Beware! Union MK 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.
Union MK is an offshore broker that doesn’t hold a license and therefore doesn’t follow any rules or guidelines. Bear in mind that this firm doesn’t provide any information about its trading conditions and accepts only cryptocurrencies as a payment method – all clear signs of a scam. Be careful with this shady firm and just don’t invest there. Keep reading the full review for more details about Union MK.
Regulation and safety of funds
On its website Union MK claims to be situated in Malaysia and displays an address and email but no other contact information like phone number for example.
Every broker that is based in Malaysia must be regulated by the local authority – the Securities Commission Malaysia (SCM). Union MK doesn’t mention anything about its regulation however – no data about being authorized or at least some license number is to be found on their website. So we visited the official website of SCM and searched their register for more data. No company with the name of Union MK was to be found, unfortunately. Take a look:
At this point it’s obvious that Union MK is offering its trading services without the permission of the local authority and therefore its activities are not overseen or regulated in any way. This of course makes this broker very dangerous for your safety of funds and even for your personal information.
We took a closer look at their website and more specifically at the link for legal documents they provide. At first we thought that they had something to do with their credibility and regulation, but we were wrong. The document which Union MK displays on the site is only to certify that the company has changed its name. See for yourself:
As you see Union MK gives misleading information in an attempt to look trust-worthy, probably hoping that no one will read the certificate and find out what it is actually about.
On the other hand regulated brokers follow certain rules and requirements set by the official financial institutions.
As a start, every broker that wishes to be granted a license must have a minimum capital. This serves as a guarantee for the company’s financial stability. For example in Malaysia brokers licensed by SCM must hold at least 10 000 000 RM in paid up capital and must also meet a minimum of 500 000 RM in adjusted net capital. On the other hand, the initial net capital in the EU and the UK must be 730 000 EUR, whereas in the US the amount is even more – 20 000 000 USD in order to get a license.
Another requirement states that all brokers in Malaysia must participate in a compensation scheme. The same applies for the EU as well, whereas brokers in the US and Australia are not obligated to take part in such guarantee funds. The whole idea of this scheme is to compensate the client in case of a broker’s insolvency. A relevant institution can issue every trader with up to a certain amount. For example in most of the countries from the EU the compensation is up to 20 000 EUR. In others it can be much more – in Greece the amount is up to 30 000 EUR and in France it’s even more – up to 70 000 EUR. In addition in the UK it’s up to 85 000 GBP.
Last but not least, all regulated brokers must keep their clients’ funds in segregated accounts, apart from their own capital. This way you can be sure that your money is safe and there’s no danger of being stolen or misused.
Trading software
On its website Union MK claims to offer MetaTrader 5 as its trading software.
After we opened a web trader account we were granted access to this trading platform:
It is in fact MetaTrader, however we don’t advise you to invest here, as this broker isn’t regulated and therefore isn’t reliable!
In order to register for a live account Union MK requires an ID image to be uploaded. As we don’t trust this broker at all, we decided not to share this important information with them – and this is exactly what we advise you to do.
Remember that this broker is not licensed and shouldn’t be trusted at all.
Most reputable brokers usually rely on more sophisticated trading platforms like MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. They are proven to be the best piece of software for trading purposes nowadays and have been downloaded by millions of people so far.
MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 happen to be the most popular trading platforms around the world. Both brokers and traders praise them for a good reason, mainly because of how secure and stable they are. You can always rely on them to execute your orders promptly and efficiently. Not only that but all the essential information such as transactions and your IP address is encrypted.
MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 have some outstanding features but the best one according to traders are the Expert Advisors. These bots have one particular task – to search for certain conditions and to start trading the moment they find them. A truly unique feature that only MT4 and MT5 can brag about.
MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 are perfect for beginners as well for more advanced traders. You can keep your knowledge up to date with a variety of educational resources and daily forex news. They are also very easy to navigate – you don’t need any previous experience in order to use them. MT4 and MT5 can be downloaded on different devices like PCs, smartphones and tablets.
Unfortunately not long ago Apple removed both of them from its AppStore so MT4 and MT5 can’t be downloaded on Android devices anymore. We really hope this measure is temporary. As for the users that have already downloaded the app, they can continue using it but without any future updates or upgrades. MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 can still be installed through Google Play Store.
Trading Conditions
Union MK doesn’t say anything more specific about its trading conditions. They seem to offer two types of accounts – Classic and Platinum. There’s only basic information and no data about the spread and leverage they offer.
On its website Union MK mentions that it offers low spread, but doesn’t specify anything else. This is essential information for every trader as lower spread (less than 2 pips) comes with lower trading costs. On the contrary – every spread higher than 2 pips is considered too costly and is not recommended.
As for the leverage, be cautious, as higher leverage is considered too risky. In Malaysia you can see high levels of leverage even with reputable brokers, because it’s not limited by the local authority. In the EU and the US it’s a different story however – there’s a leverage cap of 1:30 and 1:50 respectively. This aims exactly to minimize the potential risk.
Yet, if you are willing to take the risk and want to trade with high leverage, we recommend choosing some of the offshore subsidiaries of reputable forex brokers here.
In addition Union MK doesn’t mention what is the minimum deposit it accepts. Most regulated brokers tend to ask for 250 USD or even less – sometimes you can open an account with 10 USD. Scammers on the other hand may require different amounts of minimum deposit – sometimes very high (like 1000 USD for example), or the standard amount of 250 USD.
Deposit/ Withdrawal methods and fees
On its website Union MK says that it accepts various payment methods. Despite this claim, the broker lists only cryptocurrencies – Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT and promises more crypto coins to be available. The issue here is that all of the above-mentioned options are in fact only one type of payment – crypto transaction. Union MK doesn’t mention anything about traditional payment methods like bank transfer, credit/ debit cards or popular e-wallets like Skrill, Neteller and PayPal – all of which are usually accepted by most of the reputable brokers.
This is such a big deal, because usually only scam firms insist on paying with cryptocurrencies as the only possible method. This type of transaction is irreversible and anonymous at the same time, so no surprise that scammers prefer them. Once the payment is completed, there’s practically nothing you can do to return your money. You can’t file for a chargeback (something you can do if you used your Visa/Mastercard by the way) and you can’t prove anything, as you don’t know to whom the wallet actually belongs. You can’t turn to any financial institution as well, since the broker is not regulated. So it’s a 100% bum trip unfortunately.
The best possible thing you can do in general is to be cautious and stay away from such scam brokers.
How does the scam work
Never underestimate online scammers as they happen to be unexpectedly inventive and come up with different ideas on how to deceive people literally every day. Most importantly, remember that offshore brokers don’t have any intention to actually invest your money and don’t care about your prosperity. Their only goal is to make you invest as much as you can and then drop out of sight completely (with your money of course). There are some techniques that are a red flag, so if you come across them, just flee as fast as you can.
Firstly, scammers would try to reach out to you via email or phone, so providing such information carefree is not a good idea. If they succeed in getting this material however do expect a lot of phone calls and emails that contain their promise to double your investment – “risk-free” indeed.
They might also guarantee a very high return on investment without any hard work from your side. This sounds ridiculous already – any investment on the forex market holds more or less risk and requires some knowledge. In fact regulated brokers are obligated to post a warning about trading risks on their websites.
The next step in scammers` fraudulent practice is to manipulate their trading software and make it look as if your funds are being invested and you make huge profits at the same time. This is also a lie with no doubt. Scammers just want to make you invest a “little more” again and again and will take advantage of you as much as they can.
They might also offer some kind of welcome bonus just to make you get in the game. Note that such bonuses come with strings attached – a very high volume requirement you certainly won’t be able to achieve. Not only that but reputable brokers in the EU are restricted from offering such bonuses or promotions exactly because of this malicious practice.
Unfortunately most people realize that all of the above is a lie when it’s too late. Once you try to withdraw any funds from your account you will find out that this is impossible. First however scammers might ask for a certain fee upon the withdrawal request – 10% or even 20%. Note that most reputable brokers don’t ask for a fee at all. Anyway, there’s no point in paying this fee, because even if you do, you still won’t be allowed to withdraw your money. Therefore you may end up losing everything.
What to do when scamed
Certainly there are some Dos and Don’ts when it comes to online scam.
Your first move has to be to turn to the bank that issued your credit or debit card in case you paid with one and file for a chargeback in 540 days. If you have used Skrill, Neteller or PayPal you can also open a dispute. Unfortunately crypto transactions are irreversible and anonymous as we already said, so they are not eligible for a chargeback.
It’s also 100% sure that you shouldn’t turn to people on the internet who suggest restoring your stolen funds in exchange for a certain fee. These people are most probably also fraudsters, so don’t take the risk of losing even more money!
