Following the series of articles about a scam or suspected scam projects in the cryptocurrency market, AZCoin News will share about FBS, an MLM project with many doubts about transparency.
What is FBS?
FBS stands for Financial Brokerage Services, is an Asian Forex broker with offices in China, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Jordan, Vietnam, and Russia.
FBS initially operated in Russia and started trading foreign exchange in 2009. The company claims it has more than 700,000 customers, spread from 120 countries worldwide.
FBS is a broker company that gives you chances to access to a trading platform called Foreign Exchange or shortly
A factual FBS review for retail Forex traders
FBS’s regulation is not one of the company’s advantages as most reliable brokers are regulated by institutions such as CFTC, NFA, FCA, ASIC, and CySEC. Moreover, FBS does not provide information about the owner or operator of the company on their website.
The company did not disclose a series of affiliated companies such as:
- FBS Inc. in the Marshall Islands
- FBS Markets Inc. in Belize
- HDC Technologies Ltd in Cyprus
All three shell companies operate in fraudulent friendly jurisdictions, with little or no strict regulation for MLM companies.
FBS seems to have a close relationship with India, which contributes 59% of traffic to the FBS website. Egypt is the second-largest source of traffic, at 4%.
The FBS website domain name (fbs.com) was first registered in 1995. However, the current registration details have been changed to privacy. Besides, FBS excluded their domain from the Wayback Machine. This inadvertently makes it difficult to find out its current owner. Moreover, when searching, AZCoin News noticed that the date of FBS’s domain name registration was last updated in July 2018. However, on their Facebook account, FBS claimed to have debuted in 2009. Also, in the official YouTube upload video, the FBS launch date began again in 2012.
As always, if an MLM company doesn’t openly answer who is operating or owning it, think carefully about your decision to join or give them any investment.
FBS products
They offer multi-tier trading accounts:
- Cent: Suitable for investors who are just starting on their way to success on Forex, minimum $ 1 deposit.
- Micro: Suitable for those who want to calculate their profit individually, a minimum $ 5 deposit.
- Standard: Suitable for experienced market players making their way to Forex heights, minimum $ 100 deposit.
- Zero Spread: Suitable for those who prefer trading at the fastest speed, minimum $ 500 deposit.
- ECN: Suitable for those who want to feel the full power of trading with ECN technologies, minimum $ 1000 deposit.
Source: FSB
One of the main reasons traders choose FBS is because of the shallow barrier to entry in the market because the minimum deposit required for an FBS account is $ 1. The maximum leverage offered is different for account types because Cent accounts have a maximum leverage ratio of 1: 1000, and Micro accounts have a maximum leverage ratio of 1: 3000.
FBS uses the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms to access the FX market on both desktop and mobile devices. FBS trading platforms are connected to high-speed servers, and the company has adjusted the platform a bit to provide the best trading results. FBS mobile platforms are available as MT4 applications that can be downloaded on iTunes and Google Play stores, while traders can also use MT4 Web Trader for trading related requests. Browser.
FBS compensation plan
FBS refers to its affiliates as user partners. FBS partners earn commissions for trading activities of recruited affiliates.
Transaction commissions are paid down to three levels of employment (not yet available):
- Level 1 (personally recruited affiliates and traders): 100%
- Level 2: 15%
- Level 3: 5%
The above rate is paid for lots traded, which is the unit used to measure what is being traded (a lot can be a set amount of currency, number of shares, etc.).
Conclusion
At the moment, except for the issues mentioned above, AZCoin News has not noticed any signs of FBS’s collapse. The MLM side of the business is also reliable and paid only for trading activities. However, we are still not sure how they can get a total of 120% commission to pay for the lots traded. Even if you take into account brokerage fees, how will they pay 120% commission for the lots traded?
And that’s just the tip of the FBS iceberg. That’s not to mention we still don’t know who is running the program. Maybe someone from India (or Malaysia), but who knows? In addition, shell companies are registered in non-transparent jurisdictions. Cyprus, Belize, and the Marshal Islands are all countries we should stay away from when learning about any MLM company – let alone all three.
Finally, the most suspicious is the FSB’s announcement:
“The service is not provided in the following countries: Japan, USA, Canada, UK, Malaysia, Israel, Myanmar, Brazil, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Japan, the USA, Canada, and the UK are the four countries with the most critical trading markets on the planet. And also the four states with the strictest regulatory frameworks. So, why did the FSB decide not to work here? Why do they not want to be regulated?
And despite the prohibition above, FBS operates in Malaysia through a separate website:
Source: FSB
I don’t know what the inside of the story is, but that is just another tricky aspect to the business. And Malaysia has also been removed from banned countries at the bottom of FBS’s website in Malaysia.
All of this undermines the legality presented by FBS. There are so many red flags that even if everything is on the trading side, it’s too much to ignore.
Read more:
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