Date Posted: 
Wednesday, June 8, 2022

DFI has received a complaint from a Washington resident regarding Automatedtradefx.co, a website claiming to be a mining platform. The website lists various trading plans with investments starting at $500 and offering weekly returns of 50% to 100%.

The investor met a stranger online who allegedly invested with Automatedtradefx.co. The individual told the investor that they should withdraw their retirement funds and invest with Automatedtradefx.co. The investor purchased four trading plans and additional upgrades for a total of approximately $180,000. The investor’s Automatedtradefx.co account purportedly grew to almost $1,000,000. When the investor requested to withdraw funds from their Automatedtradefx.co account, they were told they would need to pay various fees. Even after paying additional fees, the investor was still unable to withdraw profits from their Automatedtradefx.co account. The investor lost their entire investment. 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 Automatedtradefx.co website lists a contact address in Pompano Beach, Florida, which appears to not exist.
  • The Automatedtradefx.co website contains a Certificate of Incorporation from The Registrar of Companies for England and Wales which could not be confirmed on the Companies House website. (https://www.gov.uk).
  • The Automatedtradefx.co website contains identical text, logo, and Pompano Beach, Florida address to that of multiple other trading platform websites.
     

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 complaint with the Securities Division.

Additional Resources

Virtual Currency, Cryptocurrency, and Digital Assets Information for Consumers

Information regarding investing strategies, investment products, and how to protect yourself from fraud

What You Can Do to Avoid Investment Fraud