The broker cheated! What to do?

Trading in financial markets is a popular means of generating basic or additional income. Every year, thousands of newcomers join the ranks of traders and speculators on the stock exchange in stocks or currencies. But this success has a downside – the smell of easy money attracts a lot of scammers. Users, in particular, suffer from the machinations of dubious brokers – such companies promise their clients utopian profits, collect money from their accounts and refuse to return it, ignoring users or constantly coming up with new excuses to delay the case. As a result, thousands of people face the problem of loneliness and do not know how to get their money back. Today we will talk about how not to fall into the trap of a fraudulent broker and what needs to be done in a critical situation to get the money back.

How to recognize a fraudster?

First of all, it should be noted that recognizing a scammer is not as difficult as it seems. The first warning signs that may indicate an opaque brokerage firm are:

• Missing company website or low-quality website – a reputable broker will not save money on his official Internet presence.
• Missing information about the broker and the charter documents – all data should be publicly available on the company website.
• Lack of license and other regulatory approvals to carry out intermediary activities in the financial markets – a company may not provide services to traders and investors without a corresponding license, which must be published on the website.
• Intrusive phone calls from “managers” and “specialists” – a serious company with an impeccable reputation does not impose its services or products on its own customers.
• Promises of the broker to make incredible profits for the client – trading in the financial markets is characterized by great uncertainty, and one should always be wary of organizations that make guarantees or overly optimistic promises.
• Refusal to conclude official contracts – a written agreement between the broker and the client is a guarantee for both sides of the deal. If a broker refuses to enter into written obligations, one should not entrust his money to him, even if he has a license.

What to do if the broker cheated?

If you nevertheless got to a licensed fraudulent broker and he cheated on you, then you should not lose heart. You need to take the following steps either yourself or with the help of a lawyer:

1. File a complaint with the police – in the complaint you should describe all actions, transactions, conversations and correspondence between you and the broker. Attach copies of documents, receipts of money transfers and bank statements, screenshots of your e-mail correspondence or official chat.
2. File a complaint against the broker with the prosecutor’s office – employees there must register their complaint and open an official investigation into the activities of the scammers.
3. File a complaint with the Central Bank – if the fraudulent broker has a financial registration in your country, the Central Bank will have to respond to your complaint, which may lead to the cancellation of the license.

All these steps you can do yourself, but they will take a lot of time and effort. If the lost amount on your account allows, it is advisable to use the services of a lawyer or a specialized law firm.

Ways to get the money back

Filing complaints with law enforcement agencies and regulators can significantly intimidate the fraudulent broker. He will prefer not to risk his license, to resolve the conflict situation in a peaceful way and return the money back. Otherwise, other methods of refund will have to be used. For example, if you made a transfer to the fraudulent broker’s account from a MasterCard, Visa or American Express card and no more than 540 days have passed since the transaction, you can use the chargeback or rolling reserve procedures.

Chargeback is an official procedure for contesting money transfers made from a card. Three parties are involved in this dispute – the sender’s bank, the recipient’s bank and the payment system. To get your money back, you need to contact your bank with your application and attach all the documents, receipts and a copy of the correspondence. The latter will serve as evidence that you used all means and tried to resolve the dispute situation in a peaceful way, but were rejected by the swindler, ignored or tried to delay the case. You can download the application form on the website of your bank or request it from the managers – they will tell you what documents and in what ways you need to send to get your money back.

Then the client’s bank must consider the application and give an official response within 30-60 days – it will initiate the chargeback process or refuse it based on the reasons presented to the user. For example, the financial company may decide that there are not enough supporting documents for an informed refund from the scammer or make a request on their own. If there is no reason for the refusal, the application is sent to the recipient’s account through the payment system. If the decision is positive, the money will be returned to the customer’s account.

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