NRGbinary Scam Story.
NRGbinary was first registered in 2013 in London by two Israelis, one of them being Guy Galboiz, but it was never run from the United Kingdom, but from Israel. Also, it was regulated, not by UK’s financial regulator but by regulators in Cyprus and Seychelles. The regulated status shifted from time to time, from Cyprus to Seychelles. In only two years, NRGbinary managed to take millions and millions from traders all over the world.
When first registered, NRGbinary was registered to 007 Security Solutions with Guy Galb listed as a person in charge. A few months later, the name changed to Guy G, and the address moved to the same address as Alfa Media Group, a company registered to Guy Galboiz.
NRGbinary became less active and present in the past year, but only because it has been replaced by TitanTrade. TitanTrade is operated by NRG Capital and Guy G. People who previously worked with NRGbinary, are now working for TitanTrade, so it can be concluded it is the same scam binary broker, especially as they are using same methods.
Even though NRGbinary scam broker operated from Israel, Israeli regulators never took a closer look, as the broker never offered binary trading services in that country. Regulators in the UK were aware of the fact that this broker even exists. Now, NRGbinary is being sued for fraud, together with another broker Lbinary. According to law firms, they managed to deceive traders and manipulate them into depositing over $10 million.
Are Binary Options Regulators Too Slow?
As always, when a case like this occurs, it is natural to blame the government and regulatory bodies who should protect citizens. But in the case of NRGbinary scam, just like in the case of many other binary scams, regulators’ reaction comes too little too late, and there is a tendency for the binary market to become restrictive which will definitely harm regulated and good brokers.
Regulatory Restrictions in Binary Options
For example, even though many scam brokers operate from Israel, only recently did the ISA decided to see what is the status of those companies, as they are planning to ban even operating binary options brokerages from Israel.
On the other hand, French AMF banned all advertising of binary options and similar products, while Belgium banned binary trading altogether. Even though these decisions seem reasonable, they are creating a great environment for scams who, as they are unregulated or are constantly shifting their status, have banking accounts that are impossible to track, which increases their scam potential.
In such business climate, regulated brokers can’t operate as they will lose their license, but unregulated and scam binary brokers are offering services, as restrictions aren’t their concern. They are unregulated anyway.
Regulated binary options brokers like NADEX or Banc De Binary have several times expressed the opinion how such regulations can easily make all brokers look bad, even regulated ones. Restrictions are creating fertile ground for scam brokers who are operating the way they like, with or without regulators. As such companies are hard to track down, regulators are, just like scammed traders often helpless.
Trader Lost $180,000 in NRGbinary Scam
In 2014, H.M. Yahya, an Arab American from California received a message on LinkedIn by a woman who wanted to know his opinion about investing in currencies. As he had some previous experience in financial markets, he decided to open an account for his wife with NRGbinary, as a present for her.
He was guaranteed that all trades will be according to Islamic laws, and soon he received a call from his VIP manager. However, his manager was everything but professional, as he was pushy and demanding more and more deposits. Yahya invested $15,000, as El-Ahmadey, his VIP manager, promised over 50% profit. As it often happens with binary options scams, the manager promised to trade instead of the inexperienced user, which means that Yahya lost all control over his funds.
NRGbinary Deposit Scam
When Yahya saw that trades are rolling in his favor, he deposited additional $80,000, and then everything went downhill. His manager placed several trades that caused tens of thousands of dollars loss. He wanted to shut down all trades immediately, but he was informed that it can be possible only if he deposits additional $57,000 which he did.
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The trader then finally decided to make a withdrawal and asked for all remaining funds to be transferred to his wife’s account. However, a few days later he received a phone call from a man who presented himself as Khaled Radwan, from Alfa Media Group, the alleged mother company of NRGbinary, who informed him that his account has a balance of $607,999.39. Yahya still wanted to withdraw.
Now things take an expected turn: Alfa Media Group informed him how no withdrawal is possible until he pays $47,300 loan. He paid it, only to see his account empty and closed. He was forced to take legal action.
German Woman Lost Her Money with NRGbinary Scam
58-year old business consultant Jutta Strake deposited €13,000 with NRGbinary. Her account manager Michael Vinyard was sending her emails claiming how there is no risk involved, and how all she has to do is pick up the money lying on the floor.
However, NRGbinary scam transferred her money from one trading account to another and lost all her money, without her authorization. When she tried to find out what is going on, Michael’s email addressed changed from NRGbinary to Algo capital’s which is another company involved in this scam.
She also experienced how regulators are helpless in situations like this, and how they have no power when it comes to scam brokers. ‘Account managers’ are impossible to trackh down as they are using aliases and local authorities often have no authority over companies registered or regulated elsewhere.
