Sunday, June 24, 2007

Keep Your Shirt On- Skirt Those Forex Scams

By: Joseph Plazo

Whenever there is an opportunity to make large amounts of money, there will be people who are eager to jump right in and start making money. And where there are people who are eager to get rich quick with a minimum of effort on their part, there are fraudsters waiting to take their money. Experienced traders are wise enough to avoid the frauds - it's the new traders who are most vulnerable to the forex scams that are slipping into the currency exchange market.

The U.S. CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission), which regulates futures and commodities trading, warns new investors to be wary of frauds and scams that promise huge profits from your investments, in and out of the Forex market. The CFTC has issued several Consumer Fraud Alerts in connection with foreign currency trading. They offer the following tips to help you avoid being scammed.

Be skeptical of high-profit-low-risk come-ons.

"I made $1900 in one minute!" touts one sidebar ad for a Forex trading company. Ads that promise high returns on small investments with little or no risk to you are tempting bait. The fact is that while there are certainly big profits to be made in forex, there are correspondingly large losses. And most novice traders drop out of active trading by the end of their first year because they can't afford the risk.

Be suspicious. Period. Before you part with a penny, thoroughly check out the company or trader you're planning to do business with. Check the CFTC's consumer fraud alert page. Check to see if the company is registered with the CFTC, or is a member of the National Futures Association. Check to see if there's any disciplinary action against the firm or company. Get even more basic. Get a valid address and telephone number, and verify that it belongs to the company. Check to be sure the person you're dealing with actually works for the company. Especially if you're doing business on the Internet, it's very easy for a scammer to fake credentials.

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