As many forex companies realize that there are opportunities in the market, forex activities and scams have increased significantly. Delayed processing of withdrawal requests and unresponsive emails or phone calls are usually early signs that your broker may have problems. We recently learned that some customers of FortFS, a foreign exchange broker operating under the fortfs.com website, complained about the company’s delayed withdrawals and unresponsive customer service. We investigated the broker and found several red flags, proving that they are a scam!
Let’s take a closer look.
FortFS intro: a few words about the company
Fort Financial Services Ltd was established in 2010 and operated in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The brokers somehow managed to maintain a good reputation in the market, but they still left obvious “footprints” of scammers, allowing us to see their natural faces.
First, the official website is not accessible. Once you visit their website directly, your browser will automatically warn you that your personal and financial data are at risk. Well, this is not a safe call!
The team claims to have global customers from Asia, Malaysia, and Indonesia. They say their customers are also worldwide, from the UK to Singapore and South Africa. This is not very accurate.
FortFS claims to provide foreign exchange, CFD, and futures market trading services on multiple trusted platforms, with more than 112 tradable assets to meet the needs of traders at all levels.
But let’s see how “trusted” their platform is.
FortFS=Lack of safety
To provide foreign exchange trading services, brokers must obtain the necessary permits from regulatory agencies. According to the information we hold, FortFS does not require any regulatory license to operate unless it is registered with the SVG FSA, which does not regulate foreign exchange transactions. As a foreign exchange trader, you must know that the broker offers unlicensed transactions, which means it does not comply with the law and becomes a fraudulent broker.
When you make a withdrawal request, a broker without a regulated license like FortFS will not do its best to refuse to refund your money.
Since most brokers claim to provide services on a global scale, you should also look for a broker with international supervision to recover your funds in the event of any ambiguous behavior by the broker.
Therefore, your funds in Fort Financial Services are at risk!
Trading conditions: accounts
FortFS provides four account types. The names of these account types are Newbie, Fort, Flex, and Pro.
As the name suggests, novice accounts are suitable for novices. Spreads fluctuate from 0.3 pips, and the minimum deposit for this account is only $5. The maximum leverage ratio is very high, up to 1:1000.
The Fort account also requires a minimum deposit of $5, but the spread is different and fixed at 2 points. The account currencies are US dollars and Euros. The maximum leverage is 1:1000. The minimum order size is 0.01 lot.
You can open a Flex account by depositing a minimum deposit of $5. Spreads fluctuate from 0.3 pips, and there is no commission. The maximum leverage is 1:1000.
An initial deposit of $5 is quite scary for a novice trader, but once you invest money, they will trick you into making more investments, so don’t be fooled!
The last one is the Pro account, which requires a minimum deposit of $500. Spreads fluctuate from 0.1 pips per lot + commission $9 (per side). The maximum leverage is 1:100. This account is a professional account type.
Trading conditions: platforms
FortFS also claims to provide trusted global trading platforms such as MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, CQG, and NinjaTrader.
These trading platforms are indeed the most well-known and trusted platforms in the financial industry. However, we cannot guarantee that they own it!
They advertise on their website under the names of these leading platforms. Still, once you register and open the web trader, you will be introduced to a completely different lagging trading platform. For beginner traders, acknowledging MT4 or MT5 and discovering the difference is not easy. Simply put, they are just dissatisfied with the leading platform, which is unfair.
Trading conditions: unable withdrawal process and unresponsive emails
Recently, some clients of FortFS published their experiences with brokers, calling them fraudulent. According to investors, if your maintenance time exceeds 48 hours, the platform cannot run and get support. In addition, they will immediately remove you from the Telegram group they mentioned.
Most reviews referred to them as scams because none of them managed to withdraw funds from their wallets. Of course, none of your emails will get a response to this question.
In addition, one of the victims stated that when he wanted to close his account through FortFS and get back $2500, he accidentally discovered that the system administrator had canceled him. When he tried to log in, he just received the message, “The system administrator has banned you.” And he did not receive a reply.
So, apart from the scammed customers, who can better warn you?
Final opinion about FortFS
All in all, we will no longer consider whether FortFS is a scam. The answer is simple and powerful: yes, yes! And keep your funds away from them.
If you are looking for trading opportunities, please check our list of ranked foreign exchange brokers. You will find detailed information and guides for each legal broker there. We believe you will find it helpful!
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