Trust-financial-planning.com review – 5 things you should know about Тrust Financial Planning

FXTMHotForex

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Open trading accounts with at least two brokers.

 

Trust-financial-planning.com assures us that it will be safe and profitable to trust it with our money because it is an established forex broker based in one of the most strictly regulated jurisdictions in the world. But fact checking shows that these claims are a lie. Trust-financial-planning.com is a fake broker illegally using the credentials of a legitimate company. The goal of this anonymous website is one – to scam you out of your money.

TRUST-FINANCIAL-PLANNING.COM REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS

Trust-financial-planning.com provides a contact address in London:

However, the Terms and Conditions state that the applicable law is that of Japan:

But the legal documentation does not mention the name of a legal company, which in itself is a big red flag that this is a fraud. The name of the company that supposedly owns and operates this broker is only listed in one place, in the footer of the website – Тrust Financial Planning Ltd.

Upon checking the UK’ Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) registry, we find a warning that Trust-financial-planning.com is illegally using this company’s data:

When choosing a broker through which to invest in the financial markets, you should not only make sure that all the information required by law is available, but also that this information is true. Always check that the company is indeed on the records of the specified regulator and that the domain used is among those officially approved for the particular broker.

Depending on your location, it is advisable to choose a company that is regulated by an institution such as Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in US, Australian Securities and Exchanges Commission (ASIC), UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or some EU regulator like Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).

Clients of these brokers receive protections such as negative balance protection and segregation of the client’s funds from the broker’s funds. In the EU and the UK, brokers must also participate in guarantee schemes that cover a certain amount of the trader’s investment if the broker becomes insolvent. These guarantees amount to up to 20 000 EUR in the EU and 85 000 GBP in the UK. However, the likelihood of such a bankruptcy is low because regulators also have significant net capital requirements that companies must maintain – EUR 730 000 in UK and Cyprus, AUD 1000 000 in Australia and at least 20 million USD in the United States.

TRUST-FINANCIAL-PLANNING.COM TRADING SOFTWARE

Trust-financial-planning.com uses a rather bland web trader:

While the platform has the basic features for placing orders, customizing charts and application of technical indicators, it lacks the more advanced functionality found in the most widely used trading platforms in the industry, MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). These platforms have established themselves as industry standard because they offer a wide range of features, including a variety of options for customization, multiple account usage, designing and implementing custom scripts for automated trading and backtesting trade strategies.

The presence of a trading platform does not make this website any more legitimate and does not guarantee that this alleged broker offers real trading. Many scammers have trading software to fool their victims that their money is being invested.

TRUST-FINANCIAL-PLANNING.COM TRADING CONDITIONS

In the homepage of the website we find a description of four types of trading accounts – Bronze, Silver, Gold and Black VIP. When registering for an account, however, you have to choose between a completely different set of accounts – Mini, Standard, Gold and VIP. Such discrepancies and oversights are another clue that we are dealing with a fraud.

The stated minimum deposit of 1000 EUR shows that Trust-financial-planning.com relies on scamming people who have no experience with real brokers. Currently, many leading players in the sector invite you to start trading with amounts below 100 USD.

The account descriptions indicate leverage between 1:200 and 1:500. It is not possible for a UK licensed broker to offer such risky levels of leverage. The FCA, like EU regulators, limits leverage to 1:30 for trading in major currency pairs and even lower levels for more volatile assets. High leverage creates the opportunity for more significant profit, but correspondingly increases the risk of sudden and excessive losses. All leading regulators therefore restrict leverage for retail traders.

A spread of less than 1 pip is promised, which in theory is very profitable, but in practice does not matter, because scammers of this type offer only fictitious trading.

Trust-financial-planning.com also allegedly offered bonuses and portions, a practice prohibited to regulated brokers.

TRUST-FINANCIAL-PLANNING.COM DEPOSIT/WITHDRAW METHODS AND FEES

Trust-financial-planning.com claims to allow credit card deposit, wire transfer, cryptocurrency and Kiwi e-wallet. However, after signing up for an account, we do not get access to a functioning deposit or withdrawal menu. The only option is to attach proof of wire transfer, but we need to contact the support directly to get the recipient’s bank account details.

In the Terms and Conditions we find trap clauses, which are typical for fraudsters. It is explained in poor English that if the account has received a bonus, it can withdraw money after meeting high minimum traded volume requirements. These requirements are worded in a vague way – “to execute a minimum trading volume of 40 times for every 1-unit bonus”. If these requirements are not met, the withdrawal request will result in a penalty fee of “25% of the real funds”.

Hefty withdrawal fees are also indicated – 20 EUR for credit/debit card and 20 EUR plus 1% for wire transfer. The Minimum withdrawal amount for bank wire transfer is 300 EUR.

HOW DOES THE SCAM WORK

Scammers who promise easy money without any effort are nothing new, especially on the internet. But given the excitement around bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in recent years, malicious actors have run rampant more than ever, capitalizing not only on people’s desire to solve their financial woes with a magic wand, but also ignorance and misunderstanding of how blockchain and complex financial instruments actually work.

If your curiosity is stirred by one of the many flashy websites promising easy riches, and you provide your contacts, you will soon be contacted by skillful and persuasive scammers who will convince you to start with a relatively small and “risk-free” investment. If you agree to this, you will be transferred to even more skilled at convincing scammers, who will persuade you to invest even more. Any money you give to such people is money you are unlikely to get back.

Any attempt to withdraw deposits or alleged profits will be hampered by numerous and significant fees, as well as harsh and often prohibitive conditions written into the terms and conditions – such as high trading volume requirements, unexpected “taxes”, or withdrawal fees as high as 10% or even 20% of your funds.

WHAT TO DO WHEN SCAMMED

Recovering money you have given to fraudsters is difficult and often impossible. Fraudsters always want you to provide them with documents such as a copy of your ID and proof of address so that they can claim that it is a legitimate transaction, agreed voluntarily between both parties. If the transaction is made by credit or debit card, you can request a cashback and hope for the best, but transactions via wire transfer or cryptocurrencies are not refundable. It is important not to trust online offers from people who offer to recover your money in exchange for an upfront payment, because this is also a well-known scam.