Red-carpet scam: the Ytextrade swindle

“They withdrew $100 for me that I needed for my son’s birthday… But around the middle of December I LOGGED IN AND THERE WAS 0 on the balance!!!”

In 2016, Ytextrade proudly placed itself to be among the best ESNS brokers, but in 2018 the company’s website said that the broker is closed and out of business. The reason for that was the multitude of complaints and negative feedback from their clients.

So what was so disappointing about the “2016 ESNS Broker of the Year”? The details are below.

YTEXTRADE: 2016 ESNS BROKER OF THE YEAR ACCORDING TO UK FOREX AWARD

The Forex broker YtexTrade is closed and conducts no brokerage. This company is in the black list for the following reason: UPD 24.06.2018: the company has been blacklisted for misleading potential customers about regulation, awards, and other aspects of the business, as well as for multiple client complaints. We advise you to abstain from cooperating with this company since it vividly displays all signs of a scam. Furthermore, the company uses unfair methods of promoting its brand on the Internet, for example, using ratings of other Forex brokers, copying them in full or in part, including from our website (screenshots 1-3).

These scammer were scant with information on their website (when it came to regulation, past experience, or trading terms) but remarkably swift with money laundering schemes. Ytextrade was also very deft with Photoshop: their website showcased a blurred image of a license that gave no chance to make out the license number or its validity. Their promo section displayed a photo of a plush white car with the Ytextrade logo on it. Seems legit, only the image was stolen from well-known global broker, InstaForex. All they had to do was replace the logo carefully, claim to be the best broker and start drawing in the clients’ funds.

It goes without saying that a respectable broker who cares about its reputation does not resort to plagiarism or image editing.

Now, let us detail another forte of Ytextrade, the ways to swindle trusting clients. There were generally three schemes.

One, a simple rip-off

To those clients of Ytextrade who lost $100–200: breathe easy, you got off cheaply. From the start, the broker’s managers were fishing only for traders with lots of money. Anyone who was not readily parting with a hefty sum got dumped almost immediately. You were probably the ones who did not follow the recommendations of Ytextrade analysts, ignored their invaluable advice – and lost your investments. What was the use of such uncooperative clients to Ytextrade? They were of no use, obviously. Why, there are more trusting and prodigal traders. The second scheme was right for them.

Two, the credit con

Upon the first replenishment of the account, the traders received a 100% bonus. After this, you could not withdraw funds. No, you had to work for it, turning it over 40 times. All the while you tried to fulfill this condition, the analysts worked hard to siphon off your money.

And when there was no money left on your account? Please return the bonus. And no, this was no bonus at all, but credit funds from Ytextrade. Where words failed, intimidation was used. Just think about it: a broker with no license or right to carry out financial activities demands that you return some credit. Remember that you can always fight back any blackmail by a dubious company.

Three, the red-carpet scam and an RBS card

This was Ytextrade’s gold mine, the most profitable scheme that helped them launder a great deal of money. It went through the motions of the first and second scheme: you have $100, we can offer another $500 of interest-free credit for you to be able unfold the wings. If a client followed the analysts’ recommendations and fell for this scam, Ytextrade immediately went for smoke and mirrors, let the client earn some, simulated minor losses for the sake of plausibility, then called the trader with an offer of help. The manager offered a loan for a larger amount, 100,000–150,000 RUB.

Traders with large amounts of money on their accounts quite logically wanted to withdraw them. But here, a nasty surprise lurked: the broker requested that the trader order a card from the Royal Bank of Scotland. Money could be withdrawn exclusively to this card.

Naturally, the card did not come for free, its issue cost $3,000. A hefty sum, to be sure, but the traders wanted to cash in their legitimate tens of thousands, so they fell for this as well. They transferred the money and waited for the card to be delivered to them directly from Scotland. But suddenly, another problem emerged: you had to pay a 10% tax on the money withdrawn. Another 100, 000–150,000 RUB was deducted from the clients’ accounts.

Once Ytextrade received the money for the tax, the trader got contacted by the “company security”. The bad news was that the account was blocked for an unidentified reason and will be sold at an auction. Luckily, it could be bought back for 100,000 RUB. Incredulous as it seems, there were those who got into debts to transfer the money to the swindler. But when they regained access to their accounts, it turned out that the latter were empty. And the Scottish bank card was, naturally, still en route.

This red-carpet scam helped the broker “earn” a considerable amount of money, after which it evaporated in 2018.

This leads us to think that hardly anyone managed to ever profit with Ytextrade. Fortunately, now it’s one less scammer in the Forex market. If you have an experience with Ytextrade, share your feedback in the comments. For some traders this may be an eye-opener to many things that may have slipped under the radar.