Fake forex brokers in South Africa are companies that pretend to be real brokerages, but in reality they are not licensed/regulated by Financial Services Conduct Authority (FSCA). These entities often operate illegaly and are involved in fraudulent activities and thus should be reported.
List of fake forex brokers in South Africa
Below is the updated list of scam forex brokers in South Africa.
| Capital Exchange LLG |
| AlpsMarkets |
| Margin Elite |
| Matrix Capital Trade |
| Platinex |
| IGM Forex |
| Roiteks |
| FX Energy |
| TradeCentrum.com |
| BlueTrading.com |
| OlympusMarkets |
| TradeWFX |
| IQTrade24 |
| UniverseMarkets.com |
| Getfinancial.com |
| 1PipFix.com |
| EMPfx.com |
| 2PipFixed.com |
| 4RunnerForex.com |
| 1LotSTP.com |
| MFXBroker.com |
| FXPulp.com |
| EverestMarkets.com |
| Trade24.com |
| RoyalGTX.com |
| StarkMarkets.com |
| PorterFinance |
| Bexplus |
| Option.fm |
| HFX |
| MaxCFD |
| NoaFX |
| PanaMoney |
What is Forex Broker Scammer in South Africa
Scam forex broker is a company that was established with the sole intention of stealing money from depositing clients.
Their business model is very simple.
Group of people approach potential clients 24/7 through social media. New traders are then contacted by the “sales person” either via phone or Messenger/Telegram/WhatsApp chat and convinced to deposit some small amount of money with the promise of six figure profits.
Novice traders usually start with depositing few hundred dollars only.
During the next couple of days the broker would inflate the amount of money available on your account to an incredible amount say $700k.
They will tell you they made some profitable trades with your initial deposit, as a proof that their trading system really works.
Sales can be quite pushy, and they create a pressure on the client to deposit more and more funds. The trick is, you won’t be able to withdraw a single dollar! When you try to finally withdraw your artificially created fake profit , they usually tell you that you must first pay them some sort of tax and thus deposit another xx thousand $$ beforehand.
Many accept this trick and deposit their last savings but most people freak out and start to search the internet looking for an advice.
It is usually already too late, at this stage you are already a victim of an unregulated forex broker scam. Even if you file this case with your local police, chances to get your money back are slim to none.
Unregulated forex brokers are nowhere to be found, without a headquarters, fake contact details and offshore bank account, your money is lost without a trace.
How to avoid forex scams in South Africa
Below you will find a check list on how to spot and avoid Forex broker scams in South Africa.
Social Media
Anonymity on social media is a breeding ground for scammers of all kinds. If you are suddenly approached on a social media by a self-proclaimed expert who promises you tips on how to improve your financial situation, it is most certainly a scam.
Following social media
- Facebook groups
- Youtube bot comments under financial videos
- Telegram groups
- Tik Tok
- WhatsApp chat
Forex Traders Complaints
When traders lose, they will blame their broker even if the broker is regulated and has treated them fairly. You should always view ex clients who bad mouth a regulated company with caution because in most instances, the client is simply upset that he lost money and cannot accept he was to blame. They simply got the markets wrong and this has nothing to do with the broker, they need to look at their strategy. A common complaint is the broker, hunted their stop but in most cases, the fact is they had their stop to close and got taken out by normal market action.
Market Makers Steal Money From Traders
There is a big myth that market makers steal money from clients or use other underhand tactics) and this is because they make money when the client losses. While this is true, it doesn’t mean the broker went out of their way to steal the clients money – why? Because they don’t need to.
A market maker knows that 95%, of all traders are going to give their money to the market and therefore, they don’t need to do anything – they just let the traders lose. While this sounds harsh, the facts are only 5% of traders win and so the market maker doesn’t need to cheat – he is going to make 95% of all deposits onto their trading book and there really just like a bookmaker who has the odds in there favour.
Now lets move on to how to spot the real Forex trading scams:
Company Regulation Is Not Forex Regulation!
Many companies say that they adhere to the company regulations of the country and many people think, this is regulation by a Government regulatory body but its not. All it means is the company adheres to normal company law which all companies in a country have to adhere to. If a broker is in a country which does not have Forex regulation, don’t deal with them. Your funds can be easily stolen or the company can just go into liquidation and disappear and you will never see you money again.
The Confidentiality Trick
You get brokers who say there are on some island in the Caribbean or other non regulated destinations due to confidentiality of funds but this is not true – there in these destinations so they can avoid regulation.
Managed Forex Accounts
Again you will find this off shore a lot and they normally present track records which present huge profits with very few (if any) periods of losses. These track records of course are just projected figures or made up in hindsight i.e. simulated backwards knowing the closing price data which is very easy to do. When you deposit your funds you quickly lose them, because there traded to make commissions and churned over until there is no money left.
You can get Forex managed accounts with regulated brokers and while there not scams, your best off to avoid them unless – the broker presents a real time track record of profits over 3 years or more and they are only compensated from a set management fee or even better, a percentage of the profits made by the trading account.
Unrealistic Profit Claims
We just looked at managed Forex accounts and unrealistic profits and the same applies to any claim that a broker or you can make huge amounts of profit easily and with low risk. Trading currencies by its nature is risky and the facts are the majority of traders lose so beware of the claims of easy wealth. You know the old saying – “if it looks to good to be true it probably is” so don’t be tempted by claims of easy money
In Conclusion
There are a lot of scams out there still despite the rise in regulation of the Forex industry around the world and the above are the most common scams you will see with unregulated brokers and the simple way to avoid them is – don’t deal with a brokerage who is not regulated.
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