proves they could not be a legitimate UK, EU, or Australian broker because bonuses have long been banned in all of these jurisdictions. But to get access to the bonus, you would have to reach an enormous turnover – 25 times your deposit plus the bonus.
You can never believe that such scammers would not make up additional terms as soon as you have accepted the bonus – and deny you access to your own profits and deposits, too. That is why it is better to avoid shady brokers like WBIinvest as a whole.
HOW DOES THE SCAM WORK?
Such scams are becoming more and more of a thing – obviously the people behind them have no intention of slowing down once they have seen how easy it is to convince people to trust you with their money. That is why it is important to read the following paragraphs carefully to know how to avoid scam brokers.
Not all scams are obvious – you might see a nice-looking ad promising you immense wealth and fast profits. You have heard that forex trading is nothing less than a lucrative profession for some people – so you decide there is no harm in checking out some broker’s website and setting up an account without depositing. However, the moment you provide the scammers with your contact details, you would not stop getting calls and emails – the scammers will try to convince you to deposit. Such people are well-versed in the art of smooth-talking so soon enough you will see yourself doing just that. The problem is that “the broker” will start asking for more and more money – and you will gladly deposit because, at this point, it might seem like you are turning a profit. Nothing could be further away from the truth – platform manipulations are not unheard of. Or you might be losing and would want to withdraw whatever money you have left.
In both cases, it will turn out to be impossible to withdraw – new clauses in the Terms and Conditions you had no idea about will show up, additional taxes might be demanded of you. At some point, you will figure out something is not right and will try to withdraw your money immediately – and that is when the broker will stop answering phone calls, and emails.
WHAT TO DO WHEN SCAMMED?
Keep in mind that recovering your money would be hard, sometimes impossible. If you have deposited with Visa or MasterCard, demand a chargeback immediately – such is possible within 540 days. Getting a chargeback on any other payment would be much harder while transactions made in crypto are completely irreversible.
Make sure to change all banking passwords you have given the scammers access to. Remove any remote access software, if you have installed such – these measures are important to avoid further losses of money.
Notify authorities and tell your story – both to your acquaintances and online. This way, people will know to avoid such scams.
Finally, stay away from anyone who calls themselves a “recovery agent” and who offers to retrieve your money if only you pay a fee – this is just another type of scam targeting victims of fraud.
