Scam Alert: Be Careful of the Warned FX Broker First BTC FX

Forex scams are widely known for the financial miseries they bring to the affectees. Traders lose thousands of dollars to scam despite increased regulatory checks. Scam artists use tricks to trap investors, such as social media ads and fake websites. This article discusses how important it is to notice warning signs and red flags when dealing with a suspicious broker like First BTC Fx to stay protected.

First BTC FX - A Quick Overview

First BTC FX (https://firstBTCfx.com/) is a forex broker offering retail trading services across multiple financial markets. The company has been in business since 2013. Clients can trade various financial instruments across all major asset classes, such as currency pairs, commodities, indexes, shares, and cryptocurrencies. The broker provides access to the industry's most renowned trading platform - MT4. Other services include multiple account types and flexible payment options. The company also features market insights in the news section. 

Is First BTC FX Regulated?

First BTC FX is neither registered nor regulated anywhere in the world. However, the company claims to be operating under the brand name of First Global (UK) Limited, registered with Companies House of United Kingdom (CH) with registration number 03644072, and regulated by the UK FCA and CySEC regulations with reference numbers 190780 and AIF07/2014.  

Clientele Feedback

First BTC FX holds a poor reputation among clients. People have reported to had horrible experiences with the broker. More than 80% of clients denounced the company for withholding funds. According to clients, the company doesn't process your withdrawal requests ever. Further, when a client tries to contact customer support, an auto-generated message gets delivered, implying all representatives are busy assisting others. Below are screenshots captured from independent reviewers' websites.  

What makes First BTC FX a suspicious broker?

First of all, the broker's official website isn't well maintained. Most pages of the company's landing page have broken links. Anyone visiting the broker's website will certainly raise some doubts about it. 

Secondly, The company named First Global (UK) Limited can be found in CH by searching the registration number. However, please be noticed that the forex regulator in the UK is UK FCA, instead of CH.

What's more, we found a warning against the scam in UK FCA. According to the regulator, the regulatory number 190780 belongs to another legal company with the same name. In other words, First BTC FX is a clone of the authorized firm.

As for the CySEC regulatory number provided by the scammer, it does not conform to the format of the forex license numbers issued by CySEC. Moreover, neither the company name nor the trade name shows on the regulated company list of CySEC. That means First BTC FX does not authorize by the Cyprus forex regulator.

More importantly, this broker has changed its websites many times in the past few years and was also warned by forex regulators in Italy and Spain - CONSOB and CNMV.

The fraud also mentioned a Deutsche Bank on its page. Therefore, in order not to miss key information, we searched for the German regulator - BaFin, but found no results that matched this scam.

Lastly, the clientele feedback is self-indicative of the broker's malpractices. Most clients reported it as fraudulent.

What If I have already deposited funds with First BTC FX?

Unfortunately, it might be too late for you to take any action. The company seems to have become aware of its bad reputation and possibly ceased its operational activities. Hence, it is unlikely that the broker will process any withdrawal request. The worst part is that you can't even file a case against it in the hope of recovering some funds. 

Bottom Line

Scammers usually dress themselves to look legitimate. A fake broker might list false information about the company's registration, regulation, and location. Therefore, stay vigilance and research well to check if there are any red flags or warnings about the broker. Moreover, do not forget to cross-check and verify company details in the registers of forex regulators before signing up with it, and sign up with a regulated and well-reputed entity.