Fraudsters Don’t Sleep – We Uncover the Worst Ones of May 2024

Another month, another batch of online hoaxes ready to pounce and rip you off. Our investigation results are here to warn you about them, however. Without further ado, let’s take a look at some of the most notorious scammers discovered in May 2024.

QFSLedger

Owned by a dubious Ultra Stellar LLC, QFSLedger offers custodial crypto wallet services without any license to do so. The current rebranding to Lobstr didn’t help alleviate the clients’ doubts. A good portion of clients complain about the wallet freezing their assets and refusing a withdrawal.

MagnumTrade.io

Double blacklisted and paying for positive reviews, MagnumTrade.io displays typical predatory behavior towards their potential victims. The fraudsters are so well-trained as if they’ve been in the business for decades. Any investment on this trading portal ends in loss, so be extremely careful when contacted.

Caviex

A seemingly decent service, this fraud is blacklisted by multiple regulatory bodies for providing financial services without authorization. Caviex itself is based in SVG, a jurisdiction that has ceased regulating forex brokers. Upon examining the platform, we found the usual deceptive strategies at work.

Trade101.ai

Known for their borderline abusive, rude and pushy boiler room agents, the Trade101.ai swindler mainly targets English speaking investors. What exposes them as a scam is a warning, but also their lack of transparency. They also try to establish remote access to your machine via AnyDesk or TeamViewer.

CoinsPayWorld

Lithuanian exchange portals are not the best place to trade volatile crypto currencies and another confirmation of that is this shady conduct. Without a proper license, all CoinsPayWorld does is false advertising. Exclusively preferring EEA victims, traders from all over Europe are more likely to be targeted.

RannForex

Revolving around a fictitious persona of a Russian mogul, RannForex is another offshore firm. It is allegedly based out of St. Kitts and Nevis, but fails to provide a license even from this loosely regulated jurisdiction. This long term operation led thousands of traders into the trap over the years.

BitMart

After a huge scandal and over $196 million being lost to hackers, the BitMart exchange seems to be on the verge of dying. However, before this failure of a crypto platform meets its end, it’s as if they’re trying to scam as many people as possible. With the available leverage on crypto products being 1:100, traders are likely to lose their entire life savings in a single trade.

BitQL

Nothing cool about this affiliate campaign, that’s certain. BitQL is a data theft machine that operates at least seven separate domains. Owned by Bit QL Pty Ltd, the scheme has been blacklisted in numerous jurisdictions. It promises an unmistakable AI tool that is able to match you with the perfect broker.

UniversalTrade.io

This company follows a typical fraudulent platform behavioral pattern which has already gotten them blacklisted by several authorities. Another solid proof of their bad business ethics is the fact that their Trustpilot reviews are 100% negative. That should be a good enough excuse for any investor never to commit their funds to shady deals.

MetaDv

Airdrops, guaranteed profits and unrealistic bonus incentives with shady withdrawal conditions is what this con artist uses as their main weapon. MetaDv also likes to claim that they’ve been in the business since 2013, while the domain was registered in 2023. We can confidently declare that anything this site claims is a complete and utter lie.

TPC Invest

It didn’t take long for the authorities to catch onto this scheme and issue a public warning. The TPC Invest faux broker offers an illegally high leverage of 1:500. It works through a combination of “account managers” and tiered accounts to squeeze multiple investments from their victims.

CFD Platinum

Exorbitant prices of the CFD Platinum trading accounts are a solid display of greed. These con artists are ready to promise just about anything, only to convince their victims to invest. High returns and guaranteed winning is something gambling houses promise, but it doesn’t matter, as long as it gets them traffic.

Mttracoin

Next fraudster on our list offers a banned trading instrument – cryptocurrency binary options. Mttracoin attracts their marks by promising an advanced trading environment and professional asset management. In reality, all you get is a web trader and a huge hole in your crypto wallet. Swindlers behind the operation use various recruitment groups on chat apps like WhatsApp to contact the victims.

DecodeEX

For an ASIC-regulated brokerage agency, you’d expect DecodeEX to be a perfectly well-organized company with a spotless reputation. However, their offshore branch operates under the weak VFSC supervision. Many clients are not happy with the service at all.

Milleniumchain

In order to justify the incredibly steep $10,000 entry point, Milleniumchain presents itself as a premium Swiss service. The group allegedly offers a cutting edge platform and a selection of over 13,500 different instruments. Unfortunately, it is another boiler room flagged as a scam operation by regulators.

Tradex Option

Primarily focused on misappropriating crypto assets, Tradex Option promises up to 80% returns on investments. This may sound attractive to Forex novices that are insufficiently knowledgeable of how the online trading ecosystem really works. That’s why the scheme mostly targets the unwary and less experienced investors from all over the world.

Richmond Investing

The entire Richmond Investing offer is less than impressive. Overly demanding platform, expensive accounts and risky trading conditions are a shortcut to bankruptcy. Beware of Forex providers that promise a lot and can’t verify their legitimacy.

Margin1

When it comes to legal documents and transparency, this broker respects nothing. Being established in St. Lucia where the regulatory body doesn’t oversee Forex providers, these cons are free to do as they please. This company serves as an example of why you should only invest with strictly supervised investment schemes.

BTCC

This is the first one on our list to be actually regulated. Still, BTCC exchange is known among the trading public as a ripoff company, which offers an insane 1:225 leverage that guarantees loss. In case clients actually do get lucky, their assets are frozen or stolen regardless of trading outcome.

Sessa Capital

Being a failed clone attempt, the Sessa Capital imposter doesn’t fool anyone. Not even thousands of fake reviews on Trustpilot can help them appear more legitimate. However, they offer a valuable lesson about not trusting exceptionally high ratings.

Zokdex

Owned and operated by the notorious CRYPTO ARBY TRADE LIMITED, this is just one platform on a large list of fraudulent domains. The long lineage of different frauds that lead to creation of Zokdex means that the scheme is extremely well developed. Keep your guard up and stay away from this crypto fraud.

Eternity Inc

Illicit investment offers have a tendency to sell ideas of astronomically high returns. The Eternity Inc swindlers guarantee ROI of up to 84%, only to urge their victims into depositing thousands of dollars. When the time for payout comes, of course the cons will have disappeared by then.

Trade-Pro.io

Hidden platform, undisclosed instrument selection, poorly defined fees and extremely costly accounts – this one has it all. Trade-Pro.io tries to push their services as being a legit UK firm despite having no license for their line of work. These charlatans will happily take your deposits, but cut you off when you decide to withdraw.

WDC Quantify

One failed domain after another suggests that this monkey business isn’t doing well. Nonetheless, WDC Quantify is desperately trying to get its targets to fall for the “get rich quick” proposals. What helps them the most in achieving that are boiler rooms.

Zonda Crypto

Although a regulated Estonian business, Zonda Crypto is not without its faults. The numerous technical issues and client complaints are enough for us not to recommend this service. Numerous con artists are trying to piggyback on the success of the company, though, which leads to existing clients being ripped off.

Falcon Broker

Blacklisted and only registered with MISA, Falcon Broker isn’t held in high regard by the majority of their clients. The platform offers prop trading, staking and other seemingly attractive features. Considering the payouts are a problem here, we suggest you avoid the site altogether.

Cryptex Trade

Now, these guys are on the next level. Instead of getting registered a worthless license from some loose offshore jurisdiction or cloning another firm’s credential, Cryptex Trade invented their own fake regulator! The company attracts potential victims through use of a boiler room, and imposes hidden fees that prevent any withdrawals.

2139

Registered only as a money services business in the US, this exchange is far from qualified to provide the services they promise. As their Trustpilot page implies, 2139 also resorts to using fake reviews as a reputation boost. All these factors are evidence of fraudulent, predatory tactics.

TGL Inc

Regulatory bodies are warning the public to avoid the TGL Inc charlatan of a broker. Impersonating Forex professionals has always been a cunning method for tricksters to use. Do not fall for it, however, and contact our legal professionals for help with chargeback!