Beware! Crezmoon 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.
Crezmoon is nothing more than a scam – it took us one look at their website to establish that. This is another broker that tries to fool you that it is regulated by providing irrelevant license numbers – in the meantime, some of the conditions Crezmoon offers go directly against the regulations of the UK (where the broker is supposedly based). Do not trust this fraudulent scam scheme if you want to trade for profit.
Crezmoon REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
Crezmoon claimed to be based in the UK and has even provided a local business license number. However, such a license does not necessarily mean that the broker is regulated in the country – in order to obtain an official license by the UK’s financial authority, the FCA, a broker has to meet many requirements and prove its trustworthiness. When we checked the FCA’s database, we found out that, unsurprisingly, this broker is not regulated in the country – and is therefore not authorized to offer forex broker services.
Turning to a legitimate, regulated broker is essential if you do not want to end up scammed. Brokers with a solid license are reliable choice because they have to answer to certain reputable authorities that make sure that all brokers conduct business in a fair and transparent manner. UK brokers are indeed considered to be among the best in the world – and a company has to meet many requirements before obtaining such a license. There are minimum capital requirements – all brokers are obligated to prove their financial stability by holding capital of at least €730 000 – and sometimes more if the broker has many clients. If such a broker does go bankrupt despite all safety measures, its clients would be entitled to compensation of up to £85 000 because UK brokers are obligated to participate in the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). But since your capital is always kept in segregated bank accounts so that broker money and client money do not mix, it is extremely unlikely for your deposit to be lost if your broker becomes insolvent.
Crezmoon TRADING SOFTWARE
Crezmoon offers a platform that can just barely be called trading software. The broker presented us with a TradingView chart with some buttons and a few extra functions (trading signals and a news page) attached to it. This is hardly the advanced trading software we were promised – you would barely be able to do anything on a platform like this one.
Better check out these brokers who offer the most popular software in the industry – MetaTrader 5. This platform is very accessible (even for complete beginners) but still offers a huge level of functionality and every trading tool or feature you might need. You will get access to a wide array of charting and analysis tools – technical indicators, timeframes, and graphical objects – as well as to features like Expert Advisors that trade automatically in accordance with an algorithm, VPSs you could use to keep your trading bots open at all times, a multi-threaded, multi-currency Strategy Tester, trading signals, options for hedging and netting, a community chat, a built-in economic calendar and much more. You can even develop your own trading bots and indicators on the platform. Few platforms offer the efficiency of MT5 – try the software out today to make sure of that yourself.
Crezmoon TRADING CONDITIONS
Crezmoon asks for a minimum deposit of $250 – which is a bit too much considering the fact that they cannot offer either safety or a good trading platform. Many of the most established players in the industry would open an account for $100 or less – check out our list of brokers who offer affordable trading options instead.
The broker promised maximum leverage of 1:400 but we were only able to trade with ratios of up to 1:100. However, this is still far higher than the rates any legitimate UK broker could offer you legally. Trading with high leverage could lead to much bigger losses, especially if you do not have the knowledge and experience to handle such rates. That is why leverage caps exist in many countries, including the UK – up to 1:30 on forex majors for retail clients. This is another proof we are dealing with a scam broker.
Crezmoon also mentioned charging various fees and commissions but did not specify the size of those or on what occasions they are charged. This means that the broker will probably find imaginative ways to deprive you of all profits in the future – exactly through those fees.
Crezmoon DEPOSIT/WITHDRAWAL METHODS AND FEES
Crezmoon allows its clients to choose between two deposit options – wire transfer or various cryptos. The common thing between these two payment methods is that such transactions cannot be reversed – crypto payments are completely irreversible by default while bank wire transfers can technically be reversed but it is extremely hard for such a thing to happen. Crypto transactions are also anonymous – each payment can be traced to a wallet but not to a person or organization. This makes such transactions untraceable. If you have already deposited with this broker, it would be very hard for you to retrieve your money.
The broker offers bonuses – something no UK broker would be able to do legally since bonuses are strictly banned in the UK as well as in the EU and Australia. The reason for the ban is that scam brokers often attach fraudulent clauses like the one you can see below to their bonuses.
In order to withdraw a bonus, you would have to reach certain unspecified turnover requirements – which can change without prior notice. If you try to withdraw the bonus before that, knowingly or unknowingly, you will lose both the bonus and all your profits, even those completely unrelated to the bonus. This is the broker’s way of preventing you from withdrawing your money too soon – after all, if you try to do that, you will quickly discover that all of your money is gone. Crezmoon will surely keep raising those turnover requirements – and by the time you figure out there is something wrong going on, the broker will be gone with all of your profits.
HOW DOES THE SCAM WORK?
Such scams are not only becoming more frequent but they are also surprisingly effective – which is why the first and most important step if you want to protect yourself from them, is to understand how they work.
You stumble upon a broker on the Internet – that broker promises to make you a rich, successful trader in no time. You are curious to see what forex brokers are all about – after all, you have heard stories of people becoming rich by trading – and provide the scammers with your phone number and email. After that, you would not be left alone before you have deposited – these people are seasoned scammers and will convince you to transfer money in no time.
This will not be enough though – the broker will keep asking for more and more money, and since scammers often manipulate profits and platforms, you might even be happy to invest because you would be thinking that you are turning a profit.
Once you try to withdraw, however, the problems will start – the broker will start denying withdrawals because of certain clauses in the Terms and Conditions, because of previously unmentioned fees and taxes, etc. At this point, you will find out that there is something wrong going on – but the scammers will be long-gone with your money before you can do anything.
WHAT TO DO WHEN SCAMMED?
Do not get desperate and do not employ any so-called “recovery agencies” that promise to track down the scammers and retrieve your money for a fee – this is just another type of scam.
What you should do is notify the responsible authorities in your country and contact your bank to let them know that you have been scammed. Change all your banking passwords and remove all remote access software the scammers had you install under false pretenses – they only wanted access to your computer and your banking systems.
If you have deposited with a Visa or MasterCard card, you might be able to retrieve your money – both card providers allow chargebacks within 540 days of the transaction so contact your card issuer as soon as possible.
Finally, make sure to share your story with as many people as possible to let them know that such scams exist and how they work. This way, others can avoid losing their money in the future.
