Another Eurextrade?

Here we go again. Here comes another company offering us the chance to become fabulously wealthy. Will it be another Ponzi scheme like Eurextrade? Is it yet another scam?

You can be the judge.

A reader contacted us asking for advice about an email he had received from a company called Leveltrade. He said they’d told him that they would provide him:

“with guidance and knowledge to profit from forex markets. In order to begin to trade one has to open an account for $100. I just signed up out of curiosity to learn. The company called me from their UK based office and I spoke to their consultant who advised me on how to trade and that I should deposit $50 in order to begin.”

He wasn’t convinced. He said:

“I am a bit skeptical about online business especially ones like Eurextrade which disappeared after making millions from naive consumers. I am asking your advice on the matter. Is this business legit? Is it worth putting up your money in because it looks very tempting?”

It was certainly worth a look.

Leveltrade have a respectable looking web site but that’s not proof of anything. Plenty of fake universities, investment schemes and scams of all sorts have good-looking web sites. There’s no simple relationship between the quality of a web site and the respectability of a company. However it did provide some clues to what they claim to do. Their web site says that their “goal is to prove that everyone can succeed on the Forex Market” and that they “provide most qualified market analyses to our customers, as well as the support of our highly experienced consultants and individually tailored trading conditions."

I’m suspicious. Very suspicious.

Let’s start with the claims they make about how much money you can earn from your “investment” with them. Their web site offers an online chat facility and, using an assumed name, I asked them a few questions. “What sort of profits do you think I could make?”, I asked. “If you start with 500usd, between 100 to 150usd a day”, I was told. I then asked, “So if I invested $1,000 today how much will I make?” Their answer was jaw dropping “potentially 2000usd”.

Remember that the crooks at Eurextrade only ever promised “up to 2.9%” per day. These guys at Leveltrade are promising anything up to 200% in a day.

Let’s face facts. That’s simply not possible. It never has been and it never will be. Ask yourself this: if these returns really were possible why aren’t banks, investment companies, pension schemes and bankrupt European governments investing in them? The reason they’re not is because they’re impossible, that’s why. They’re impossible for serious, highly experienced investors and even more impossible for mere mortals like you and me.

There are some more mundane facts about Leveltrade that should ring alarm bells.

A good start when investigating any company is to look at their address. Leveltrade give contact phone numbers in both Russia and the UK but give just one physical address for both: "Office 3 Unit R1 Penfold Trading Estate Watford, UK WD24 4YY".

It took no more than a few seconds on Google Maps to establish that far from being a fancy office in the financial district of a city the address is in fact in an industrial estate outside London. What’s more it’s the exactly the same address that’s given by a number of other companies. The reason is simple. It’s no more than an accommodation address used by companies who want to give the impression of having an office but who in fact have nothing of the sort.

Then there’s the UK company itself. During my online chat with them I asked how long the company had existed in the UK. “4 years”, I was told.

However Companies House, the UK’s registrar of companies tells a different story. The record for Leveltrade makes it clear when their company was incorporated. Not “4 years” ago. Not even 4 months ago. Leveltrade was established as a company in the UK just over 3 weeks ago on 15th May 2014.

What’s more they don’t appear to be registered with the UK’s Financial Services Authority, the regulator of such organizations.

Leveltrade also claim to be headquartered in St Vincent and the Grenadines, a small island state in the Caribbean that allows you to form a company without publishing the identities of the directors or shareholders. Leveltrade’s registration there is similar to that in the UK. Their address is shared with a number of other Forex trading companies, some with a rather shady past.

There’s also their approach to recruiting “investors”. The reader who first contacted us about them told me that they’d been pestering him since he first contacted them and I had the same experience. In the 30 minutes after I ended my online chat with them they tried to call me six times and several times more over the next couple of days. One similarity the certainly have to Eurextrade is that they offer incentives to “investors” to recruit other people. If you “refer a friend” they offer you a “20% bonus” and they’re also seeking local representatives around the world.

Leveltrade promise unbelievable returns, they’re either deceptive or secretive about who and what they are, they desperately try to recruit people and they don’t seem to be registered with any regulators in the countries in which they claim to operate.

I don’t think that Leveltrade is another Eurextrade. Not exactly. There’s no evidence that it’s a Ponzi scheme but they already have a history of deception and I certainly wouldn’t trust my money with them.

Neither should you.

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Dear Consumer’s Voice #1

I bought a radio at a major store Francistown in December at P3,896 using my FNB credit card. After that I repatriated to Zimbabwe at the end of my contract. Come April 2014, the radio was no longer working. In May I travelled to Botswana where I tried to find out how I could be helped. Unfortunately my house was burgled before I left losing a lot of goods in the process. That is how I lost my receipt as well. Fortunately, my cellphone banking reflects that figure and date.

I spoke to the guys at customer service but they would not listen. A manager in that department was called, things were worse. I wonder how they keep their records. Its like they want to hide behind the fact that I do not have a receipt.

Please investigate and advise.

Hopefully we all know that we’re meant to keep receipts for major items that we buy so we can prove we bought them if they go wrong. However life isn’t always simple. Receipts get lost or damaged, some of them even fade if they’ve been printed on thermal paper. We should all be keeping copies of receipts either by photocopying them or just taking a picture of them on our cellphones.

Nevertheless problems still happen and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect stores to understand this. Stores should have their own records of the purchases that have been made, particularly if they were made with a credit card so they should be able to confirm that you bought the radio on a particular date. Surely with something like this they can even identify the serial number of the device to double-check your claim?

We’ll get in touch with the store to see if they can be a bit more flexible.

Dear Consumer’s Voice #2

I wanted to enquire about the credibility and authenticity of a company called Leveltrade. It’s a trade investment that provides you with the knowledge to profit from the forex market. In order to begin to trade one has to open an account for $100. I just signed up out of curiosity to learn and the company called me from their UK based office and I spoke to their consultant who advised me on how to trade and that I should deposit about $50 in order to begin.

I am a bit skeptical about online business especially ones like Eurextrade which disappeared after making millions from naive consumers. I am asking your advice on the matter. Is this business legit? Is it worth putting up your money in because it looks very tempting?

Please don’t send these people any more money, they’re way too suspicious to be trusted. Firstly the foreign exchange market is way too volatile for non-experts like you and me. I spoke online to Leveltrade and they claimed that I could make extraordinary profits, up to 200% within a day but that’s simply nonsense. If it was true then don’t you think banks and even governments would be investing this way? They’re not so there’s no hope that you and I could make money this way.

Although Leveltrade claim to operate from the UK in fact they have no real physical address there and I can find no trace of them being registered with the UK’s regulator of financial services, the FSA. When I spoke to them they claimed to have existed as a company in the UK for four yeas but when I checked with the UK’s registrar of companies it was clear that they’ve really only existed for just over three weeks.

There’s no evidence yet that Leveltrade is the same as Eurextrade but I do think you’re wise to be skeptical. I don’t trust Leveltrade so I urge you not to waste your money.

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?