Spotting A Fake Regulator

Fake Regulators

Scammers may try to win your trust by saying they are regulated by an organization that sounds legitimate. If they mention a 'fake regulator' featured on the list below, you know the offer is a scam.

The international organizations listed below are fake entities and no genuine government regulators exist under these names. Do not deal with them.

American Futures and Options Exchange
American Futures and Options Trading Commission (AFOTC)
Bureau of Foreign Security Affairs
Commodities Futures Trading Commission - www.cftc.org.au
(Please note that this fake regulator should not be confused with the legitimate US regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission which is http://www.cftc.gov/)
Duetsche Anstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (DAFIN) - www.dafin.org
Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Frankfurt (FSRAF) - www.fsraf.org
Foreign Shareholders Protection Department
Forensic Financial Fraud Investigators
Frankfurt Financial Supervisory Authority - www.ffsauthority.com
Hong Kong Financial Services Authority
Hong Kong Financial Trading Authority (HKFTA)
Hong Kong Futures and Options Exchange (HKFOX)
International Association of Transfer Agents
International Compliance Commission
International Equity Commission
International Exchange Regulatory Commission
International Organization of Securities Commission - www.iosc-us.com
International Regulatory Commission
International Securities Tax Commission
International Shareholder Agency
Japan Futures Trading Fund (JFTB) - www.jftb.org/eng/
Japan Options and Futures Trading Board - www.joftb.org
National Mergers and Acquisitions Board
National Shareholder Protection Agency
Offshore Commodity Futures Dealers Association (OCFDA)
Offshore Futures Securities Association
Offshore Investors Protection Association
Options and Futures Trade Commission
Regulatory Association Of Offshore Investment Managers
Regulatory Compliance Commission
Securities Regulatory and Investment Board
Sicfex Swiss International Commodities Futures Exchange
Swiss Commodities Futures Exchange
Thompson Brennan Stanley
Transfer Exchange Corporation
US Securities Investigative Committee
US Stock Regulators
World Options Exchange - www.woptex.com
Worldwide Securities Investment Comission - www.asic-capital.com

Our list of International Regulatory Authorities is genuine and we check it on a regular basis to ensure that it is kept up to date.

 

 

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Posted on April 16, 2012 19:29 by Tom Herod
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Categories: Due Diligence | Regulation
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ASIC List of Unlicensed Companies

Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is the financial regulatory authority of Australia. If you are thinking about trading with a Forex broker based in Australia then check ASIC's Australian Financial Services licensee register to ensure that the company holds an Australian Financial Services license (AFSL).

You can also check ASIC's List of Unlicensed Companies to identify companies ASIC has already black listed.  This list is similar to FINMA's Black List and FSA's List of Unauthorized Firms.

Protect yourself. 

 

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Posted on April 16, 2012 06:47 by Tom Herod
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TPFX Fined $4.8 Million in Forex Fraud

CFTC

Washington, DC - The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that a federal court entered an order of default judgment and permanent injunction against Total Call Group, Inc. (aka TPFX, Inc., Power Play FX) of Frisco, Texas, and its principals, Craig B. Poe, also of Frisco, and Thomas Patrick Thurmond (aka Patrick Thurmond) of San Antonio, Texas.

The court’s order requires Poe and Thurmond, respectively, to pay a civil monetary penalty of $3.24 million and $1.62 million and holds Total Call Group jointly and severally liable for the payment of these amounts.

The CFTC complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on September 29, 2010, alleges that, beginning in at least early 2006 and continuing until October 2008, the defendants solicited approximately $808,000 from at least four customers for the purpose of trading off-exchange forex contracts. As alleged, the defendants deposited and/or pooled approximately $800,000 of these funds into three forex trading accounts held at Forex Capital Markets LLC (FXCM), a registered futures commission merchant (FCM). In soliciting the funds, Thurmond allegedly made false representations to one or more of Total Call Group’s customers, including that Poe had been trading forex and living off the income for more than four years and that he and Poe had personally provided more than $1 million to Total Call Group for the purpose of trading forex.

At the end of August 2008 the defendants sustained trading losses and incurred FCM fees totaling approximately 90 percent of the balance in the forex trading accounts. However, the defendants did not report these substantial losses to customers. Rather, the defendants continued to promote the profitability of trading, solicited additional customer funds and lost almost all of the remaining funds by November 2008.

From September through December 2008, Poe willfully made and sent false reports and statements to customers that overstated profits and/or failed to disclose trading losses and falsely reported customers’ account balances. Poe sent several of the false statements to customers after the trading accounts were fully liquidated on November 13, 2008.

Read the full release at CFTC
 

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Posted on April 10, 2012 11:55 by Tom Herod
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FSA List of Unauthorized Firms

FSA

Last week we published a link to FINMA's Black List which includes companies and persons who are conducting business in Switzerland without FINMA authorization.

We began a project to check to Forex providers in our database against FINMA's list and now we are moving on to the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) list of unauthorized firms.

If you are an investor, you should be aware that the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme are not available if you deal with an unauthorized company or individual. To find out whether a company or individual is authorised, go to the FSA Register Check Service or review the FSA List of Unauthorized Firms.

To check to see which regulatory authority monitors firms in your country, check our list at http://www.forexturtle.com/RegulatoryAuthority.aspx.
 

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Posted on April 9, 2012 13:33 by Tom Herod
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FINMA Black List

FINMA

The FINMA Black List shows companies and persons who seem - due to their activities in or from Switzerland, or based on the description of their purpose according to the entry in the commercial register – to perform activities that fall under FINMA's supervision without possessing the necessary authorization to do so.

Inclusion on the FINMA Black List does not necessarily mean that the company is performing an illegal activity; however, investors should be made aware that the companies listed do not have authorization from FINMA.

The list contains the names of the companies and persons in question, their date of inclusion and any other information that may help to protect investors. Companies and persons will be removed from the list as soon as the necessary investigations have been completed and any changes that may be required have been made.

You can view the full list at FINMA'S Unauthorized Institutions (Black List) page.

We are currently checking the Forex providers in our database against the list and will be updating their records to reflect their status.
 

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Posted on April 6, 2012 10:42 by Tom Herod
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