Illegal on-line trading platforms

Fraudulent on-line trading platforms look real and are well-designed. The so-called professed dealers or friends are courteous, polite and convincing. Some will even use the name of a registered individual and refer you to our register of individuals authorized to practise, so that you can check it.

Strategies used

The administrators of the fraudulent platforms use many other strategies to lend credibility to their operations:

The products offered change with current trends and tend to be the ones generating the most media interest. Fraudsters can take advantage of the cryptoasset craze to target investors (for more information, see our page on cryptoasset fraud).
Fraudsters can also offer a line of financial products like currencies and shares in companies such as Amazon and Google or binary options and derivatives.
They provide access to known on-line trading tools like MetaTrader 4.
They are active on social media platforms like Facebook and X (Twitter).
They post positive testimonials on websites (e.g., user communities and blogs) and social media platforms (e.g., Reddit).
They reply systematically to victim testimonials and investor warnings. If someone complains, for example, they say that the losses the person suffered resulted from bad investments, not fraud, or that the platform is managed by qualified and skilled people.
They make people sign credible administrative documents such as investment insurance contracts or releases and discharges in the event of loss..

Don’t rely on appearances!

Fraudulent platforms are well-designed and look polished because investors place a high value on the credibility of the firms they do business with.

Here is an example:

Warning

Check the investor warnings of websites and companies that solicit investors illegally.

End of the warning

Insight

Invest carefully!

Take steps to confirm the identity of the person you are speaking with. For example, call the person back at the number listed in our register (not the number they gave you).

End of the insight

A typical fraudulent platform

Well-designed website that looks professional and polished

Access to known on-line trading tools like MetaTrader 4

Offers known financial products; adapts quickly to trends

Using a credit card to invest is NEVER recommended

Personalized and insistent solicitation

The scammers seem as if they are looking to get you the best offer (e.g., promotions, bonus). In reality, they are trained in pressure sales tactics. While they may sound Canadian, they usually telephone or text people from a call centre (boiler room) located overseas (e.g., Southeast Asia), not from a known reputable firm.

The experienced “dealer” will help you open your account and then ask you to make a deposit by credit card, pre-loaded card or bank transfer while enticing you with a promise of easy, lucrative returns. He or she will try to confuse you by using specialized jargon and making all kinds of recommendations requiring ever larger deposits (e.g., this stock is going to “take off”, you have to get into the cryptoasset market right away). Documents drafted in almost flawless English may make you believe you’re dealing with professionals, but beware: the masterminds behind these scams are dishonest and ruthless.

Getting your money back may be very difficult, if not impossible

Once you deposit money in the account you opened, regardless of what the “firm” allows you to see as your balance on its transaction platform, there are no safeguards or controls in place to protect you.

Some platforms will let you withdraw a portion of your money as a way to build trust. After you make the withdrawal, they will use other strategies to get you to deposit a larger amount that you will not be able to withdraw.

Insight

ALWAYS

Research the investment product you are being offered.
Make sure the dealer is registered with the AMF and his or her phone number and civic address match the ones in the register. A list of registered cryptoasset trading platforms is also available in the Registers section of the AMF website.
Ask for the AMF’s opinion about an investment platform, a cryptoasset trading platform or adviser.
Check the investor warnings of websites and companies that solicit investors illegally.
Be wary of promises of high returns on low-risk investments.
Report any cases of fraud or potential offences to the AMF.

End of the insight

Warning

NEVER

Send money to anyone you don’t know on the basis of an unsolicited call or e-mail
Make a hasty decision or decide anything under pressure
Give out sensitive personal information, such as banking information, the number of your driver’s licence or details from a utility bill
Let anyone, especially someone you don’t know who claims to want to help you invest, take over your computer
Invest with a dealer that isn’t registered with the AMF
Transfer your investments from one platform to another one that is not registered with the AMF or that does have a place of business in Canada

Not recommended

Making an investment using your credit card

End of the warning

Doing whatever it takes to convince you to keep on investing

Some sites will try to conceal the appropriation of your money by letting you believe that you’ve made bad investments and have lost everything. Others will simply ignore you and refuse to refund your money. They might also offer you VIP service or insurance to cover your investments. All such offers are simply ruses to get more money from you.

These fraudsters will let some time pass before dropping you. Their sole objective is to let the time limit pass for cancelling a transaction or reporting credit card fraud. In many cases, they will take of advantage of this period, when you believe that your money is safe in your account, to transfer the funds to a country that has no agreement with Canadian authorities.