Beware! AZTrading24 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.
AZTrading24 is a clone of a regulated UK company – that is hardly the best note to begin on as a broker. They do not offer a functional trading platform either – which means that opening an account with them is quite pointless since you would not be able to trade. This shady broker has nothing to offer you but will surely try and scam you the moment you deposit. Stay as far away from them as possible.
AZTrading24 REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
AZTrading24 claims to be based in the UK and regulated by one of the strictest financial regulators in the world – the FCA. The broker has even provided a link to their supposed license in the FCA register. The problem was, however, that the address and phone number of the regulated company did not match those of AZTrading24. The regulated company did not have a website.
The bigger problem is that the FCA has issued a warning specifically on AZTrading24 and confirmed what we already knew – that they are a clone of an authorized firm.
This proves with certainty that we are dealing with a scam broker – no legitimate company would ever try such tricks. Investing with AZTrading24 will surely lead to losses.
Choose a broker licensed by the FCA, CySEC (Cyprus), or ASIC (Australia) – those are usually considered to be the strictest regulatory bodies in the world, and for that reason, brokers regulated by any of them are obligated to maintain a high standard and do everything in a legal and transparent manner. There are many requirements – brokers must keep client money in segregated accounts to prove that they are not using your deposits for their own financial operations, and provide all retail clients with negative balance protection – which basically means you could never lose more money than you have in your account. They also have to maintain a certain minimum operational capital – €730 000 in the UK and the EU, and A$1 million in Australia. This ensures the broker’s financial stability – that they are well-capitalized and can survive in the volatile financial markets. Finally, both UK and EU brokers have to participate in compensation funds – so in case such a broker goes bankrupt, their clients could receive compensation – up to £85 000 in the UK and €20 000 in the EU.
AZTrading24 TRADING SOFTWARE
AZTrading24 does not explicitly state which trading platform it offers which is why we were eager to open an account and see. When we did that, however, we discovered that the broker did not actually offer any sort of functional software. The only thing you could do through their Client Area is keep track of your equity and bonuses, and deposit and withdraw money. This means we were not actually given the chance to trade. Opening an account with a broker that does not give you this opportunity is quite pointless since this was supposedly the whole reason for seeking out a broker as a whole.
Better turn to a company that can offer you a leading trading platform such as MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5 – these are currently the two most popular platforms in the world of trading. Both platforms are user-friendly, intuitive, and highly functional – their popularity is easy to understand. MT4 and MT5 can offer you exquisite features such as Expert Advisors (trading bots that track markets and trade in accordance with an algorithm), as well as possibilities for creating your own trading bots and indicators. You will be allowed to set customizable signals for prices going up or down, use multiple timeframes over 30 different indicators, set various pending order types, purchase add-ons a market for trading apps, and much more.
AZTrading24 TRADING CONDITIONS
Since AZTrading24 does not offer its clients the chance to trade, all their talk about competitive trading conditions is nonsense. Moreover, the trading conditions the broker promised were not really that great. In order to open the most basic kind of account, you would have to invest at least €5000 – which is an enormous amount of money. Plenty of legitimate brokers would open an account for you for much less – even for as little as $10.
The broker promised leverage of up to 1:50 on its basic account and customized rates on its more expensive accounts. This proves once more that we are not dealing with a legitimate UK broker. Such brokers cannot offer leverage higher than 1:30 on forex majors to their retail clients. The reason for that is that trading with higher rates is risky and requires experience. Although trading with higher leverage could result in bigger profits, it could also lead to much bigger losses. That is why the authorities of many countries, including the UK, have imposed leverage restrictions and only allow retail clients to trade with lower, safer rates.
AZTrading24 DEPOSIT AND WITHDRAWAL METHODS AND FEES
AZTrading24 only seems to accept deposits made with credit or debit card, or, upon request, via wire transfer. This is good news – all Visa and MasterCard transactions can be reversed within 540 days. If for any reason you have deposited with this fraudulent broker, contact your card provider and ask for a chargeback as soon as possible.
AZTrading24 seems to offer bonuses although it did not really mention anything more on the subject. We have to mention, however, that bonuses are banned in the UK, as well as Australia, so no legitimate UK-licensed broker could make such offers. Moreover, if you accept a bonus, you would not be able to withdraw any of the profits you have made with the help of that bonus.
Scam brokers sometimes try such tricks. If you have received a bonus, they would not allow you to withdraw any profits or even your own deposits before reaching a very high turnover threshold. This does not seem to be the case here but scammers tend to change their Terms and Conditions without warning. What is weird, however, is that AZTrading24 would not allow you to withdraw profits under any circumstances – when the whole point of bonuses is for you to be able to turn bigger profits.
When a scam broker offers bonuses and promotions, there are always strings attached. Make sure to read the Terms and Conditions carefully before accepting any money from such a broker.
HOW DOES THE SCAM WORK?
In recent years, such scams have become more frequent than you can imagine. That is why it is very important to learn how they usually work and how to tell scam brokers apart from legitimate ones.
Always make sure to check the registers of regulatory bodies to make sure that a broker is licensed and reliable. Stay away from shady-looking websites that promise enormous profits in no time with zero effort. Do your own research – never blindly trust what a certain broker is telling you.
All scams start in a fairly similar way. You see an ad on the Internet promising immense fortune in no time – the only thing you have to do is open an account with a particular forex broker. You give in to curiosity and provide the scammers with your phone number and e-mail – at this point, you might still be reluctant to deposit. But once the scammers have your contact information, you will start getting calls and messages from them. They will ask you to deposit to unlock the full potential of their platforms and turn a profit. Keep in mind that such people are well-versed in the art of sweet-talking – they can promise amazing things and make effortless profits seem possible.
After you make an initial deposit, they would not leave you alone and keep asking for more money. You might even be happy to deposit since, at this point, it might seem like you are turning a profit. Scammers tend to manipulate platforms and results to make it look like you are doing great when you are actually just pouring money into their schemes.
The moment you try to withdraw, you will find out that something is not quite right. Reasons why withdrawals are impossible will show up – additional taxes, new clauses in the broker’s Terms and Conditions, etc. At some point, you will figure out that you are being scammed – but it would already be too late. The scammers will stop answering your calls and e-mails – and they will simply disappear with all your deposits.
WHAT TO DO WHEN SCAMMED?
The first thing you should do is contact your bank and inform them about what has happened. Change your banking passwords to ensure that the scammers would have no way of stealing more money.
If you have installed remote access software – such as TeamViewer or AnyTesk – make sure to remove it. Some scam brokers will try to convince you that such software is necessary for a better trading experience – in order for them to help you with platform issues, or even with trading. Their true goal is to get access to your computer and banking systems – so they can start draining your accounts.
If you have deposited with a credit or debit card, make sure to contact your card issuer as soon as possible. Both Visa and MasterCard try to combat scams by allowing chargebacks within 540 days of the transactions. Retrieving your money might still be possible. If you have deposited in crypto, on the other hand, there would, unfortunately, be no way for you to get your money back.
Make sure to inform the authorities in your country about the broker and share your story – online and with acquaintances. This will prevent people from getting scammed in the same way.
One final important note – never trust anyone that calls themselves a “recovery agent”. Such “agents” promise to track down the scammers and retrieve your money – for a fee, of course. This is nothing more but another type of scam directed at desperate people.
