Beware! GatesBridge 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.
GatesBridge tries to convince us that it re[resents “a worldwide brand committed to your trading experience”. But experience has taught us that we should not take such claims at face value. Closer inspection reveals that GatesBridge is not at all what it represents itself to be. This anonymous website is not meant to provide you with favourable forex trading terms, but to scam you out of your money. Let’s take a detailed look at what the tell-tale signs are.
GATESBRIDGE REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
Legitimate forex brokers provide clear and detailed information about the legal entity that owns and operates them, where it is based, what licences it has and which regulators oversee its activities. Lack of such details or improper presentation of them are always a red flag that we are probably dealing with a scam.
GatesBridge does not disclose the name of the company behind this website. Even the Terms and Conditions and other documentation does not mention the name of a legal entity. This anonymity alone is a good enough reason not to trust GatesBridge with your money.
According to the Terms and Conditions, the anonymous owner of GatesBridge is based in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG).
Because of the lack of regulatory norms and oversight, SVG is one of the favourite bases of operations for shady brokers. While this country has a financial regulator, unlike other offshore areas, it does not regulate the activities of forex and CFD brokers. Тhe Financial Services Authority (FSA) of St. Vincent and the Grenadines have repeatedly issued warnings on this issue.
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.
GATESBRIDGE TRADING SOFTWARE
GatesBridge’s website promises a “unique and customizable” trading platform. But after registering an account, we get access to a pretty basic web trading platform that doesn’t feature extensive customization options or advanced functionality. It’s not unique either, because we’ve seen the exact same platform being used by multiple fake brokers we’ve encountered. Scammers are using rigged trading software to fool their victims into believing that their money is really being invested and even turning a profit.
If you use the services of a licensed broker, you will get the opportunity to use established software with advanced features and versions for all types of devices and operating systems. The most widely used trading 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.
GATESBRIDGE TRADING CONDITIONS
GatesBridge claims to offer five types of trading accounts, but their descriptions lack basic information such as tradable instruments and order execution method.
The stated spread of 3 pips is double the industry average and directly contradicts GatesBridge’s promises to offer tight spreads.. So even if GatesBridge were offering real trading, it would be very disadvantageous to the investor.
The leverage reaches 1:400. 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.
GatesBridge also promises unspecified bonuses. This is another practice prohibited by financial regulators.
The minimum deposit required by GatesBridge is 250 USD. For that amount you could open a starter account with almost any licensed broker. Many leading brands offer Micro and Cent accounts with a low or symbolic minimum deposit, sometimes as low as 5 USD.
GATESBRIDGE DEPOSIT/WITHDRAW METHODS AND FEES
According to documentation on the GatesBridge website, deposits and withdrawals can be made via credit cards, wire transfer and Bitcoin. At the time of writing this review, GatesBridge’s deposit menu was not active, so we were unable to determine if this was the case. Scam websites of this type typically direct their potential victims to cryptocurrency transactions that do not allow refunds to be requested.
While there are some legitimate brokers that accept digital currencies like Bitcoin, they do so alongside other transparent payments, including popular e-wallets like Skril, PayPal, Neteller or GiroPay.
GatesBridge charges a very high fee for withdrawals – 1%, but not less than 30 USD. Legitimate rockers rarely charge transaction fees, and when they do, the fees are much lower.
If the account has received a bonus, withdrawing funds becomes almost impossible. According to the Bonus Policy, withdrawals of bonusеes and profits require a minimum traded volume of 50,000 times the bonus amount. The Terms and Conditions state that this requirement affects all withdrawals and refunds.
HOW DOES THE SCAM WORK
With all the buzz surrounding cryptocurrencies and NFTs, many people are starting to consider investing in the financial markets as a bid to improve their fortunes. Scammers on the internet have taken notice of that and take advantage of the ignorance of the general public by creating countless websites posing as brokers. These websites offer no real brokerage services and only deceive people into believing that their money is really being invested.
If you come across such a scam website and give out your contacts, you will be contacted by experienced scammers who will convince you that they can take on all the frighteningly complex aspects of investing for you. But you will never get any real profits, nor will you be able to get back the money you deposited. The terms and conditions of these websites are riddled with clauses that make withdrawing funds from your account unfeasible – for example, extremely high minimum trading volume requirements or hefty fees of 10%, 20% or even more of the amount.
Scammers hide behind fake addresses and names and operate through offshore companies that are not subject to regulation and scrutiny. So even if all the withdrawal requirements are met, they may simply disappear and move on to their next fraudulent scheme.
WHAT TO DO WHEN SCAMMED
It is very important not to rush into trusting people on the internet who offer to magically refund your money for a fee. These are also scammers, and they may even be the same ones who scammed you in the first place.
If you have made the transfers using credit or debit card, you can claim a chargeback. Visa and MasterCard allow this to be done within 540 days. However, such a request may not be approved if you have given the fraudsters documents such as a copy of an ID and proof of address. This will allow them to claim that the transaction is legitimate and approved by both parties.
