SCAMMED! False Forex Traders Lure Victims Through Social Media Platforms

A great number of sham Forex traders, using sponsored adverts on social media, continue to filch millions of hard-earned savings of hapless ‘investors’

As soon as one starts writing the word ‘Forex’ on a Facebook page, even before you complete the word, a dozen or so traders jam the page, popping up, vying for attention.

Basically what they do is to appeal to the glutinous, innate nature of the small mind, and on stressed out, hard-pressed low-income workers and pensioners looking for quick ways to bolster their meagre savings.

Methods Used

The scammers prey on subscribers by using a number of irresistible guiles: huge offers, hefty returns, communication messages, alluring adverts, testimonials and names and titles that lead the unwary to believe that he/she is dealing with a bonafide, international forex platform.

Testimonials come in several forms: video messages of nondescript, so-called investors (never a traceable or noteworthy firm or name) who gush how thrilled he or she was with dealing with this or that ‘forex trader’. Another form is a tired copy of a video which list names, amounts invested and returns realized.

Another method, that appears to be working for them, is the listing of a number of genuine remittance firms through which they claim returns will be sent to the investor.

For Somalis, especially, to see revered, bynames in remittance that they trust unreservedly, appearing in the list is more than an adequate guarantee to save, quick delivery. Only, if they asked said companies of references, later disappointments could have been avoided. Many don’t – and that is the margin which the scammers bank on.

Another method, that appears to be working for them, is the listing of a number of genuine remittance firms through which they claim returns will be sent to the investor.

For Somalis, especially, to see revered, bynames in remittance that they trust unreservedly, appearing in the list is more than an adequate guarantee to save, quick delivery. Only, if they asked said companies of references, later disappointments could have been avoided. Many don’t – and that is the margin which the scammers bank on.

Another method, that appears to be working for them, is the listing of a number of genuine remittance firms through which they claim returns will be sent to the investor.

For Somalis, especially, to see revered, bynames in remittance that they trust unreservedly, appearing in the list is more than an adequate guarantee to save, quick delivery. Only, if they asked said companies of references, later disappointments could have been avoided. Many don’t – and that is the margin which the scammers bank on.

Be Warned

Both governments of the Somaliland Republic and Federal Somalia have warned investors of scammers, swooping down on a number of ‘traders’.

Some of these traders, seeking licenses from the Central Banks of both governments, failed to prove that they delivered what they promised or – in the eventuality that ‘trades’ failed how they could adequately cover the millions they received of investors which were no way near deposits lodged with the banks.

Requisite Action

Investors who have lost money can, at the least, take action in any and/or all of the following:

1. 1. 1. 1. Write the addresses, names, contacts of fraudulent traders and send it to international SCAM WATCH FORUMS and regulators so, at the least, they could be put on the scam list – no matter how many times they change names or contacts. There are ways and methods to track down the criminals and put them behind bars.
         2. To establish a HOTLINE where all of those scammed can pool in details of how they were scammed, of how much, by whom, when, Telephone numbers provided, which remittance platform was wrongly quoted, etc. etc.
         3. REPORT to social media platforms to stop scammers from using their platforms in order to borrow legitimacy and project themselves as genuine traders. Let people tell FACEBOOK, for instance, not to take their sponsorship money but, instead, post warnings that scammers should desist from opening accounts with them.
         4. Write to remittance agencies and banks to, on a similar vein, post on their official pages lists of CONFIRMED SCAMMERS warning loyal customers not to go anywhere near them, and to check with them before investors took the names listed on face value.