Forex Trading - Scams

In recent years, financial investment opportunities have increased significantly. Accompanying it is a rise in fraudulent forex options trading offers of various kinds. In this light, a new federal law in the United States was enacted in December 2000 known as the Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA). This act duly appointed the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to investigate and take action on different unregulated firms that offer or sell foreign currency in the forex market to the general public. At the same time, CFTC is also authorized to conduct the same fraud investigation on registered firms and their affiliates.

CFTC also issued an advisory with regards to forex trading to help the general public identify currency trading scams. Aside from the official advisory, CFTC also released a separate Consumer Alert that warns the general public who are coaxed to invest on options and futures. There are sales pitches that appear on the tri-media as well as the internet that promises high income in foreign currency trading emphasizing on low risks. CFTC urges the public to be skeptical about these too-good-to-be-true claims especially if the opportunity requires them to shell out money.

Although not all forex trading offers are fraudulent, anyone who is interested in trading must first know how to detect if an offer is a mere scam. The United States federal government is a bit wary about growing popularity of investing on financial markets which poses risks on uninformed traders.

To ensure that a trading system is not a scam, the trade should be conducted legally on an exchange or board of trade as approved by CFTC. Otherwise, CFTC still has jurisdiction over a trading activity if at least one of the trading parties is regulated or affiliated with a bank, insurance company, an entity or individual with a high net worth or any other financial institution.