AAAFx Postponed Investor's Withdrawal for over 6 Months

　　Broker: AAAFx

　　Regulatory status: not regulated

　　Complainant: Ms. Ding

　　Cause of complaint: heavy loss and withdrawal failure

　　On the appealing forex market, both high rated and low rated brokers compete for a share of the pie. To increase their market share, the low rated brokers try their best to attract more investors with misleading advertisements such as offering so-called “bonus” or “low deposit threshold at US$ 5”. Therefore, it is crucial for investors to choose a reliable broker. Recently, Ms. Ding told WikiFX about how she was defrauded by AAAFx, an unreliable and illegal forex broker.

　　Event recap

　　In mid-September of 2018, Ms. Ding, drawn by the so-called “high bonus”, opened an account at forex platform FORMAX and began trading. As she seldom made any profits at first, Ms. Ding only applied for one withdrawal in late October.

　　Later, things started to go wrong at FORMAX, as the broker first took back the bonuses it had given out and then transferred all clients' assets to the platform AAAFx without their permissions. After that, Ms. Ding asked the customer service about her withdrawal issue via social media messages and emails, but she either got auto-replies that the broker “will respond in a few minutes”, or prevarications and excuses of the customer service. Over 6 months after her first inquiry about the withdrawal, she still didn' t get her money.

　　Ms. Ding's trading record

　　Ms. Ding received the auto-reply from AAAFx

　　Ms. Ding's email received no reply of concrete solution

　　Case analysis

　　Investors can draw the following two lessons from Ms. Ding's case:

　　The “bonus” pitfall

　　In recent years, the booming forex market attracted various forex brokers. The compliant brokers can easily carve out a niche on the market, while the illegal brokers seem to rely mainly on false advertisements to increase their market share, and “bonus” is a typical slogan of such misleading campaigns. Therefore please be especially careful when you see “risk-free high profits” or “great bonuses” in broker's advertisement. Always check its compliance and other information, in order to avoid potential risks.

　　From Ms. Ding's experience of withdrawal failure after her deposits was transferred to AAAFx, WikiFX reminds investors that if you find the irregularities of brokers, such as delaying withdrawal, stop trading immediately and seek media assistance to expose them by sharing your experience. This can, to some extent, increase investors' chance of receiving the money withdrawn and reduce their loss for some illegal brokers may be forced to process investors' withdrawal under the pressure of media exposure.

　　Conclusion

　　The case involved two brokers, FORMAX and AAAFx.

　　According to the WikiFX App, illegal forex broker FORMAX has escaped with expired regulation, and the broker has also been exposed in WikiFX's previous article.

　　AAAFx currently has no valid regulatory status, with a poor WikiFX rating of 1.93. The broker has received heavy complaints recently and shows low credibility, while its relation with FORMAX is still unclear.

　　WikiFX reminds investors to stay away from the two brokers and keep in mind to verify broker's compliance before making investment.