Want to protect yourself from online scams? Here are 10 ways to identify them

Online trading is a pretty wise and easy way to earn money or rather say increasing existing assets, but such a temptation usually preys on people who mistakenly involve themselves in online scams. Following is a list of ten hints that will help detect them beforehand.

Usage of empty promises to convince customers

Claims or promises that are not backed by logical or practical explanations should not be believed in. Just because someone pretending to be an expert talks about a trade that sounds sweet to people’s ears doesn’t mean his or her words can be considered authentic. Financial claims that cannot be verified quantitatively should never be trusted.

Unauthenticated track record 

Firms might notify customers from time to time that they have made a profit on their purchase. There is nothing wrong with that. However, if they cannot verify the results themselves, upon request of the party concerned, it should be quite clear that they are not involved in the trade directly – another noteworthy sign of a scammer. 

No proof of the existence

Scammers generally refuse or fail to produce authentic records regarding physical addresses, real names, company registration, etc. An online search of the firm might also help in collecting details. Lack of a legit website, genuine reviews, and trading history is enough to mark the company as a scam.

Claims regarding the discovery of the groundbreaking algorithm 

There might be firms or companies claiming ‘they have found a secret algorithm that can predict market scores ensuring 100% profitability on stock purchases’ or anything similar to that. They make people download pretty-looking software or applications which deep down carry no extraordinary functionalities at all. The only question to ask here is, if they really discovered a ‘secret’ why would they tell people about it?

Investments promising high percentage returns with zero or low risk 

This is the oldest trick in the book and by now almost everyone, a trader or not, should know that such claims are just baseless. Firms will always try to lure vulnerable individuals into financial traps by promising them a shortcut to financial success. As usual, such investments are subject to market risks and generally end up in losses. One example of such claims is a 4000% return on a Forex trade within a span of a few years.

Charging money for a subscription 

Scammers might also demand heavy subscription fees to allow access to trades or trading information. If the call for trade was really that good, the company could have made money off that only without having to ask customers to pay subscription charges.

Spam mails demanding private details

People who register into online trading services, willingly or by mistake, may receive emails asking for information like name, address, contact number, credit card details, etc. If the registered individual shows no particular interest but still gets emails asking for unnecessary details, details that could be made money off by selling then the involved firm or company is likely to be a scammer.

Opening accounts with unchecked brokers

Scammers usually open accounts for their customers using unchecked brokers. Being unchecked they cannot be traced back and hence are able to get away with their scams easily.

Demanding unknown software that might harm your device

Most online trading practices take place on a platform which is usually a website, computer software, or mobile application. If while downloading the software, the associated device warns of probable damage or malicious activity there is a high chance that the firm involved is a fraudster.

Trading strategies having low flexibility

Some firms tend to make profits over small fluctuations in the market score and then display the results to probable customers. People usually get pleased with the high win rate but are unaware of the fact that such profits were possible only in favorable market conditions. In non-supportive market scenarios, such strategies are bound to fail.

Identifying online scammers is still not a simple task as with the advent of new technologies they too have improved their tricks and practices. However, if scammed, the affected individual should take the help of consulting firms that excel at regaining assets lost to monetary fraud. One such firm is Funds Recovery. It specializes in CFDs, Binary Options, Forex, and Crypto Currencies scams.