Let us start by immediately warning you about this broker’s location being Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. We’ll be discussing this factor in detail later in our review, but bear in mind this is a red flag for any retail trader.
We were immediately repelled by the amount of disinformation and scarceness. There’s no minimum deposit info, or a single word about regulations and licenses. On top of that, contacting the broker is only possible via online form. Suspicious enough? Read this EmpowerFX review for all the details.
In short, we’d answer with just a yes. But let us elaborate. Originating from SVG means the broker didn’t have to undergo strict legal and regulatory procedures when registering their business. This is because the financial authority in the area – SVGFSA doesn’t regulate or oversee brokers. With the liberty of registering an unscrupulous business so easily, scammers bloom here.
But that wasn’t enough to end our investigation. Next in line was checking with Tier 1 regulators that keep their regulated brokers lists continually updated. FCA, CySEC, ASIC, NFA, IIROC and FINMA don’t have any intel on this broker. Apparently, EmpowerFX is not known among the leading regulators at all.
This frightening fact implies the broker doesn’t respect the regulatory conditions in most severely supervised zones. So, don’t expect your funds to be stored in segregated bank accounts out of the brokers reach. Leverage restrictions of 1:30 and 1:50 are clearly not implemented, as EmpowerFX offers it at 1:500. With no negative balance insurance you can easily become over your head in debt.
Although EmpowerFX throws a bunch of useless info at site visitors, they’re not revealing anything of value about their company. Meaning that respecting the transparency rules is not their goal. In the end, ESMA enforcing MiFID rules also doesn’t reach or apply to this brokerage. Intended to ensure the increased customer safety and enforcement of AML measures, ESMA has created MiFID and all EEA brokers have to follow it.
Hopefully, it’s clear from the aforementioned circumstances that EmpowerFX is not a broker to rely on.
EmpowerFX seems to be present in most of the countries where Tier 1 regulators control the financial markets. Despite that, they choose to operate, risking being blacklisted and shut down. We have intel on several areas of activity. But the actual number of targeted countries may always be higher. For now, most of the known scam victims live in:
Evidently, the ex customers that were unfortunate enough to deal with EmpowerFX don’t have many nice things to say. As we suspected, the broker has shamelessly scammed their victims and got away with it. Take a look at some experiences:
‘’This broker requires tiny starting investment capital and generous leverage, so I came in. […] everything changed when I submitted my withdrawal requests, they blocked my trading accounts, saying my account involved money laundering. Funny, I am a good person! I hate this disgusting broker, they accused me so much.’’
‘’I don’t know who would want to trade with EmpowerFX, their website provides so little information it seems very disingenuous. Not interested at all…Also, it’s an unregulated company.’’
The two trading software solutions offered at EmpowerFX are:
Our Demo account was not eligible for trying out the Tradelocker distribution. This is otherwise a web-based terminal supposedly available for Demo and Live accounts alike. However, after we registered, the email with login credentials to the server never arrived.
We were able to test the MT4 desktop version for trial trading. The terminal seemed to work flawlessly. It’s just a shame that it’s provided by an unauthorized broker, which deems all trading immediately useless and unprofitable. We have another broker as an example of such swindling tactics – The Traders Domain.
EmpowerFX has put a substantial effort in presenting their trading environment as realistic as possible. Their primary aim is to make traders feel they have all the necessary conditions and tools for achieving their investment goals. This seems to be their ace in performing successful scams. Unfortunately, even the top notch platforms are worthless here as they’re fully controlled by the fraudsters. However, not all traders are aware of this.
Investors are also encouraged to invest with promises of quick wealth and even more special features. These include packages that bring attractive benefits for even bigger trading bonuses. Every naive investor further becomes obligated by investing more. They can’t just walk away when their entire deposit depends on the fickleness of the con artist.
From the information featured in the trading terminal, we were able to find the following instruments available for trading:
Yet another unscrupulous method used at EmpowerFX is advertising fake spreads. Making their offer even more attractive this way, but nonetheless, still untruthful. Starting spreads on EUR/USD for the Standard account are 0.8 pips. More lucrative and cheaper than leading global brokers. This is your warning about the broker not being honest about the trading costs.
We’re not certain if EmpowerFX purposely left out the deposit requirements for each account type or not. From the vague descriptions, it looks like the packages differ in terms of spreads and number of instruments available. Nothing else is said. The available account types are sorted as:
It’s uncertain if EmpowerFX provides a Demo account for each trading platform. When we attempted to check the Tradelocker webtrader, the site asked for a deposit before proceeding.
However, the MT4 Demo for desktop did perform well. Approach this feature with caution, nonetheless. The artificial set up serves as a good advertisement for the fake conditions scammers offer.
EmpowerFX characterizes their withdrawals as quick and effortless. In accordance to that, legal docs claim processing the withdrawal requests only takes 2-5 business days.
From the reports of the scam victims, it seems their biggest issue with this broker is withdrawal of funds. All that’s necessary is investors sending a withdrawal request. Despite them convincing traders all payouts are fee-free, that is highly reluctant.
Since the site decided to remain silent about the possible fees, they’re probably ruthless in that aspect andupon every payout processing. It’s common to experience large fees, always new conditions and excuses under which EmpowerFX and similar brokers, like Geetle, reject withdrawal pleas.
Only well-timed and calculated moves can still save your cash stuck with fraudulent companies. Our recovery team can help you with that. If you wish to ask for our advice, please use the Online Chat to conveniently get in touch and describe your problem. Feel free to share your disdain, as you’re not the only victim of the EmpowerFX scam.
All the advice you get from us is completely free, so don’t worry about that. The only thing we ask for in return is your info and knowledge on this or similar brokers. The more data you give us on these fraudulent projects, the better we can react and warn the responsible authorities.
As our investigation shows, EmpowerFX is not a legitimate broker to invest with. Reason for that is their missing regulation and license. But if you’ve already invested here, do not panic and contact us for help promptly.
Yes, but not for all trading platforms available. Tradelocker is only enabled on live trading accounts, while MT4 is available for Demo testing.
The company doesn’t have their proprietary trading app for mobile devices.
As our investigation shows, EmpowerFX is not a legitimate broker to invest with. Reason for that is their missing regulation and license. But if you’ve already invested here, do not panic and contact us for help promptly.
Yes, but not for all trading platforms available. Tradelocker is only enabled on live trading accounts, while MT4 is available for Demo testing.
The company doesn’t have their proprietary trading app for mobile devices.
The post Empower4x.Com – Critical Scam Signs appeared first on Global Fraud Protection.