Recently, an investor reported that he was recommended by a "lady" on the line to join an investment group, open an account on FAIRMARKETSLTD to do copy trading, he has to the designated account transfer 379500. But when he wanted to withdraw money but found that can not withdraw, the scammer said his rating is not enough, need to recharge to improve the rating.

Complaint details: https://www.fxgecko.net/en_US/complaint/9742.html

FxGecko reminds you that this is an obvious scam.Any trading platform that asks you to pay fees upfront (such as taxes, deposits, verification fees, channel fees, etc.) to withdraw funds or unfreeze your account is a scam.

Don't pay any fees because scammers just want to scam you for more money and then disappear.

I. Beware of trading scams based on fake platforms in investment groups

According to the information provided by investors, the trading platform used by the scammers FAIRMARKETSLTD is a fake platform posing as a legitimate broker, the operation process of this type of scam is roughly as follows:

Step 1: disguised as a legitimate trading platform. This fake platform is either a clone of other legitimate brokers of the company's information, or only with a common registration number on the claim to be legally regulated, and even some fraudulent platforms directly fabricate regulatory information.

Step 2: false promotion. Fraud gangs usually use fake identity information to lure investors to download an application, or join their groups, and then use fake profit data to attract investors to open accounts and invest in fake platforms.

Step 3: winning trust. The crooks will first give investors a little sweetness, so that they can see the funds in their accounts several times or even dozens of times the growth, and can be withdrawn in small amounts once or twice, in order to encourage investors to increase the investment of funds.

Step 4:  when investors want to withdraw large amounts of money, the fraudsters will seize the investors eager to withdraw the psychological, set up a variety of obstacles to a variety of reasons to cheat investors to pay, such as payment of taxes, security deposits, verification fees, channel fees and so on, some investors in order to withdraw the funds are cheated more and more.

Step 5: disappear. Cheaters will only find ways to cheat more money, and will not allow the victim to withdraw. When the victim ran out of money or realized that they were cheated, the fraudsters will immediately disappear, and even change the name, change a platform to start a new scam.

Click here to recognize common investment trading scams to avoid being scammed.

II. How to avoid being cheated

1. Pay attention to the protection of personal information and do not freely provide sensitive data to untrustworthy individuals or platforms.

2. Try to avoid private transactions with strangers, especially on social media platforms. Be wary of investment opportunities that promise high returns with 0 or low risk, which are likely to be scams.

3. Do your due diligence before investing. When choosing a trading platform, you can first check the platform's company information, regulatory information, complaint information and risk tips in the FxGecko app, and stay away from unregulated, low rated and high risk trading platforms.

Click here to see how to check if a broker is safe and what to do if you encounter a scam broker.

4. Carefully verify the identity and background information of brokers, try to use well-known, regulatory compliant trading platforms for trading, and understand and follow the corresponding regulations and processes.

5. Remain vigilant and watch out for any suspected fraudulent behavior, retain evidence in a timely manner, and report it to the appropriate regulator or law enforcement at any time.

6. If you encounter any suspicious trading problems, you can also file a complaint on the FxGecko app for help and exposure.

7. Beware of the "recovery scam."