Forex scams to watch out for

by admin on March 1, 2010
in Forex Scams

You may have heard a lot of the hype and publicity surround Forex recently. In fact, you may be here right now because of all of the good things that you have heard about the potential for successful investing in Forex. Although Forex has excellent potential for bringing a return on your investment, there are some risks involved. …And with anything that involves money, there is the risk and the potential to be scammed.

The category of people most vulnerable to being scammed while trying to trade Forex, are those people that are relatively new to Forex trading. If you fall within the category of being new to Forex it is important that you make yourself aware of what scam artists are doing, how Forex trading might be mis-represented and of as many potential scams as possible. In fact, you should do everything possible to protect and prevent yourself from falling prey to someone engaging in those activities.

The thing that often makes a scam success is the fact that they are so believable. Most people know that people usually fall for scams because they offer such an irresistible promise of financial gain; they cater to the greed in us. Therefore be wary of offers that sound too good to be true. …Exactly!  They probably are.

Fake Investment Funds

It is common knowledge that most scams entice us by promising massive returns on ridiculously small investments. These are known as High Yield Investment Programs (HYIP). Stay far away from them. Now although the Forex is a market that allows you to invest small amounts of money and to achieve great returns, the key way to avoid an HYIP scam is to invest in Forex using your own account, not someone else’s. Do not allow anyone to convince you to put your money into any fund that wants to invest your money in Forex for you. No matter how large their promises are.  These funds can not deliver on their promises. They generally pay old clients with new clients’ money and create a cyclical pattern that can not be maintained. They usually run out of money and investors are left with nothing. The owners of these funds are usually the only ones to make any profit.

Signal Service Sellers

Beware of sales people that want to sell you a subscription to exclusive Forex data or information. These are often called a Signal Services. They promise inside information that will earn you stacks of money and claim to have information that no-one else knows. Forex is not magic, so do not fall for this scam. Usually Signal Sellers try to convince you to sign up to receive either daily, weekly or at times monthly information. They claim this information will earn you huge returns on Forex and they are bold enough to guarantee it. The reality is that they can not provide you with any information that is any more useful to what is already in the public domain. Do your research yourself and don’t be suckered in by the false promises of a signal service.

Miracle-Working Software

Search engines are overflowing with vendors that claim that their software can trade in Forex for you and make you huge profits. The ads for this software are very enticing and promise massive returns. Remember, scams target our desire for lots of easy money. Surprisingly, some of these software packages are being sold for prices as high as $5,000!  This is ludicrous since the exact same software (except probably with more features) can be found online for free. The only software packages that will trade Forex for you are those that require you to already have knowledge of Forex. You will have to set the preferences based on your experience and understanding of Forex.

There is no quick, miraculous way to big money… not even in Forex. So be wise, be careful and steer clear of Forex deals that simply are not real.