Beware! Cryptos Circus 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.
Cryptos Circus is probably a fitting name for an anonymous website that tries to capitalise on the hype around cryptocurrencies and scam inexperienced people. We have no doubt that this website represents just such a scam because we have seen dozens of identical fake brokers. Let us look at the clues by which you too can easily ascertain that Cryptos Circus is not the legitimate forex and CFD broker it claims to be.
CRYPTOS CIRCUS REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
If a financial services provider is legitimate, you will find on its website clear and detailed information about the company that owns and operates it, where it is based, and what licences it has. Genuine brokers also provide access to a comprehensive set of legal documentation. The availability of such information does not guarantee that it is not false or misleading. But the absence of these elements is very indicative that in all likelihood you are dealing with scammers.
And that is the most obvious sign that the Cryptos Circus is a scam. Nowhere is the name of the company behind this supposed broker indicated, there is not even a contact address. There are Terms and Conditions and a Privacy Policy on the website, but there is no mention of a legal entity name or applicable jurisdiction in their texts. This makes these documents legally null and void.
In addition to this, the exact same documents have been used by a long list of scammers we’ve reviewed – for example Lifetimeinvestments.co, Globexbull, Onecapital Invest and CryptoChainGroup.
It would be too unwise to risk your money by trusting it to a website that is completely anonymous. There is only one thing we can be sure of about the Cryptos Circus – that it does not hold a proper licence to provide financial services.
Under no circumstances should you trust your money to such anonymous websites full of false and contradictory information. Instead, you can turn to one of the many companies that really work under the supervision of respected regulatory bodies like Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) or Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK. As their customer you will enjoy a number of guarantees including negative balance protection and guarantee for your funds if the broker goes bankrupt, which goes up to EUR 20,000 in EU and 85,000 GBP in the UK. Regulations in the UK and EU include some important measures designed to improve investor protection and promote market integrity and transparency, such as transaction reporting. Regulated brokers are also required to segregate their operational funds from the client’s money.
CRYPTOS CIRCUS TRADING SOFTWARE
Genuine brokers make it very clear what trading software they offer to clients because it is the most important tool for the forex trader. The Cryptos Circus website doesn’t even mention a trading platform.
After registering an account, we get access to a rather basic and questionable looking web platform. This platform consists of charts taken for free from the data provider TradingView and a buy and sell menu that includes only the most basic features.
Even assuming that this platform is not just an imitation, it is a far cry from the functionality found in the most widely used trading platforms in the industry, 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.
CRYPTOS CIRCUS TRADING CONDITIONS
When you visit the website of a legitimate broker you will find proposals for different types of trading accounts suitable for investors with different preferences, as well as detailed descriptions of trading parameters – minimum deposit, order execution method, tradable financial instruments, leverage, spread, swap, commissions.
On the Cryptos Circus website we find descriptions of three types of accounts, but these descriptions are completely identical. Such oversights are typical of low-effort scams, which is apparently what Cryptos Circus is.
Cryptos Circus promises very low spreads, but the trading that these types of scammers offer is entirely bogus – they just pocket the money you think you are investing in financial instruments.
In the trading platform we see a spread of 1:200. 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 and UK the maximum permitted level is 1:30. Cryptos Circus also promises various bonuses, which is not allowed to regulated brokers.
The specified minimum deposit is 250 EUR. For the same or often lower amount, you could open an account with almost any licensed broker, including the leading brands in the industry.
CRYPTOS CIRCUS DEPOSIT/WITHDRAW METHODS AND FEES
Cryptos Circus claims to allow deposits and withdrawals with wire transfer, credit cards and Bitcoin. At the time of writing this review, the deposit menu was not active. But experience with identical scams shows that only the cryptocurrency option is usually actually available.
Scammers prefer cryptocurrencies because these transactions are not subject to refunds. While there are some legitimate brokers that accept digital currencies like Bitcoin, they do so alongside other transparent payment methods such as credit/debit card, bank transfer or popular e-wallets like PayPal, QIWI or Sofort.
In the Terms and Conditions we find clauses that almost guarantee that it will not be possible to withdraw the money you made the mistake of depositing in Cryptos Circus. Firstly, if an account has received a bonus, it can only withdraw profits once it reaches a minimum traded volume of 30 times the bonus plus deposit.
And even more worrying, Cryptos Circus charges a whopping 10% levy on accounts that withdraw funds before they reach “200 in turnover”. It doesn’t specify 200 what – presumably they mean 200 lots, i.e. 20,000,000 currency units. Such vague and extortionate clauses are typical of fake brokers.
If you are allowed to withdraw any money at all, the fees for doing so are substantial and as high as 50 USD. There is also a monthly fee of 10% of the balance if the account has been inactive for more than three months.
HOW DOES THE SCAM WORK
Many people have a desire to invest in the financial markets but lack the necessary knowledge and experience. This makes them a potential victim of the many internet scammers posing as brokers and investment intermediaries. These types of scams have exploded alongside the cryptocurrency boom.
If you trust such a website and give them your personal information, you will be contacted by experienced scammers who will entice you with promises of easy profits. The scammers usually offer to take over all aspects of investing for you, sometimes even prompting you to install remote access software on your personal computer. After investing an initial low amount, they will convince you that you are already making incredible profits and urge you to invest more.
But you will never get the promised profits, nor will you be able to get your money back. If you want to withdraw funds from your account, you will find that you have suddenly lost everything in the market, or that you have to meet impossibly high traded volume requirements, or that you have to pay huge fees. It is also possible that fraudsters simply disappear because they hide behind fake names and shell companies in offshore areas that are not subject to any control and regulation.
WHAT TO DO WHEN SCAMMED
One of the few options to get at least some of your money back in such a situation is to ask for a chargeback. But this is only possible if you have used a credit or debit card for the transaction. Scammers typically use cryptocurrencies or dubious e-wallets that make it impossible to get your money back.
Under no circumstances should you trust people and websites that promise to magically refund your lost money for an upfront fee. This is also a well established scam. You may even fall victim to the same scammers again.