Beware! TargoSwiss 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.
TargoSwiss’ website is full of boasts. It claims to be a well-established forex broker with 17 years of experience and numerous awards for excellent customer service. But even a superficial inspection exposes these claims as lies. Closer scrutiny of the facts confirms that TargoSwiss is part of a network of scam websites posing as brokers. Let’s take a detailed look at why it’s in your best interest to stay away from TargoSwiss.
TARGOSWISS REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
When you visit the website of a legitimate broker you can expect to find clear and detailed information about the company that owns and operates it, where it is based and what regulatory regimes it is subject to. Licensed financial services providers are also required to provide a comprehensive set of legal documentation.
The TargoSwiss website provides neither a company name nor a contact address. According to the Terms and Conditions, the anonymous owner company is based in an offshore zone, Commonwealth of Dominica:
But on the website we also find a Customer Agreement which gives a different version – that TargoSwiss is based in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG):
The trading software used by TargoSwiss is registered in the name of Levictus Ltd, a company allegedly registered in a third offshore zone, the Marshall Islands. This company is behind many scam websites that we have reviewed, including Markets Octa, SwissFXM, Olimpuscoin and Crypto Pro Expert.
What the three offshore zones have in common is that they do not license forex brokers and do not regulate companies that engage in such activity. Because of this, many financial fraudsters use these unregulated jurisdictions as their base. Wherever TargoSwiss is actually based, we can be sure that it is not subject to regulatory oversight.
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.
TARGOSWISS TRADING SOFTWARE
Like all fraudulent websites associated with Levictus Ltd, TargoSwiss uses the MetaTrader 4 (MT4) platform.
It should be noted that the presence of some kind of trading software is no guarantee that this is a genuine broker. Financial scammers often use trading platforms to fool their victims that their money is actually being invested.
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.
TARGOSWISS TRADING CONDITIONS
When registering for a TargoSwiss account, a choice of different account types is given, but descriptions of the associated terms and conditions are nowhere to be found.
All we find on the website is the claim that TargoSwiss offers very high leverage up to 1:1000. 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.
In the trading platform we see a very low spread of less than 0.5 pips. This would be a profitable level if TargoSwiss was a genuine broker and offered real trading – but as noted, this trading is fictitious.
The websites of legitimate brokers offer detailed information about the trading conditions they offer. Brokers usually offer different types of accounts tailored to the needs of traders with different experience and capital. Many leading companies in the industry allow you to start trading with a very low initial deposit, often under 100 USD.
TARGOSWISS DEPOSIT/WITHDRAW METHODS AND FEES
Depositing money into TargoSwiss is only possible through shady payment processors such as the GameChangers and PayPound. We have only seen these platforms being used by fraudulent websites.
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, Neteller or iDeal.
TargoSwiss does not provide clear information on fees and withdrawal conditions. The little information available is inconsistent across the two sets of legal documentation. According to the Terms and Conditions, there is an inactivity fee of 100 EUR, but according to the Customer Agreement this fee is 50 USD.
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.
