THIS... and THIS. So you're saying that this is his game? He accuses clients of "malicious trading" because they've broken his Terms and Conditions and then HE keeps the profits from all of those trades? That's a serious accusation. Are you sure that's what he told you? He even showed you the evidence that this is what he's been doing?
He sounds like at least a material witness in what should be a wire fraud investigation at this time if any of those accounts were based in the US.
I'm sure that actual Fchat members don't need this spelled out for them, but for all the google-kids who end up here either before or after they lose their money here is how this classic scam works. The Mark is the investor who is going to lose their money. Scamcorp Inc is the guy running the brokerage hustle. First setup and register Scamcorp Inc legitimately in a far away country. In this case, New Zealand is perfect, but there are lots of offshore locations you can use as an on-paper base. You can get virual address offices for a few dollars per month. Design a flashy website that runs a legit backend forex software like the one Rugal described. That subscription software brings in live trading data, info, and all the tools that the Mark sees to buy and trade. On the surface, it looks like all other trading firms since it's using the same legit software, giving the site extra credibility. Total investment? A few thousand bucks, less if you do it yourself. Once the setup is done, move to promote yourself as an investment guru giving out free advice on how to make millions trading currency. It's EASY anyone can do it! Make absolutely insane claims about being about to make returns of 500% per year - guaranteed! Nevermind that the best minds on Walstreet have trouble making double digit returns consistently. The type of sucker you're looking for will be blinded by the bling. Market yourself specifically to the young and inexperienced investor. Rent (or "test drive") some expensive cars from dealerships and take lots of photos to back up your rags-to-riches claims. Market your website (starting with your own success story) through any means you can. In this case, investor forums are just perfect. Everyone loves to ask the Rich guy how to make money. Just like online poker, you have a demo account system where people can "play" with their money. Sometimes this demo account can be rigged in the players favor so they can run up a giant pile of demo dollars, re-enforcing the idea that they REALLY CAN make millions with this system. Now you're ready to get paid, and in lies the actual theft. Of course, you have to deposit real money to make trades for "real money". The Mark wires/paypals money to Scamcorp Inc. At that point, the money is gone. Poof. You lose. Game over. You just got hustled. Really, this is where you lost the game. From now on, it's just a matter of how Scamcorp Inc can best cover up the initial theft so you either don't realize it or don't say anything. The clock it ticking now, and they need to grab as much other cash as they can before the house of cards collapses. But you can't just fold up shop after the first guy sends money. You would get exposed almost instantly in today's information age. No, you have to drag this on for months or even years for Scamcorp Inc to really be worthwhile. So back to our Mark who lets say just deposited $1000. Mr. Mark now goes about his merry way in his newly opened "real money account". So here is the best part. The "real" money account is just a second demo account. It pulls live date from the markets, and it looks totally legit. Except when you buy and sell, it's all still imaginary money. Remember, it's their website, it's only drawing DATA from the forex service. It is VERY easy to make a demo account appear as real. You can trade to your hearts content with this new account. It may go up and down, up to a million dollars or down to Zero. How it happens, how many trades, how often how leveraged etc makes no difference. Let that sink in. There never was real money being traded on the market. What you thought was a real market account was in fact just another demo account disguised as a real one. Breathe. Read this paragraph again. This is the core of the scam. There are only two results that can happen from this point. Hitting Zero, or attemping to cash out 1) You lose all the money in your new "real money" account in your trading. If you quit, thats the end. More likely, Marks decide to "buy-in" again for another $1000 to try to recoup your losses. Typical gamblers complex. Scamcorp Inc will gladly encourage you. In fact, heck maybe they even have a promotional BONUS where they'll give you $200 FOR FREE! So you go back to trading your imaginary "real" money starting over with $1200 and you think this brokerage services is THE BEST and you tell all your buddies. Lots of people cycle through this, and eventually throw in the towel with Forex. Assume that in a fair system, 50% make money and 50% lose, that means half of all investors think they lost their investment on "the exchange" with no ill will towards Scamcorp Inc. Few will admit they were a ****ty trader, but many will claim they "broke about even" and defend Scamcorp to the end. They never even find out that they got hustled. It is, the perfect con. 2) The second result is at some point before you lose it all - days, weeks, months later you decide to cash out your "investment". You try to withdraw your money. If it's a small amount, and they think you might re-invest again you might actually come back for more or if you're just "testing" the system, it's actually worth it to them to send it back. Asking for $100 returned out of $1000 deposited still leaves Scamcorp Inc up $900 to make payments on the mounting costs of living a lifestyle worthy of envy. Most than likely though, there will be some kind of "problem" with your account or your withdrawal amount. But of course it's not serious, just takes a few days, week, months, whatever before that will happened. Or maybe there is some kind of "investigation" into your account trading history. Or maybe there was a computer glitch, and your winning trade actually didn't go through. Pity. And on and on. Eventually, hundreds (or thousands) of Marks will leave a trail of serious pissed people. Most people roll over a take it. They may huff and puff, but few actually go to the authorities. Especially when the Scamcorp Inc start threatening you. This scam was typically used by fly-by-night poker sites, but Forex makes for bigger and easier marks, and it can be drawn out a very, very long time before the Mark (or group of Marks) figures out what is going on and that their money is gone. Long story short. You want to gamble in the market highly leveraged? Find a brokerage owned by a company that's listed on the NYSE. Much better bet than some fly-by night brokerage. At lease you'll lose your money fair and square.
Thanks Rnelson, great post. I think one of the mods should extract that post and make it a sticky in the B&I section here. I bet a lot could learn from it.
Perfectly put. Why people cannot see this is beyond me. That is unless, we are all just "haters" (God I hate that word)
This is an "American Greed" television re-run. Plain and simple. The only thing that really changes is the location of the thief. One week Miami, one LA, then ... Robb
Rnelson is a lot nicer than me. I don't see a need to try to protect those too stupid to protect themselves. I firmly believe people need to make mistakes to learn their lessons...especially when they come here and talk **** about us. Mark
Doesn't require a Mod to quote it.... just to make it a sticky. Just placed it in Reza's "Demo Account" thread in B&I.
Some people are not ballistically stupid, though - just naive... I applaud his effort to educate the innocent.
I do as a professional trader who's worked for major banks in the past and I've joined this website and thread to let everyone know EXACTLY how regulation works in the FX industry,I also used to set up offshore tax protection vehicles for rich clients. So to begin,New Zealand is the cheapest and fastest place to get a financial license from,their laws regarding such offshore entities are very lax making it top of the list for scammers like Reza Moktharian to incorporate in! In fact it was so bad over there that a few years ago something like 6o% of the financial companies based in New Zealand went bust and the losses ran into the multi billions of dollars.I believe now they are cracking down and that to get a financial license there you now have to actually have a physical presence in New Zealand with a real office and at least one employee. There is only one reason why someone would set up an offshore entity in a jurisdiction literally on the other side of the planet,with virtual offices as well to add to the smokescreen and that is to scam client funds,that's how this company Capital Trust Markets was set up like this from the very start! Capital Trust Markets | Online Forex Trading Broker | Regulated MT4 Broker If you look at the homepage at the very top,the very first thing that you see is a claim that the spreads,or the difference between the bid and ask/buy and sell rates for the EURUSD (Euro/US Dollar) for different online brokers. It claims that Think Forex,an ECN broker directly plugged into the liquidity providers and known for very tight spreads has one of 6.9 points/pips and that Axitrader's is 4.1,just an utter pack of lies.I would suggest that this guy probably can't even lie straight in bed,if he willing to publish such falsehoods on his own website,just laughable that he's on here berating people for slandering him,he's not even a very convincing conman to anyone who knows about the Forex industry! Everything about this Iranian snake-oil salesman is a big red flag to anyone who knows anything about finance,it looks like his house of cards is about to collapse and send this cockroach scurrying back under his rock,the sooner the better I say!
Sensitive information about Rob? Oh noes! I only know a few things about Rob. He runs an awesome car forum, he raced a 355?, he likes camels and lays ****. Only a few of those i would consider sensitive. *all in jest Rob!
Desperation? I have been threatened legally, physically, and personally (embarrassing info) by Reza. All in 1 day, seems like better strategy is just to stick with one threat, not the shotgun approach. Seems this is his common mode of operation, comparing notes with the others who have received similar. Does a respectable investment person threaten in such a way?
