Hello traders. Although I can’t confirm this 100% I’d nonetheless like to bring to your attention this scam warning made by the folks at the Forex Peace Army. This just goes to show you that you have to be very careful and do your research before you open an account with ANY forex broker. I recommend you stick with the well-known and highly regulated (in a trusted jurisdiction) brokers.
Quote follows below:
FPA member Yokebeto is part of a trading group from Japan that has been testing out an EA. FPA member Mr. Madruga is from Brazil and was doing his own trading not linked to Yokebeto’s group. We’ve seen him on another forex forum before he joined the FPA.
What the two of them have in common is that both were making a profit on accounts at Velocity4x, which is an IB for StartForex. Also, both were making money trading.
In Yokebeto’s case, he and his group got a note saying that the risk control department determined that all their profits (from a very large number of trades) were due to improper pricing. Their accounts were closed, all profits were confiscated, and their initial balances were returned. This happened to about 20 people in that group.
Mr Madruga’s attempt to withdraw money was met with silence for weeks. Finally, after involving the FPA, he got a single note from Velocity 4x stating that the withdrawal request was being forwarded to Start Forex for processing. Then he heard nothing more.
Yokebeto’s group and Mr. Madruga sent many emails to both Velocity4x and StartForex and CCed the FPA on those. FPA Investigator Gerard also sent a number of emails to both companies. Other than the one note Mr. Madruga got, there was no other reply.
It is possible that Yokebeto’s group might have violated some trading rule. If this is the case, they are owed a thorough and complete explanation, not a quick note telling them they lost 100% of their efforts and profits. Since neither Velocity4x nor StartForex would bother with an explanation, we have no choice but to believe that the traders are correct and the brokerages are improperly taking profits owed to the traders.
In Mr. Madruga’s case, we can think of no explanation other than outright theft, both of profits and his initial balance.
Improperly taking money owed to traders is the FPA’s first definition of Scam. In this case, both Velocity4x and StartForex have met that definition.
Both Velocity4x and StartForex are now blacklisted by the Forex Peace Army. If you have an account with them, we urge you to withdraw your funds as quickly as possible. We also urge all traders to not place any money with these companies.
Original source: http://www.forexpeacearmy.com/forex-forum/scam-alerts-folder/4550-two-traders-two-companies-one-big-scam.html
Good luck and stay scam free.
Alan
http://alansforexblog.com