Binary Options & other investment scams hit $340 million in 2017 in Australia

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has come out with a report stating that Australians forfeited more money to fraudsters in 2017 than in any other year. According to the ACCC’s yearly Targeting scams report, over 200,000 or so con reports were given to the ACCC, Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN) and other national and regional-based government organizations in 2017.

$40 million scam surge from 2016-2017

Never has it been this bad. Losses to scams have totaled more than $300 million for the first time ever, which demonstrates the growing impact of scams on Australians. Investment scams including binary options and forex led all losses at $64 million, a rise of more than 8 percent. Dating and romance scams came in second topping out $42 million.

Despite the fact binary options scams appear to have reduced in 2017 the average loss reported actually increased by a whopping 24%, from $32,744 to $43,085. This means that while there were fewer of them, these online trading scams became more effective at extracting large sums of money from victims. While binary options are not illegal per se in Australia, there are numerous professional looking offshore trading websites offering binary options investments that are complete scams.

Binary trading first appeared on the scene a decade ago around the time of the financial crisis in 2008. Many victims are lured in through adverts posted on social media and are attracted to the simplicity of the schemes. Despite the fact there are regulated binary options brokers they should be classified as gambling at best and not true investments.

How can I protect myself against binary options scammers?

For those who live in the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority, the UK’s financial ombudsman, is responsible for the regulation of binary options companies. There are hundreds of companies on its warning list, and traders are instructed to check the FCA Register to see if a firm is authorized before investing money. They approximate that investors lost nearly £90,000 a day in 2017 on binary options scams.

If you choose to trade in binary options you should only use an FCA approved broker. If you use an unregulated company you will be more at risk of a scam and won’t have access to their help if things go wrong. You can check if a company is registered with the FCA here. No matter which country you reside in be sure to check the regulatory agency to see whether the online trading company is licensed to solicit their services.

I am the victim of a binary options scam, what do I do?

If you were the victim of a binary options trading scam be sure to make a complaint and we will do our utmost to help you get your money back.

Canada’s recurring binary options problem

Approximately seven months ago the Canadian financial regulatory authorities enacted a ban on brokers offering binary options to all retail traders. Unfortunately, these actions seemed to have had little to no results on certain brokers that have implemented new tactics in order to gather money from unsuspecting investors.

On April 12^th the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, more commonly referred to the IIROC cautioned Canadian traders not to be duped by fraudulent online trading brokers attempting to unlawfully sell binary options under the pretense of legitimate brokers regulated by the IIROC.

Binary options scams still exist

Recently the ombudsman has been made aware of at least two brokers that misleadingly state that they are regulated by IIROC:

• CFDtradeoption.com – run by Westrade Holdings, Inc;
• Globaloptionsmarket.net.

Binary options cannot be offered or sold to retail traders in Canada and the regulator has issued plenty of warnings, imploring Canadian citizens not to invest in these fraudulent companies. Under no circumstances are IIROC regulated entities authorized to sell binary options to retail investors in Canada.

This troubling tendency is bringing up concerns about how effective a blanket ban on offering of such toxic products as binaries to stop scams. ESMA, the European Securities and Markets Authority has recently put in rules that prohibit regulated brokers from offering binary options to retail investors. However, these recent developments in Canada call into question on whether a ban in Europe would, in fact, produce the wanted effect.

Opposition to the binary options ban

It should be noted that when the Canadian regulatory authorities first suggested to ban binary options, the proposal encountered stern opposition. The Investment Industry Association of Canada (IIAC), which represents 130 Dealer Member firms regulated by IIROC, asserted that the injunction should only include binary options scams offered by unregulated binary options brokers. The IIAC further maintained that its members should be allowed to offer binary options to retail traders.

Interestingly enough there have been proposals to allow trading binary options on an exchange, as this is allowed in the United States. However, opposed to that line of thinking are organizations such as the Canadian Advocacy Council for Canadian CFA Institute Societies (CAC), which heavily supported the binary options ban proposal and even went beyond it by questioning the status of OTC (Over the Counter) or more commonly known as retail Forex trading. The council questioned whether the sale of similar financial instruments to retail investors should additionally be restricted.

Get help now

If you were the victim of binary options or any online trading scam be sure to fill out our complaint form here and one of our representatives will get in touch with you.

Secured Trade Investment: The latest recovery scam

For those who were the victims of online trading scams it is as one scam victim said to me, “living in never-ending nightmare”. Many do not know where to turn. For those who seek help, there is another sinister scam that has reared its ugly head: Recovery scams. Preying on those who were victimized, they actively solicit their fraudulent services, often with a guarantee that they can recover the lost funds. One company, in particular, is Secured Trade Investment.

It never ends

This “recovery” firm is the latest scam to further add a black mark on the online trading industry. They convince individuals that have been scammed by binary options brokers in particular that they can recover their stolen funds. However, in reality, that is just a ruse. Almost always, they demand a heavy upfront fee and do nothing, which means a second loss for the victim.

Made-up team members and fictitious testimonials are the most misleading elements found on the site. Supposedly Owen Beamont is the CEO and Mathew Macleod is the Assistant Manager of Secured Trade Investment but research has shown that both of these individuals do not exist.  These two invented identities are nothing more than images generated from an online image bank.

When viewing the contact information on the website we are given two separate addresses, the first being 7 Triton Square, Regent’s Place, London NW1 3HG UK. Unsurprisingly, when this address is entered into a Google search query the company that matches this address is not Secured Trade Investment. Additionally, the second address, 1270 E Broadway Rd, Tempe, AZ 85282 is associated with a different business

What is most disturbing about Secured Trade Investment is that they seem to be directly conspiring with the very same fraudulent forex and binary options brokers. Numerous individuals have told us that Secured Trade Investment had their information before they submitted their claim.

Take action today

It is without a shadow of a doubt that Secured Trade Investment is an online trading recovery scam. If you were the victim of any recovery scam be sure to let us know and we will do our best to assist you. Additionally, if you have any suspicions about any recovery service be sure to alert Broker Complaint Registry.

Binary options broker PlusOption caught by FCA

A few weeks ago on the 12^th of March, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) provided the public with information pertaining to an unregulated ‎binary options broker, Plusoption, operating under several brands, which have been providing professional ‎investment services to UK residents without regulatory authorization.‎

No FCA License

The ombudsman warned that Plusoption has no association of any kind with any FCA-licensed entity. Additionally, they mentioned that it specifically operated and targeted UK citizens without a license.

Plusoption runs through www.plusoption.com and has implemented numerous associated brands including Redfield Markets, Tradeplus Solutions Ltd and ACV Operations S.R.L. The FCA cautions that this is a prototypical move for a fraudulent company to gain the confidence of unsuspecting consumers.

The FCA has been very active in cracking down on binary options and in addition to issuing regular warnings, it published in January a list of 94 firms that offer trading to UK investors without approval.

In step with practices across most of the European Union, the FCA has incorporated certain kinds of binary options within its regulatory perimeter together with the implementation of the MiFID II, which came into play back on January 3, 2018.

The binary options blacklist

The watchdog keeps a “blacklist” of binary option brokers based upon evidence received from customers, various partner agencies and from monitoring the online market.

Further action implemented

It is important to note the FCA is not the only government agency to move against binary options. In what the UK police categorized as the largest operation of its kind, officers pounced on the headquarters of 20 binary options brokers in order to examine their compliance forms and gather intelligence on various forms of investment fraud.

More than 80k Pounds a day lost to binary options

The ombudsman’s research in this area discovered the majority of investors who trade in binary options lose their funds and that traders lost an average of £87,410 per day over the duration of 2017.

Broker Complaint Registry has received numerous complaints pertaining to this broker If you are the victim of a binary options or any online trading scam be sure to file a complaint today.