Am I being scammed?

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Am I being scammed?

I know NOTHING about trading and I need some people who DO know about it to PLEASE help me see if I am or not, or maybe being scammed…please read on…

Sorry for the wall of text!

About a month ago I matched with a girl on Tinder.
After a few days we started chatting, moved to using WeChat, and it turns out that she lives in Hong Kong and works in financial management audit, for a company there.

After about a week, whilst chatting she sends me a screenshot of a financial exchange graph (which I now know was from MetaTrader4) and she asks me: "Can you read this?"
Screenshot 1:

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I noticed that it had BTCUSD in there and I said something about Bitcoin which I had got 0.3 of back in 2011 lol, but I have virtually no more experience with that stuff. so we chatted about that for a bit.

Over the next week, we chat like normal and the subject comes up every now and again, quite gently about how much she’s making (she sent me 2 screenshots of deals she made on the days we were chatting, with dates, both with over $20,000 profit) and how I could make money too, quite easily.
Screenshot 2:

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Screenshot 3:
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So, after a week of this type of talk (approximately 2 weeks after we first started chatting)
I ask her what website she uses to trade and tells me to get MetaTrader4 on my phone, so I do, and she says she’ll help me learn how to trade.

To get a demo account up and running she lets me use the login details for her old demo account that her broker gave her.
Please note the Image where she shows me how to open a new account seems to show that she herself is using a demo account (but I’m not sure, do you know?) - despite showing screenshots of her amazing profits over the previous week. But again, I’m not sure.
Screenshot 4:

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The demo account was loaded with $50,000USD to play with

Later that night she gives me a brief tutorial and after a few laughs I’m ready to try trading. We go through the deal flow and I lose $168 haha.

So in the days following this development, she contacts me almost every weekday with word from her analyst that there is a good deal opportunity coming usually in the next hour or so.

She’d send me messages like "Forecast upside target 5305, buy"
So after a slip up or two, roughly in my FIRST WEEK I made profits like $311, $6,273 $21,720, $12,230 etc etc

Even while this is all happening we chat regularly about many things and seem to get on really well.

She suggests that I open a real account but even though I am making these pretend profits I still don’t really know what I am doing in terms of Stop Loss, Take Profit, Units, How to read the Graphs etc etc, so most of my deals feel like good luck so I mention this to her that I need to learn more….

So then she tells me she’s gonna ring the MT4 manager at her broker and that she’ll put me in contact with her. Which she does via WeChat.

During deals over 3-4 days this Mt4 manger broker person tutors me very briefly about some of the things I’m not sure about and I make a couple great deals and good profits around the $10,000 - $20,000 range.
This screen shot is my full deal history:
Screenshot 6:

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By now my feeling of “this is too good to be true” is ringing hard.
The MT4 manger asks if I’m still keen to open a real account and I go along with it and say yes so she sends me an application to fill in.
I say “I’ll get back to you in a few days”

At that point I google their website. it looks kinda dodgy but says it is regulated by the NFA but I don’t know what that means and the website is only about 6 months old.

By this time I’m even more suspicious, and worried that I 'll sign up and invest only to have my luck suddenly (or slowly) change and lose all my money and the original girl I met will unexplainably disappear.

So now, I am at a place where I don’t know how to find out if this is real or these people are just trying to fleece me and others of my hard earned money.

I don’t really know what questions I can ask you or them.

It seems to good to be true, but maybe its just a good opportunity uniquely timed with bitcoins recent upturn (we started chatting just before it took off again.)

Can a broker manipulate data on a demo account to make me think this is a sure thing? i.e. set the rise and fall, give me a forecast then i close when they say and it looks real?

What can I do to determine if this is a scam or a real opportunity?

What questions should I ask?

Should I email the broker and ask them something?

What would you do?

Remember, I know nothing of trading.

Thanks in advance for reading this far and any advice or experience you can offer!

2 Likes
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There are a LOT of very bright people here and as far as I know None of them can perform like you are being told that she does !

I can’t say for certain, but I think you are very wise to think it is lining up to be a scam !

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You are not being scammed, just being sucked in.

Everything will likely be legal and above board, it’s just that they want you as a ‘punter’, i.e. one who is willing to gamble some real cash - you will win some and lose most.

Good chance you will have some fun, but then when the funds are gone you will decide time to quit.

Then again perhaps you may decide that the market is of interest and after some years you will take them up on their kind offer of giving away some money :slight_smile:

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Thanks for your feedback!

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Thanks for your reply, I really appreciate it!

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If they start asking you to send money to them then that’s a red flag. If they start telling you to use a broker of their choosing then that’s a red flag. If they ask for your broker login details then that’s a red flag.

I’d keep trading their ‘tips’ in demo mode for a few weeks and if you’re still in profit after that, maybe go live with a tiny amount of real cash to see what happens. If you keep winning, start to withdraw your profits until you’ve got your initial investment back. After that you’re trading with money you never had.

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Thank you! good plan :slight_smile:

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Most likely a scam,continue with demo for now. Create your own demo account with a broker of your choice. Also go through pips academy to learn how to trade.

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You could also tell your GF that you feel that trading is not for you, despite the "success."
If she stays with you for a few more weeks without mentioning trading at all, then it is more likely to be legit.

Take on board the comments above - all very good advice.

And if your GF turns out to be such a good trader, then you are set for life … let her do the trading and you can do the house chores :grinning:

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haha thats what I’m hoping

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Woah I must commend you this taught, if you considered your hard money to be free then your set to dance for to the but if otherwise then you need to put on you thinking cap…I would advice. You to be patient and learn the basic of trading and have a sense of belonging so you don’t jeopardize your hard earn money, ooh sorry your free Money.

Be wise man

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I was introduced to Ms. L through a friend who had met her many years ago in China whilst on a work trip. She reconnected with him and told him all about the BTC trading world and how much money there is to be made. I did as most people did, got a demo account, was sent many trades to enter which all invariably made a huge amount of money.

Eventually I decided to invest 20k with them and they built it up to 30k in about 2 weeks. They then nearly lost the entire amount on one very big trade they directed (7 coin trade!). They then promised me they would help me make my money back, initially they were true to their word until we got about 1/2 way back to my initial 20 then started asking me for more money to develop a trading plan etc.

You can’t deny the fact their analysts are very good. There is talk they manipulate the charts and show old timeframes and trade on that but I followed all trades through on trading view along side their MT4 chart and the two matched up way to closely for that to be going on. My friend has been trading slowly with them for several months and has made consistent profit though.

I was able to withdraw my money from them pretending I needed a short term withdrawal and would add in $20,000 a week later which luckily worked. Either way i’m still down $10,000USD and really don’t see how I would go about getting any money back, not like they put a gun to my head and made me do the 7 coin trade, the analyst simply advised me to do it and i foolishly went along. He had given me around 10 trades in the previous 2 weeks which all made between 500 and 2000 every time so why should this be any different?

Anyway, I was probably too foolish and too greedy for my own good and probably got what I deserved, I just hope it doesn’t happen to anyone else, remember, if it seems too good to be true it probably is!

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You’re not the only one I lost everything due to my stupidity. In my case, the scamming guy put his money into my investment too. So I don’t know if he’s a scam or just a real person wanting to help me. Recently, he forced me to use another platform to trade and he said this time was to make up for the money that I’ve lost. When I said I didn’t have money then he cut me off. I feel like this is the end of my life :((