Beware! Debtfree Crypto 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.
Debtfree Crypto is a messy and unfunctional website that tries to convince us that it represents a licensed financial services provider. But it’s pretty obvious that Debtfree Crypto is anything but. This is nothing more than yet another anonymous website trying to cash in on the hype surrounding cryptocurrencies and scam naive and inexperienced people out of their money. Let’s take a closer look at the many reasons Debtfree Crypto gives us to avoid it.
DEBTFREE CRYPTO REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
The website greets us with the claim that Debtfree Crypto Ltd is “a United Kingdom-based company is a legitimate business operating since 2018 that provides its trusted fund management services globally under SIC licence”. In the FAQ section we see the assurance that “the legality of our company’s activities can be judged by the presence of all registration documents and licenses”.
But the only alleged “document” is an obviously fake certificate of incorporation for an International Business Company in the United States. This certificate does not even mention Debtfree Crypto, but another brand – Globalswifttrade, which is very reminiscent of another fake broker we’ve reviewed – Swift Global Trade.
The other supposed proof of legitimacy is a link to the general register of companies in the United Kingdom, showing information about a company named Tushlegaltrade Ltd. There is no evidence that this company has anything to do with the website.
None of this makes sense or proves that Debtfree Crypto is an authorized provider of brokerage and investment services.
To operate as a forex broker in the United States, a company must be registered as a futures commission merchant and foreign exchange dealer with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and to be a member of the National Futures Association (NFA). And to offer such services in the UK, a broker must be licensed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). But we find no license in the regulator’s database, only a warning that the Debtfree Crypto is not authorised:
Debtfree Crypto does not provide adequate legal documentation. All we find on the website are the Terms and Conditions, which are too brief and do not include substantial information. There is also no mention of the name of a legal company, so we have no idea who exactly we are dealing with. There are constant messages popping up on the website informing us how a particular person has withdrawn or deposited money – if this were true information it would be in breach of all possible data protection regulations.
If you want to trade on financial markets without being scammed, you can turn to some of the legitimate brokers that actually operate from established financial hubs like the UK. These brokers have to meet stringent requirements for financial stability and transparency of operations imposed by the FCA. They must provide clients with negative balance protection and to participate in a guarantee fund that covers up to GBP 85,000 of a client’s investment should the broker go into insolvency. These brokers are also required to keep their clients’ money segregated from their own operating funds in separate bank accounts.
DEBTFREE CRYPTO TRADING SOFTWARE
Debtfree Crypto claims that the services it offers include forex, stocks and cryptocurrency trading. But in addition to having no legal authorisation to offer such trading, Debtfree Crypto does not have the necessary software. Account registration does not give us access to a trading platform. In the dashboard we only see simple charts with current asset prices, which have no trading functionality.
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.
DEBTFREE CRYPTO TRADING CONDITIONS
Debtfree Crypto does not provide information on trading conditions, but this does not really matter given that this trading is not real. However, the statements on our website provide further evidence that this is not and could not be a genuine broker.
If it were truly a licensed broker in the UK, Debtfree Crypto could not offer cryptocurrency trading as it claims. The FCA has banned this type of trading for retail customers. Debtfree Crypto also claims to offer referral bonuses. Regulated brokers are prohibited from offering bonuses and promotions to their customers.
Debtfree Crypto claims to offer “investment packages” providing impossibly high returns. A much wiser choice would be to go with a licensed broker. Many of the leading companies in the industry allow you to start trading with a very low minimum deposit of 100 USD, 50 USD or even less.
DEBTFREE CRYPTO DEPOSIT/WITHDRAW METHODS AND FEES
The website claims that Debtfree Crypto accepts a number of cryptocurrencies as payment methods, as well as payment providers PerfectMoney and Payeer. However, there is only one option in the deposit menu – to send an amount to the specified Bitcoin wallet.
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. Scammers prefer cryptocurrencies because these transactions are not subject to refunds.
Debtfree Crypto’s Terms and Conditions also include a provision that any deposit must be considered a private transaction. This further ensures that you will not be able to withdraw back the money you made the mistake of giving to Debtfree Crypto.
HOW DOES THE SCAM WORK
While browsing the interwebs there is a significant chance you will come across comments, videos, social media pages that promise easy ways to passively make money. If you follow the links you will be taken to websites claiming to be legitimate brokers or investment firms. And if you take the next step and make contact with the people behind these websites, you will be contacted by slick and experienced scammers who will lure you in with promises of easy profits. For a while they will convince you that your investment is generating impressive returns and you need to pour in even more money to make sure you don’t miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity
However, the attitude towards you will be changed if you want to withdraw your money. Suddenly, it will turn out that your investment makes losses and you even owe money to the fake broker for unexpected fees and expenses. They will show you clauses hidden in the Terms and Conditions, according to which you can only withdraw money after you have traded an impossible minimum volume, or that you will have to pay withdrawal fees of 20%, 30% or even more. When you try to hold them accountable you will find they are using fake names and shell companies in shady offshore jurisdictions without any regulatory oversight.
WHAT TO DO WHEN SCAMMED
Your options to recover your money are limited. If credit/debit cards were used for the transactions, you have the possibility to request a chargeback. But most scammers insist that you send them proof of identity and address with which they can dispute that the transactions were legitimate. Fraudsters also predominantly use cryptocurrencies, where refunds are impossible.
You should also be aware that there are many scammers who offer to recover your money for an upfront fee. You should not trust such offers. It is better to contact the relevant authorities in your country and warn them about the activities of the scammers.
