Is Leveltrade another Eurextrade?

We've been asked about a new Forex investment company called Leveltrade.

They describe themselves like this:

"LevelTrade’s goal is to prove that everyone can succeed on the Forex Market. We provide most qualified market analyses to our customers, as well as the support of our highly experienced consultants and individually tailored trading conditions."

A better description of how they operate comes from an online conversation I had with one of their advisors.

Jenny: You know what Forex market is?
[Me]: Yes, foreign exchange
Jenny: So basically what we provide is the opportunity to do it online
[Me]: Isn't forex trading very risky?
Jenny: and we give our members free educational training and an online session at your own convenient time with a personal account manager
Jenny: so the risk is almost none

I wanted to know how much money could be made using their scheme.

[Me]: What sort of profits do you think I could make?
Jenny: If you start with 500usd, between 100 to 150usd a day
Jenny: specially today, because in some hours will be a significant moe in the market, and you will be able to double your inversion.
[Me]: So if I invested $1,000 today how much will I make?
Jenny: potentially 2000usd
[Me]: Is that really possible in a day?
Jenny: not in a regular day, TODAY, because in a couple of hours will be, like I told you, a very important change in the market
Jenny: we are offering our members that start today, the service of an sms at the moment that this change will take place
Jenny: so you will be able to open position at the actual moment

Eurextrade only claimed people could make "up to 2.9% per day" but Leveltrade claim you can make 20-30% in a day with a $500 "investment" and 200% if I invested $1,000.

Can this be believed?

Of course not. No investment makes that level of return in a day, certainly not when based on tiny currency fluctuations and never in the history of the world when "the risk is almost none".

Then there are the rather mundane facts about the company.

They give contact numbers in both Russia and the UK but give just one physical address: "Office 3 Unit R1 Penfold Trading Estate Watford, UK WD24 4YY". This is that address:

Image c/o Google Maps and Streetview

Does that look like the Headquarters of a major, respectable finance company to you? Or does it instead look like the sort of place that offers accommodation addresses to anyone who wants to give the appearance of having a fixed address? In fact the following companies also have exactly the same address:

• Financial Binary
• Rosa Marketing Ltd
• Interactive Blvd Ltd
• One Piece Media Ltd
• Tip Top Diving
• Diet Pro Elite Ltd
• Fresh Academy (Watford) Ltd

What about the company itself? During our online chat I asked them how long they'd existed in the UK:

[Me]: Is it a registered company in the UK?
Jenny: Yes
[Me]: Has it existed for a long time?
Jenny: Yes 4 years

Not according to Companies House, the UK registrar of companies. Leveltrade is certainly a registered company but it's a lot younger than 4 years old. In fact, it's a newborn.

Finally, are they registered with the UK's Financial Services Authority?

No.

So you can't trust them in the UK. What about other addresses? It's actually impossible to tell with any certainty.

They also give an address in the Caribbean ("P.O. Box 1825, Cedar Hill Crest, Villa, St Vincent and the Grenadines") which shares some similarities with their UK address. To begin with it's the same PO Box address as that given by other companies, including:

• OctaFX
• Loyal Agency and Trust Corp
• Venture Invest Inc
• LoyalBank Limited
• FW Markets Ltd
• Famous Forex

Yet another accommodation address or is it possible that they're all actually the same people using various front companies? All of those companies in St Vincent and the Grenadines appear to be in the same line of business, Forex trading and some of them have been to operate a little strangely.

St Vincent and the Grenadines seems like a charming place but it does seem to have a rather easy-going approach to company formation (one site describes it as: "No Tax, Director and Shareholder Info Not Public, and One Person can Establish the Company").

So we can't tell.

In summary:

• They promise unbelievable returns on modest investments, saying there's almost no risk.
• They're not registered with the necessary regulator in the the country from which they claim to operate.
• They give no more than an accommodation addresses, sometimes addresses shared with rather suspicious companies.
• The company in the UK is only a matter of days old, not the 4 years they claimed.

So is this another Eurextrade-like scheme? I can't say for sure but so far I'm certain that it's not a company you should trust with anything, certainly not your money.

There's one other similarity with Eurextrade. They reward you for recruiting other people.

How long before we hear of people recruiting others in chicken restaurants, bothering their friends and relatives with endless pleas to hand over their savings and the inevitable cries of disappointed, impoverished victims of another Ponzi scheme?