Sadly this is happening more frequently lately…
I receive emails from readers wanting to know if a brokerage is legit.
I went back through my inbox and I've received 27 emails just like this in the last few months.
And out of those 27... all 27 involved exchanges that were 100% a scam.
Most of the time they were smart and reached out to me BEFORE any money changed hands.
But sometimes it's not such good news.
I've seen people in for tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars to these scam exchanges.
And readers have told me about people they know who've lost multi-six figures.
I'm pretty sure the person who cleaned my driveway fell for one.
The scam is relatively sophisticated and involves someone contacting you purporting to be a broker or crypto trader.
(This year alone we've even had people impersonating ME running the same scam)
They have you sign up on their special platform (the scam exchange) and they do some trades on your behalf.
Usually this is for a nominal amount, maybe $200-$300
These trades always win.
Because this "proves" their skills.
Then the real pressure starts.
They push you to send more money for them to trade with. A lot more.
Daily calls. WhatsApp messages. "Act NOW before this opportunity disappears."
You watch your account balance rack up wins, showing steady growth.
But it's when you ask to withdraw some of the funds that things turn sour.
You'll either get slapped with a giant "liquidation fee" which is more than the amount in the account.
Or more likely than not, you just get ghosted.
Because the trades were never legitimate in the first place. The scammer just showed you some fake screenshots.
This is usually crypto related but lately I’ve seen more “automated AI trading bot system” type scams emerge as well
So it pays to stay vigilant.
Never trust anyone who messages you out the blue saying they'll trade stocks or crypto on your behalf.
Especially anyone on social media who claims to be me.
At Freeman Publications we never manage or trade anyone's money.
Nor should you trust any broker that operates their "official" communication through WhatsApp, Telegram or Discord.
To avoid this, here are 3 rules to live by:
1. Only use well known exchanges like Schwab, Interactive Brokers, Fidelity, Tastytrade or Coinbase (crypto)
1a. If you aren't sure about an exchange, look them up in their local jurisdiction. All brokers (stocks, crypto, FOREX) are required to register with their local financial authority (like FINRA in the US or the FCA in the United Kingdom) and will have a unique license number which you can look up online.
For example, eToro in the UK is FCA registered with a number of FRN 583263. If you type the same number into Google you will find eToro listed on the FCA website.
2. Never allow anyone to trade on your behalf - either via wiring money to them or by allowing them to access your computer via a remote desktop.
3. If it smells like a scam, it probably is
And if you have been scammed by anyone in the market (be it with stocks, FOREX or crypto), please do email me and let me know so I can help share the information with the Freeman community.
I'm not here to judge you, we've all made mistakes, but my job is to help our readers learn what is and isn't legit in this crazy financial world.
Oliver
P.S.