FinLibra is yet another offshore scam broker you need to beware of. A curious detail about this particular company is that the firms website is only available in German. Any attempt to translate it led to failure. Of course, this makes sense, since Finlibra is targeting the citizens of Germany with its scam. For this, it has become the subject of a warning, issued from the regulatory body in the country – the BaFIN.
Combine the fact the native language of the website is German with the fact it is incredibly cryptic, and you will not be able to learn too much about the service of Finlibra. However, when one takes into account actually accessing the client area of the broker is not possible either, due to what is either some sort of technical difficulty, or the broker having taking it down following the BaFIN warning, it is not possible to learn much about Finlibra at all. Still, what we know of the broker is more than enough to decry it as a scam and advise you to stick to licensed firms – here is why:
Finlibra License and Regulation
Finlibra is not a licensed firm in any capacity, and this is clear from the following warning issued by the German regulatory body, the BaFIN:
The text of the warning is only available in German as well, but it states the firm has been offering its services in the country without the approval of the regulator. This is very much illegal, of course! What‘s more, without the regulation of the BaFIN Finlibra cannot provide you with any protections for your funds. Brokers in Germany participate in guarantee funds – in the event of one of them defaulting, its clients can receive a compensation of up to €500 000! And what’s more, brokers in the country maintain a Negative Balance policy. This means that, in the event of a margin call, you can only lose as much money as you have deposited with the broker. The company has to cover the rest of the loss. There are more reasons to trade with brokers licensed in the EU, and in Germany in particular.
Offshore brokers dirty tricks
Finlibra is an offshore scam. This means it could very well engage in one of the following schemes offshore firms so often run:
Bonuses and high trading volume requirements
The most common kind of abuse with offshore brokers is them offering high deposit bonuses that come with certain conditions. Among them is a requirement for a turnover that needs to be reached before the bonus becomes eligible for a withdrawal. This turnover requirement is always too high for even professional traders to reliably reach. There is no free lunch! Avoid bonuses from offshore brokers!
Fake profits and 20% withdrawal fees
Another scheme offshore scammers engage in is setting up their client area to seem like their victims are profiting with the company. This is done to encourage more and more deposits. However, any attempt to withdraw these profits will either result in the broker denying it, or a high fee! These profits do not exist – they are another cruel way to make you part with your funds!
Finlibra Trading Software
Finlibras client area is broken, as we mentioned. Here is what every attempt to log into our Finlibra account results in:
Finlibra Trading Conditions
Finlibra does not mention a word about its leverage. However, it claims its spreads start from 0.1 pips. Indeed, this would be beneficial if the broker were not running a scam. What‘s more, there is no way to verify that claim without access to the Finlibra platform – so we cannot know what the broker’s spreads are.
Finlibra Deposit and Withdrawal Methods and Fees
Finlibra mentions it accepts deposits via credit cards and wire transfers. If you have deposited via card, you will be able to seek a chargeback in your payment in a 540 day timeframe afterwards. If you have deposited using wire, however, you will have to contend with Finlibras withdrawal policy. As the broker does not mention its fees, we cannot know what they are – but since it is a scam, there is no way for them to be any savory!
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