Beware! Platinum FX Options 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.
Platinum FX Options states confidently that it is “one of the largest forex brands around” and serves millions of traders. It’s quite strange then that we haven’t heard of this brand. Fact checking quickly revealed that this is in fact yet another scam illegally using the details of a legitimate broker to fool the more incautious and inexperienced. Let’s look at the reasons why it’s in your best interest to stay away from Platinum FX Option.
PLATINUM FX OPTIONS REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
The poor quality and lacking functionality of the website is in itself a good indicator that Platinum FX Options is hardly the legitimate financial services provider it claims to be. But when choosing a broker through whom to invest, it is most important to establish whether it is properly licensed and what regulatory regimes it is subject to.
Platinum FX Options presents itself as an offshore broker based in the Republic of Mauritius and managed by the legal entity Exinity Limited.
The lack of solid regulation in offshore areas like Mauritius is reason enough to be cautious. But there’s a bigger problem – Exinity Limited is a offshore subsidiary of FXTM, which is indeed one of the leading forex brokers in the world. The Platinum FX Options website, however, has nothing to do with it.
A check of the Financial Services Commission of the Republic of Mauritius registry shows that this company currently operates through the domain credentiainternational.com. When choosing a broker through which to invest in the financial markets, you should not only make sure that all the information required by law is available, but also that this information is true. Always check that the company is indeed on the records of the specified regulator and that the domain used is among those officially approved for the particular broker.
Platinum FX Options is obviously lying about being associated with this company. Therefore, we do not actually know who is behind this website. When signing up for an account, consent to the Privacy Policy is required, but there is no link to this document. Even worse, Platinum FX Options does not provide access to a Customer Agreement or other documentation that would inform us of what terms we are agreeing to.
If you have decided to invest in financial instruments, and especially if you are a novice trader, you should use the services of a licensed broker based in a jurisdiction with strong regulations.
Depending on your location, it is advisable to choose a company that is regulated by an institution such as Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in US, 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.
PLATINUM FX OPTIONS TRADING SOFTWARE
Platinum FX Options promises the industry’s two most popular trading platforms, MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). But this also turns out to be a lie. Platinum FX Options provides neither links to download the software nor credentials to log into a trading server. The dashboard lacks any trading functionality.
There are more than enough licensed brokers offering clients the MT4 experience and/or the newer version of the software 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.
PLATINUM FX OPTIONS TRADING CONDITIONS
Platinum FX Options claims to offer two types of trading accounts, but the description of their terms is identical. Such oversights are typical of low-effort financial scams, which Platinum FX Options apparently is.
Given the lack of licence and especially software, Platinum FX Options obviously offers no real trade. The parameters listed seem to be standard for offshore brokers, and are probably just copied from a real company’s website.
Leverage up to 1:1000 is specified. This is not a level that you see with regulated brokers. Trading with high leverage allows higher profits, but also increases the risk of sudden and excessive losses proportionally. All leading regulators limit leverage for retail traders. In the EU, UK and Australia the maximum permitted level is 1:30 and in the US it is 1:50. This maximum level only applies to trading major currency pairs, with even more limited leverage for more volatile assets.
The minimum deposit is 100 USD. For the same or even lower amount, you could open a starter account with multiple licensed brokers.
PLATINUM FX OPTIONS DEPOSIT/WITHDRAW METHODS AND FEES
In the deposit menu of Platinum FX Options the choice is only between different cryptocurrencies. Financial fraudsters direct their potential victims to cryptocurrency transactions because they do not allow refunds to be requested.
Legitimate brokers typically offer clients a wide choice of transparent payment methods, including bank transfer, credit/debit cards and established e-wallets such as Skrill, Neteller or Sofort. If you are interested in licensed brokers that also accept cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, take a look at this list.
Since Platinum FX Options does not provide proper legal documentation, it is unclear what traps the fraudsters may have set. Typically, fake brokers make withdrawing money impossible through huge fees and impossible-to-fulfil traded volume conditions.
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.
