forex Illegal “E-trans” Swindled Investor by Cloning High-rating Broker

[Anzo Lim 0]

Illegal broker: E-Trans

Regulatory status: cloned-license

Complainant: Mr. Zhu

Cause of complaint: withdrawal failure

 

Brokers with cloned license account for quite a large proportion of illegal forex brokers. Recently, WikiFX got an investor’s complaint against such a broker E-Trans, who unscrupulously copied the high-rating broker Etrans from logo to company’s name, in order to defraud investors. Here’s how Mr. Zhu became a victim of the illegal broker.

 

Event recap

When Mr. Zhu downloaded MT4 trading software this July, someone who claimed to be introducing broker of Goldman Sachs Bitcoin found Mr. Zhu and recommended the broker E-Trans, telling him he can sign up at the platform and then select E-Trans in the MT4 software to start trading. On July 9^th, Mr. Zhu successfully opened an account on E-Trans and made deposit, and the broker sent him a confirmation email. He later made several more deposits, some were immediately confirmed while others took longer. His last deposit of US$ 1,000, made on July 29^th, was never confirmed by the platform. Depositing to E-Trans was bothersome enough, yet withdrawing from it was even worse. Mr. Zhu’s withdrawal application in mid-July had neither been approved, nor did he received the money, while his email request about the matter, sent on July 26^th, received no response from the customer service. Besides withdrawal failure, Mr. Zhu also noticed that the broker’s website had become inaccessible since August, and he couldn’t reach anyone from E-Trans. On August 15^th, Mr. Zhu again emailed E-Trans customer service, but failed to get a reply, and his later inquiries all met the same fate, even when Mr. Zhu declared he’d take legal actions against E-Trans if the issue remains unsolved. Until now, Mr. Zhu still has unwithdrawn balance in his account, and with E-Trans website closed and its staff inaccessible, it seems unlikely he can get the money back.

 

Analysis

Forex broker recommended by “IB” and the deceptive camouflage of E-trans are the 2 most worth-noting points in Mr. Zhu’s case.

1. Forex IB is an indispensable part and a permanent topic of the forex circle, yet their promises of high gains to investors could also be hidden traps. While IB agents may have more access to brokers’ information, investors should remain cautious about what these agents said and always check the compliance of a broker before making investment.

2. When looking up E-Trans online, we also found an Australian forex broker Etrans which has a similar name and logo with E-Trans. Further investigation shows that Etrans is a regulated broker with WikiFX rating 8.25 and has been in business for over 5 years, while E-Trans is an illegal broker that cloned Etrans’ MM license no.439303, issued by ASIC(Australia). As the website of E-Trans is no longer accessible, we have no idea whether it also copied the official site of Etrans, but what it had already cloned from Etrans was enough to trick Mr. Zhu who, considering himself experienced with brokers, still fell into the trap.

 

Conclusion

According to WikiFX App, E-Trans is a cloned-license broker that has been in business for less than a year, with a rating of only 1.12 on WikiFX App. We suggest investors to stay away from this illegal broker.

 

Edited September 20, 2019 by Anzo Lim