The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI), Securities Division has received a complaint from a Washington resident regarding Myfxpros.com, a website claiming to be a cryptocurrency trading platform. The website lists various trading plans with investments starting at $500 and offering returns of nearly 1000%.
The investor met a stranger online who worked for Myfxpros. The individual claimed they would trade cryptocurrency on the investor’s behalf and promised large profits. Within days of the investor’s initial investment of $500, the investor’s Myfxpros account purportedly grew to over $16,000 in profit. But when the investor requested to withdraw funds from their Myfxpros account, the individual demanded the investor pay various fees. The fees were not previously disclosed on the Myfxpros website or to the investor. Even after paying nearly $10,000 in fees, the investor was still unable to withdraw the profits from their Myfxpros account. These allegations have not been verified by DFI.
This appears to be what is commonly called “Advance Fee Fraud”, which can take many forms.
This complaint contained several other red flags indicating fraud (which have also not been verified by DFI), including:
- The Myfxpros website lists a contact address in Los Angeles, California, which appears to be a parking lot.
- Myfxpros’ claim to be regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) could not be confirmed on the CFTC website.
- The Myfxpros trader obtained the investor’s Coinbase login under false pretenses and attempted to purchase over $70,000 in cryptocurrency without the investor’s authorization.
- The investor was threatened with legal action or loss of all profits if they did not pay the fees.
- The Myfxpros website contains identical text to that of another trading platform that another regulator has alleged to be fraudulent. See: Cease and Desist from State of Oklahoma.
DFI urges consumers to exercise extreme caution before responding to any solicitation offering investment or financial services. Investment professionals need to be licensed with DFI to offer investments to Washington residents. In addition, most investment products sold need to be registered with DFI. To check the licensing status and to find out if there are any complaints against an investment professional or investment product, please visit FINRA Brokercheck or contact the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, Securities Division at (360) 902-8760. If you live outside of Washington State, contact your state securities regulator.
If a consumer believes a person or company has violated state law or acted improperly regarding an investment product or service, they may file a formal complaint with the Securities Division.
Additional Resources
Virtual Currency, Cryptocurrency, and Digital Assets Information for Consumers