Let’s start off with the bad news: Cybercrime activity, especially in the form of online scams and frauds, has increased in 2020. Not only that, but these crimes have also become more sophisticated and thus harder to avoid. It seems like the criminals are always reinventing themselves in the quest to steal money from hard working investors – and there’s no red line they won’t cross in these efforts.
There’s also good news, though. As time goes by, these patterns are being noticed and brought to light. That’s why today, we can provide you with a list of things online brokers do, which should definitely be considered warning signs. Of course, this list is never complete, and there are always new tricks that can be added to it, but it’s definitely worth getting to know.
1. It isn’t licensed
There are generally two types of online trading websites: ones which are licensed and ones which aren’t. If the broker you’re considering doing business with is licensed, you’ll know it. They state it proudly on their websites. A license basically means that there is some sort of financial body, usually institutional and belonging to some country, overseeing the broker’s activity. It also means there’s an address for complaints.
If a broker isn’t licensed, this is a clear sign that you should not do business with it. There’s a reason why these shady websites refuse to be supervised. However, this isn’t a guarantee since licensed brokers are not necessarily honest ones. This just means that unlicensed ones should be avoided, with no exception.
2. The salespeople call you incessantly
This trick is actually well-known and is definitely a sign to stay away from an online trading firm. After you first deposit money into an account given to you by the broker, you start getting calls from its salespeople, trying to convince you to invest in one asset or another. Lately, we are getting more and more reports about a new crypto scam, in which brokers call up investors non-stop with an offer on some new and promising crypto coin. Sometimes these coins don’t even exist, and usually these coins are far from being promising. Once the investor finds this out, though, it’s too late.
Many victims have reported receiving dozens of calls from these brokers daily, with very aggressive persuasion methods that are borderline threatening (“you won’t be able to operate your account anymore if you don’t take these actions immediately” is an example). On the other hand, when you need the broker, the salespeople almost never answer their phones – and you can forget about them calling you back.
3. It keeps requesting more money deposits
The drill is very simple, yet sophisticated. These websites initially ask for a small deposit, or even for no deposit at all. Later, a representative calls you up and tells you that in order to succeed in trading, you must deposit a larger sum. This may happen a few times, and each time they get braver and demand an even larger deposit.
Don’t be mistaken. These cons know that you may not be an experienced trader, and that it would be best for you to start out with small sums. They don’t care about that since it’s not your success they are aiming for. They want you to fail, keeping your money in their hands. That’s why at first they may give you golden advice, leading you to profits, but at a later stage you will start losing significant amounts of money if you listen to their recommendations. Don’t trust them. Start out slow till you feel secure enough.
You can steer clear of danger
All is not bleak, though. There is always something you can do to stay one step ahead of the crooks. These warning signs are an example of cases where you should disconnect from the scammers immediately. However, even if you’ve noticed them too late to avoid them, there is still a way to get your money back.
Our company specializes in retrieving funds lost to online scams. We have a team of the best tech and legal specialists, all hired with the goal of tracking down the culprits and bringing them to justice. Remember: It’s never too late to try and get your money back, so keep your hopes up. With a track record of almost $10M already recovered and returned to our clients, you can be sure that we know what we’re talking about here.
