Beware! Winfxmarkets 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.
At first Winfxmarkets might look legitimate, but after a minute or so we figured the firm to be a pure scam, with an unnecessarily big website filled with fake and misleading information.
WINFXMARKETS REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
Everything seems to center around the United Kingdom here. In the short legal documents we are told the broker follows the UK’s laws, the contact address is on in the country, and we saw some vague mentions of the FCA license as being issued to Winfxmarkets.
But none of these claims have anything to do with the truth, at all. In fact, the only way that Winfxmarkets can be registered in the UK is illegally, because the FCA does not regulate this broker. We didn’t even have to check with the regulator to know that the firm is no way affiliated with the YK and its FX overseer.
Another proof of this is the official FCA warning that we dug up, meaning that Winfxmarkets is so bad and arrogant that the FCA had to intervene somehow.
Another sign that Winfxmarkets is illegitimate, perhaps somewhat hidden to some readers, is the length of the legal documents. So, very little clauses are included, meaning that the user is not safe from unexpected behavior coming from Winfxmarkets. It’s well calculated by the firm to be so; in the case something happens to the user, he or she won’t be able to retaliate.
All in all, Winfxmarkets is completely unregulated and is thus a risk to all! Investing here is a risk.
Illegal and unregulated brokers spell trouble every single time! They have nothing to offer, unless you count heartache and frustration. These companies are created and run as elaborate scams (not all of them) and they are short-lived as a result of complaints and regulatory actions. But in between the creation of a scam and its downfall many users will lose their money with very little chance of a refund. This money will be redirected to various offshore and untraceable accounts and will serve the scammers to fund their own lavish lifestyles and future scammer projects.
So, really there is no reason to invest or even interact with unlicensed brokers. If you want to experiences the real FX trade, then look no further than any European, UK, US, or Australian-based brokers. These are regulated and fair institutions that treat each customer with care and respect.
WINFXMARKETS TRADING SOFTWARE
The situation with the trading software is slightly convoluted. So bear with us.
The main softwares are the MT4 and MT5, the most popular and effective terminals today. At Winfxmarkets they are offered either as web traders, or desktop platforms.
The MT4 and MT5 web traders seemed to offer only the default MetaQuotes demon account, meaning that users, even registered ones, can only trade with the demo ones. Maybe we are missing something, after all we could not open an account, but in the end Winfxmarkets is a scam and unregulated so we do not recommend using them. Try these versions of the MT4 and MT5 instead.
Then the MT4 and MT5 download file came under a different name, which means that the trading servers offered here do not belong to Winfxmarkets. This adds to the confusions.
WINFXMARKETS TRADING CONDITIONS
We were unable to open an account, no matter how many times we tried. The registration area was unresponsive. Either there is an issue, or Winfxmarkets purposefully pushes us away.
So we had to take all the trading information from the website, which is not the best idea but is the only thing we have left. Note that scammer lies on their sites, so Winfxmarkets might not be too different. With this broker is particularly shady because the information is confusing and ambiguous, both signs of a broker that does not know any better.
The basic account average spread is 1.6 pips, and there are a total of 3 account types. However, we know from experience that account types and unlicensed brokers rarely go together.
The available assets to trade with are metals, forex currency pairs, crypto, shares, energies, and indices.
There is no leverage value here. It’s all in favor of choosing a different broker. We recommend one f these brokers that offer high leverage values.
WINFXMARKETS DEPOSIT/WITHDRAW METHODS AND FEES
According to the website, the minimum deposit is $200. To those of you wanting to trade with legit and low-deposit brokers, you should check this list.
The payment methods are wire transfer, Payfast, iPAY, PAY U, and credit cards.
There is very limited withdrawal info, and no mention of fees, which does not really mean that there are no fees, but there might be hidden ones.
How does the scam work
For years now the scammer process has been, more or less, based on the same simple principle: that of solicitation. Of course, users can also stumble randomly on a scam but this happens very rarely.
Scammers rely mainly on exaggerated advertisement campaigns and phishing tactics, that is to say cold-calling techniques, to recruit their users. On the ads front, users are lured with very striking online ads about unbelievably lucrative opportunities for investments accompanied by imagery of luxury. The client is prompted to provide a contact email and a phone number.
The contact will be established in either case, and the user will be lied to and manipulated until he or she is lead to invest. If you fail to be succumbed to the broker’s sweet talk at some point the representative will stop calling you. But until then, you will be surprised as to the exhaustive repertoire of deceits and lies these scammer have. Essentially, they will try everything to convert you to their shady cause.
A users who has invested will be prompted to deposit at least one more time, but this time a larger sum with allegedly higher chances of hitting it big on the trade game. Obviously the illicit firm in question is making all these claims up; most of them don’t even have trading software!
The time will eventually come when the client will feel cheated, but by then it is usually too late. The broker will either cut all contact with the user, shut down its site, or simply stall the withdrawal request indefinitely.
What to do when scammed
The safest bet at getting your money back is to file for a charge back with your credit or debit card provider – the chargeback period for MasterCard and VISA is 540 days. However, this can only happen if you have invested via a card, or an e-wallet supporting card payments.
Bank transfers are way harder to trace, and the only hope you have is to call the bank itself and try to figure out a reimbursement strategy. But there is no guarantee that this will work. What we can advise if you fall into this state is to immediately change your bank account password and username.
Then there are the crypto transactions which are untraceable and therefore lost for good. So, whenever you see a crypto based payment method with an unregulated broker make sure to stay clear!
Last but not least, we have the recovery agents or agencies which are total scammer of their own. They promise a full refund in return of a one time payable fee, and no small one at that. As soon as this is paid they will disappear without a trace.
