This might seem like an odd tutorial, but stick with me because it might not be what you think.

A common question that I've been getting is how to withdraw money from MT5. I thought that the answer was straightforward, so I would always respond with something like the following.

To withdraw money from MT5 contact your broker and request a withdrawal. Your broker will usually send you your money back via the method you sent it to them. 

But I found another answer to this question that might surprise you.

How to Deposit Money to Trade

Since this is a tutorial for beginners, let's start with the basics.

In order to start trading Forex, or any other market, you'll need to work with a broker. 

The broker gives you the ability to trade the market you want to trade. They do this by establishing connections to trading exchanges or liquidity providers, and setting up software that will allow you to execute trades via those providers.

MetaTrader 5 is one example of software that a broker could provide their customers. Other examples are:

• MetaTrader 4
• TradingView
• NinjaTrader
• cTrader
• And More!

If you're looking for a broker, be sure to see our list of favorite brokers.

Brokers can accept money in several forms:

• Money wire
• Check
• Money order
• Credit card
• PayPal
• Cryptocurrency
• And more

The method of payment that a broker accepts will be determined by their company policy and the laws of the countries they operate in.  

What Usually Happens With Your Money

When you send money to a legit broker, they will put your money into their bank account and give you access to trade that money on their chosen trading platform (MT5, MT4, TradingView, etc.).

If you want to withdraw money from your account, you simply contact the broker and request a withdrawal. 

They will usually send your money back via the payment method that you used to send it to them. In some countries, they are required to send your money back using the original funding method.

What People are REALLY Asking

Alright, that's straightforward.

So I was wondering why so many people were asking me this question and why so many of them have never heard of a broker before. 

Well, it turns out that there is more to that question than I realized. Here's what some of those people were really asking…

Some shady groups out there tell people that they will manage their money by putting the money into MetaTrader 5.

Now since you already know that you need a broker to trade, and that MT5 is nothing more than trading software, then obviously money cannot be deposited directly into MT5. 

What these groups do is they put the money into their own personal bank accounts, but tell the investors that the money is “in MT5.” 

Since the money isn't deposited with a known bank or regulated broker, the investor has nobody to complain to and the money is gone.

Something similar appears to be happening in this scam. There was another scam back in the day that gave real bank information and they got caught. So saying that the money “gets deposited to MT5,” looks like a way to get around providing any kind of identifying details.

How to Research a Broker or Money Manager

So before you hand your money over to any money manager or broker, do some basic homework:

• What results have others had with them in the past?
• Is that group regulated in the country they operate in?
• Does their social media look legit?
• Check out their website, did they use Google Translate to write it?
• Are there any YouTube videos about the broker or money manager?

Be sure to watch the video above for more tips.

If there isn't any information on the broker or money manager, steer clear.

Remember that there will always be negative reviews about organizations/individuals in the trading space because many customers have unrealistic expectations of how much money they can make in trading. Then they blame their broker or money manager when things don't work out like they thought it would. 

But that aside, does it seem like the organization operates with integrity…or not?

Test Them Out First

Even after you've done a lot of research, never put all of your money in at once. Put in a small amount, then try to withdraw some of it. 

This is the best way to test to see how easy the withdrawal process is and if you can actually get your money back.

Final Thoughts

So those are some things to think about when you first start out in trading.

Withdrawing money from a broker is usually a very straightforward process. But if shady individuals tell you that they will deposit your money directly into MetaTrader 5, always be sure to get clarification.

The post How to Withdraw Money From MetaTrader 5 appeared first on Trading Heroes.

I usually don't like talking about this type of stuff here, because it's generally counterproductive. But this issue affects both you and me, so I'm going to say a few words on it.

The bottom line is that there are shady (to put it nicely) groups out there that are posing as me and Trading Heroes. These groups are promising to manage money and provide fantastic rates of return.

Then of course, when people give these groups money, the money “magically” disappears. 

So I'm going on the record to say that I DO NOT manage money, I have NEVER managed money and I probably never will. I'm perfectly happy trading my own funds. 

If anyone approaches you posing as me or Trading Heroes and says that they can manage your money successfully, then run away…far away!! 

In this post, I'll get into how scams usually work (as best as I can tell) and how you can avoid this scam.

But first, here's my official statement in this video:

Why are They Targeting Me?

Sadly, this type of scam happens to anyone with a public brand.

Some people are too lazy to build their own product or brand, so they have to leech off the hard work of others.

It happens.

But let's learn how to protect yourself against this, and other similar scams.  

How Does the Scam Work?

The way that these things usually work is that they contact you randomly on a platform like Telegram or spam you via email. They pretend to be me and they invite you to a private “Trading Heroes” or “Hugh Kimura” Telegram chat where they try to get you to invest your money with them.

If they are successful in their sales pitch, you send them money, usually via Bitcoin or another method that isn't traceable or refundable.

Once the money is in their account, they string you along for a few weeks, with fake reports of wins and losses.

As far as I can tell, there are basically three methods that they use to keep your money:

1. They tell you that there was a trading error and they lost all your money.
2. They simply stop answering you.
3. They give you a small payout to keep you happy for a short time (paid from the investors after you) and keep stringing you along for as long as possible.

There are probably variations that I don't know about, but you get the idea.

What Can I Do About It?

With most platforms, like Twitter or YouTube, I can just fill out a form to prove who I am, and the platform will take down the scammer's account or content.

I did it with the Adrian Shiroma scam back in the day, when they tried to post fake information about me.

So if they do post anything on platforms that allow a takedown, then I will do everything in my power to get their accounts closed. 

However, Telegram is a little different and that's why these scammers are using Telegram. The difference is that Telegram does not censor any private chats. So even if I complain to Telegram, they won't do anything about it.

This is good policy from a free speech perspective…but not good if someone is running a trading scam.

Therefore, because of this policy and the fact that these groups are private (I cannot find them through a simple search), it's almost impossible to figure out that these groups are operating.

That's why I'm writing this post and recorded that video.

The best I can do is to publicly state my position on managing money, so people can do their own research and find my content. 

What Can You Do About It?

If you're thinking of investing with anyone, it's your responsibility to do your own due diligence and find out if you're truly dealing with a legit money manager or a total scam.

So here are some tips on how to do that…

First, at the very minimum, find referrals and testimonials to find out if anyone has worked with the potential money manger before and what their results were. Is the money manager easy to work with and was the investor able to withdraw money?

Next, email the money manager directly and get on a video call with them. Many scams operate behind faceless Telegram chats, fake Gmail accounts, or Twitter profiles. If you can actually see their face, and you're getting emails from a domain that you know is credible, then that's a good first step to verifying that they are who they say they are.

Finally, find an alternate way to contact the money manager. There may be people posing as him or her on one platform (like Telegram), but you contact them via another platform (like Twitter), and that might be the platform that the real money manager uses.

A phone number would be ideal.

Final Thoughts

I always will do everything I can to prevent these types of scams from spreading. But I do have my own work and trading to do, so I simply cannot monitor this full-time.

Therefore, it's up to you to do your own homework whenever you're considering a money manager. If you do a minimum amount of research, most scams become apparent very quickly. 

However, as I've always said, your best bet is always learning how to trade your own money. When you rely on others, they may not live up to your expectations or they may disappear one day. 

Then you're back at square one.

Work on improving yourself and take control of your own future!

That's real freedom. 

The post Beware of this Telegram Forex Scam appeared first on Trading Heroes.

At some point on your trading journey, you have most likely browsed through the various copy trading websites out there. Like many people, you were probably left wondering:

What is real and what is a scam?

Some of the results seem way too good to be true.

In reality, here are legitimate copy trading signal providers out there.

But they are not always easy to find.

This is because there are a lot of signal providers that are gaming the system. So let's take a look at the tricks that you have to be aware of and how you can separate legitimate copy trading signal providers from the rest.

Keep in mind that the ability to execute these tricks is directly related to how a copy trading platform works. So certainly do your due diligence on the signal providers, but also do a lot of research on the platform itself.

Think of different ways to potentially trick the reporting system and see if that is something that can actually be done. Contact the support team of the website and discuss these concerns with them.

Any legitimate site should be willing to openly discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their platform.

Alright, now on to the list…

1. Publishing Backtesting Results

This is becoming less of an issue, but it might still be possible on some sites. On some platforms, you could do a backtest, export the results, then pass them off as live trading results.

It used to be possible to do this on MyFxBook, but they have since changed things so you can only copy verified accounts.

In order to figure out if this is possible, try to sign up as a signal provider and see what the verification process is. Are there loopholes that would allow someone to cheat the system?

2. Withdrawing Money to Inflate Wins

Another way to increase percentage return on winning trades is to take money out of the account before a big win. So let's say that a signal provider risks 1% per trade and targets an 8% return.

If they lost ten trades in a row, they would lose about 10%. Then they could have one winner, but withdraw half of the account balance just before the target was hit.

This would give the account a 16% gain on the trade and a net 6% gain overall. However, when you take the beginning balance into account, the net is actually a 2% loss.

These numbers are simplified, but you get the point. Look out for suspicious spikes in performance and see if they can be tied to a withdrawal.

3. Curve Fitting

You see this a lot.

A signal provider will publish an aggressive system that is doing really well. Like several thousand percent in a few months.

Then guess what? In 12 months, the gain on the account goes back to zero.

Why?

Because they have designed the system to perform well over the past few months, but it is not robust enough to work over a longer period of time.

The system might be taking advantage of a current trend or some other market condition that will change in the near future. In order to prevent this, look for a track record that is at least three years long.

Longer is better. 

A related variation of this is “account fitting.” This is when a shady signal provider will open several different accounts at the same time. These accounts trade different strategies.

Then if one account does really well, they will make the other accounts private and just keep the best performing account public.  Since the account has been around for awhile, it looks like a reputable system.

But in reality, this is a variation of curve fitting. Here's what a curve fitted account might look like.

4. Trading in Demo Accounts

Another thing that you have to be aware of is if the published results are in a demo or real account. It is obviously much harder to establish a track record with real money. Especially a substantial amount of money.

Many platforms don't allow you to copy demo accounts, but there still might be some out there that do. So be sure to check this off your list before you subscribe to the signal.

5. Copy of a Copy

There's one more strategy that you should be aware of. This is when a person subscribes to a signal from a copy trading service, then republishes those trades in another account, as a separate signal.

In my conversation with Juan Colón at Darwinex, he mentions this as a major problem on many copy trading sites. Since Darwinex is a broker and controls everything from the trading accounts to the reporting, they say that they have eliminated the possibility that someone can republish a copied signal on their platform.

But that is not the case on other platforms. 

So how do you know if the signal you want to follow is a copy? One way to figure this out is to look at all of the signals available on the platform and filter the signals by performance. 

Look for signals that have very similar performance records.

It may be harder if a signal provider is blending signals from multiple sources. But if there are other systems with almost identical track records, it is usually pretty obvious that one of them is a copy.

Then you have to figure out which is the source.

Conclusion

Copy trading can work, but you have to be aware of the tricks that some unscrupulous providers use to boost their published performance. I personally believe that learning to trade for yourself is the best way to make money in trading.

However, finding a solid signal provider can be a good way to diversify your income streams.

Before I end this post, there is one more thing worth noting about copy trading. From what I've seen, the biggest risk outside of finding the right signal provider is making sure that trades get copied to your account properly. 

Therefore, you should start out with a demo account or a small real account to see how well the copy platform works. The signal provider could be the best in the world, but if the platform doesn't execute trades properly, then the signals are worthless.

Good luck and be safe!

The post 5 Dirty Tricks Used to Boost Copy Trading System Performance appeared first on Trading Heroes.

The bottom line is that by calling something a scam, we waste our precious time and mental capital on an endeavor that does not positively affect our trading.

I feel very fortunate to have this blog.

In general, the people that I have crossed paths with in the trading world have been nothing short of amazing. People like Walter Peters, Colin Jessup, Adam Jowett, Chris Lori, Rafael Veron, Chris Capre and many, many more have given me inspiration, support and guidance, many times at crucial points in my life.

This blog post is the result of conversations that I had with a couple of these traders.

No matter how legitimate a trader or educator is, there is always the tendency for people to say that they are a scam. I think this goes for any topic that deals with money. Through my contact with these traders, I feel that I have become quite good at spotting the real deal and a fake.

I'm not saying that I will be 100% right, but I can usually sniff it out after a few questions.

But should we be overly concerned with exposing scams? When we do this, is there more going on than we realize?

In this post, I invite you to take a deeper look into the idea of what is a scam and is not a scam. I think you will find that the extremes are very clear cut, but still a very, very small piece of the pie. There is actually a whole lot of gray in the middle.

Much more than you may have thought.

To take it one step further, I believe that your readiness to call something a scam is actually detrimental to your development as a trader.

Real Scams Exposed

Let's get this out of the way first. Yes, there are some straight up scams out there. And yes, you must protect yourself against them.

A recent one that comes to mind is the kid who said he made $72 million dollars trading stocks. He was featured in New York magazine and became famous overnight. It turned out that he never made a dime and all his profits were made in a paper trading account.

I guess it wasn't that bad because he didn't actually take any money to invest. It wasn't right, but the worst that probably came out of this was that his friends won't give him money to go on a beer run anymore.

Then there are convicted ponzi scheme maestros like Bernie Madoff, Lou Pearlman and of course, Charles Ponzi himself. These were gigantic scams that defrauded investors of millions of dollars. This is the scary stuff that you really have to watch out for.

There are also smaller players who do pretty well for themselves, at least for awhile. If you remember the Adrian Shiroma story, he was pretty pissed that I exposed his scam and started doing all kinds of fun stuff with my picture on the internet.

I actually got an email a few months ago from a reader who gave me his alleged real name and said that the authorities are chasing him through the DR somewhere.

More on that in a bit…

My point is that there are some real scams out there, so I'm not saying that they don't exist. You do have to be careful. However, I believe that calling something is a scam is the worst thing you can do for your trading career.

Not Scams

Then there are people who have really honed their craft and are super reliable from an education and/or trading standpoint. For the purposes of this post, they are boring.

They are fine upstanding members of society and are certainly what real trading and education is all about. But sometimes, even these people can get pulled into the gray area.

If not by actual trading or education performance, then by pure public perception.

Bottom line…find out for yourself. Talk to their students.

The Gray Area of Exposing Scams

Now we get into the area where investments and/or people may or not be a scam. Generally post people lean towards thinking that someone is a scam, for whatever reason. Before you jump to conclusions, really think about the nature of trading and education.

A Bad Year

Trading has its ups and downs. That is a given.

A trader can simply have a bad year. It happens to the best of them. It probably happens to you. Sometimes there are also events that are out of a trader's control.

‘Nuff said.

Too Much Pressure

One of the professional traders I talked to said that it is fairly common for a good trader to start managing money or a signal service and begin trading poorly. They simply don't handle the increased pressure well.

Could this be classified as a scam? I don't believe so.

But that doesn't mean that they aren't basically good traders or educators. Rafael told me this story in our interview, of a woman that he raised money for because she had an amazing track record. She could double her account every one to three months, like clockwork.

But she was only trading a $10,000 account. When she got more money (much more) to trade, she couldn't handle the pressure. She almost lost the whole account before getting back to breakeven and returning the money to the investors.

Was she a bad trader? No way.

She just wasn't mentally prepared for the stress of the bigger dollar amounts. The same could go for a trading educator who isn't prepared for the mental stresses of a signal service. You could still learn a lot from them as an educator, but their recent track record could suck because of the added stress.

So before you call someone a scam, take a look at what is really going on behind the scenes. It may not be what it appears to be.

You Don't Have To Be A Good Trader

This can be a tough pill to swallow and I must admit that I used to be against any advice that came from someone who wasn't trading for a living. But the fact of the matter is that someone doesn't need to actually be a good trader to help people trade well. They just have to have a good understanding of what trips traders up and how to fix it.

To give you an example from outside of trading, take a look at the NFL. In 2009, Mike Tomlin became the youngest head coach to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory. But he has never played professional football. His experience consisted of playing wide receiver for the College of William and Mary.

Similarly, Bill Belichick is one of the most successful coaches in the history of the NFL. He only played Division III ‘ball at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.

So don't ignore trading psychologists and coaches. They can probably teach you a thing or three.

A Scam Is Ultimately Your Responsibility

Yes, scams are completely your responsibility. If you got scammed, it was up to you to do your research on the investment or education and take the proper amount of risk.

So the next time you call something a scam, check your ego at the door. In order to call it a scam, you must have conclusive evidence. If you are in the very large gray area, then it is on you to do your due diligence and limit your risk.

If the risk is too high, simply walk away.

Yelling “scam” from the rooftops is a waste of time and only helps a few people who were thinking of investing their money with that particular scam.

Why not use that time to yell “this is awesome” about high-quality trading products? That will help more people find something that actually works. 

Conclusion

The bottom line is that by calling something a scam, we waste our precious time and mental capital on an endeavor that does not positively affect our trading. A good example is the Adrian Shiroma story.

While writing about the scam and ultimately bringing it down did help a lot of people out, it consumed a lot of my time and I was very concerned about the type of stuff that they would write about me on the internet.

Luckily the scammers were hacks when it came to creating anything online, but it was still mentally draining to file another DCMA every time they put my picture up somewhere else. I was better off focusing on improving this site and creating better products.

Similarly, when you waste your time bashing something/someone for being a scam, you waste your time and do not keep your mind open to the possibilities. By quickly shutting out these opportunities, you limit your ability to learn and grow.

So simply decide if an opportunity is worth the risk or not and don't go all-in.

Only put a small portion of your total capital at risk.

Even if you are completely sure about the opportunity, don't let an unforeseen event like the recent Swiss Franc tumble cripple you.

If you did your best to research an opportunity and it does turn out to be a scam, then you take an acceptable loss and move on. Just like a Forex trade. Hopefully you learned something from the experience.

Calling something or someone a scam too quickly can cause you to miss out on excellent opportunities and introduces a negative, poverty-based mentality into your psychology.

Remember that there can be a lot more going on behind the scenes than you may realize.

Stay positive and understand the risks.

You attract what you look for.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments below…

The post Why Exposing Trading Scams is Killing Your Trading Results appeared first on Trading Heroes.

I want to start this post by thanking all of the readers out there who helped unravel the Adrian Shiroma Forex scam.

When I checked on the site back in January of this year, I discovered that we did enough damage that the scammers finally took the blog down and stopped operating under the name Adrian Shiroma.

Your help has saved many people from losing a lot of money.  Here is an example of the comments that I have received:

“hello. thanks for the info i was about to let this guy to manage an forex account but luckily i google it firs .” – Eric

Now that this Forex scam has gone the way of the dinosaur, lets dissect it and see what you can look for in the future to do your due diligence before investing your money.

Obviously Faked Videos

 The first post that I wrote about Adrian Shiroma wasn't as serious as maybe it should have been.  At the time, it was so obviously a scam that I didn't see how anyone could fall for it.  I didn't think that they would be around for long either.

Boy was I wrong.

This is the only video that they used in their marketing and after watching this video, that was the point where I decided that this was a scam.  The deception is mainly built around the fact that Adrian Shiroma is supposedly Japanese and they are primarily marketing to Spanish speakers.

They thought that they could pull a “lost in translation” on potential clients.

There could be a legitimate Trader that does this, but if you do run into this situation, it is pretty easy to spot the scam.  I do not speak Japanese, but when I watch the subtitles, they do not come close to matching what the woman is saying.  For example, when “Shiroma” comes up the the subtitles, you should hear her say Shiroma within a sentence or two.

Never happens in the video.

In addition, this video was posted EVERYWHERE.  I found this video posted on the usual sites (like YouTube below), but it also came up on video sites in other countries like Russia.  Total video spamming and a big tip off.

Here is what I mean:

The bottom line is: review their marketing material carefully.  Everyone makes a mistake and there are bound to be typos, but when you see such blatant discrepancies like in the video above, that is a huge red flag.

Broker Shenanigans

As I wrote about in my post about Mitsui FX, take a careful look at the broker(s) that a Trader is using.  What the Adrian Shiroma guys did was put all these reputable brokers on their page, then they sneaked in their fake brokerage, Mitsui FX.

Here is a screen shot:

This makes things look legit, but when it came down to depositing money, you didn't have a chance to deposit with anyone else except MitsuiFX.

When I Googled: “MitsuiFX broker review” I got nothing.  Not even a bad review.

That is the first sign that a broker is a fake.  Even the best brokers will have bad reviews, there will always be disgruntled Traders who want to blame their own shortcomings on their broker.

But when there are no reviews, then you will need to do more digging.  If no one on the forums has heard of that broker, then you should stay away.  Yes, there is a chance that it is a totally new legit broker, but wait until they have built up some credibility before doing any business with them.

Things to look for on a website

A bad website design, a scam does not necessarily make.  The Financial Education industry is notorious for being behind the curve when it comes to pretty website designs.  Some of the best educators out there have sites straight out of the '90's…spinning dollar signs and all.

But there are certain elements of a website that could tip you off.  In the case of Adrian Shiroma, he was using a free Blogger blog.

Really?!!

Do you really want to be giving thousands of dollars to a person who cannot afford the $75 a year to host a site?

What using a free blog also does is provide anonymity.  They do not have to register a domain under their own name.   Again, there are some quality, legit blogs out there that do use free blogging platforms, but the ones I have seen do not ask for thousands of dollars.

Another thing to look for is small weird things in the design.  In the case of Adrian Shiroma, their broker's website had an unusual gap in the menu where they used to say that they were NFA regulated (and had to take it out).

Here is the screenshot:

Not something that you should jump to conclusions with by itself, but when added to the overall picture, it can be a clue.  Also look for weird things like converting your money to a weird currency before you get to trade it.

The Adrian Shiroma scam made you convert to Bulgarian Lev (BGN).  Totally suspicious.

Incomplete signup process

I never tried the sign up process myself, but a couple people emailed me and they said that it lead to a dead end.  They were also not able to download Metatrader or the broker's proprietary platform, which should be a major tip off.   Especially when it obviously says “MT4 Trading Platform” on the website.

A broker should be falling over themselves to give you a trading platform and get you started with a demo or live account.

I'm not sure how they got any customers with an incomplete sign up process, but they probably did some filtering on the back end before contacting their potential investors.

Unverified Trading Results

It is not always possible to verify a Trader's performance, for a variety of reasons.  But if someone is posting their performance to a site like MyFxBook and you do not see the two green checks at the top of the screen that it is a verified account, then you know something is up.

Getting an account verified is not that hard.  Here is what Adrian Shiroma's account report page looked like:

Notice the two red X's at the top.  This simply means that they could have taken any ol' Metatrader report and uploaded it to MyFxBook.

Another thing to watch out for is reporting systems that seem to be like MyFxBook that say an account is verified, but it is really not.  Their definition of “verified” may be different.

Here is what the MyFxBook blog has to say about account verification.  Other sites may not be as strict.  I have my doubts about sites like FXStat, but I know MT4i is another good reporting site.

So if they are posting their trading results, be sure to check for these things.

The Biggest Lesson I Learned From this Scam

Besides the above, I learned a few things myself.

Fighting these scammers is a pain in the ass.  They started using my picture as the face of the scam and I was able to take most of them down from the major US websites, but there are still a few sites that I cannot get my picture removed from.

I started a site called AdrianShiroma.org to try and document the scam and keep it off this blog and that probably helped, but it was time taken out of my busy schedule to set that up.

This group of scammers is plugged into a few websites that have a very high ranking, in spite of being total spam factories.   As a result, they are able to get some fake articles and pictures about me ranked highly in Google.

They have made several fake images of me and posted them on these sites.

By looking at these pictures, both you and I know that these are totally fake because the pictures they used are just stolen from my public social media profiles and the pages they are on have nothing written on them.

The articles are equally ridiculous.

On the bright side, I firmly believe that there is not such thing as bad publicity.  So anyone with even the slightest bit of curiosity will follow the trail and end up with the full story on this blog.

Free publicity.

But other people jump to conclusions easily, including potential business partners, potential girlfriends and the like, might not understand what is going on and take it at face value.  I could live with that if I was getting a bounty for each scam that I took down.

Unfortunately, I'm not.

Conclusion

So going forward I'm not going to be blogging about these scams.  I have thought long and hard about this and it really pains me to say it, but it is better for both you and I.  On one hand, exposing these scams helps a lot of people save their hard earned money.

On the other hand, exposing these scams takes a lot out of me, both physically and emotionally. That energy could be better used towards creating useful content and products for this blog and towards my trading.  I am only one person and I need to conserve my time and energy.

It's not worth the headache.

However, I hope you learned a few things from this post that will allow you to spot a scam in the future. I think that in spite of the hassle to me, this is valuable information.

I know for a fact that this scam has popped up under another name and will probably continue to do so as long as those guys are alive.  They have also tried to attack me with viruses via email and Twitter.

It will be a never ending cycle. 

I'm not going to get caught up in the negative mentality, let's focus on the positive.

The best thing that I can do with my time and energy is create the best Forex content on the internet and help you become a successful Trader.

This will have a greater impact on the world by empowering you (and others around the world) to become more self sufficient and I believe that in turn will attract more people away from these scams.

The post 5 Simple Ways to Spot a Forex Scam appeared first on Trading Heroes.

If you haven't been following the Adrian Shiroma story, read the other installments on this page.  It started pretty ordinarily…they spammed this blog…I wrote about my findings.  Our friend Dragonportis helped out with a few big tips on what they were doing.

But now it is personal…threats against me and I have proof that Adrian Shiroma is not a real person and is a Forex scam.

The Proof

Apparently, we have been screwing up their “business” in a major way because now they are making direct threats against me.  Here is the email that I got from them on Sunday.

Nice, to the point and they give exact numbers.  Well, at least they are giving me 48 hours to comply.  How considerate of them.  They even gave me my own email address: KimuraDead@yahoo.com.

But seriously, check out the second to last line in the email…

“…we do not exist.”

Yeah, kinda figured that already.

And what is the ultimate threat besides “Kimura Dead”?  That they will start using my name as the name of the scammer.

I wonder what they have in mind…oh wait, let me guess…

“Adrian Shiroma” writes crappy articles and puts my picture into it

So they started another free Forex blog on WordPress and started using my picture as the picture of Adrian Shiroma. Here is a printout:

Writing slander against me

They also started writing all kinds of bullshit about me.  This is just an excerpt of the full article that shows up when you search for my name.  Gotta love the misspellings and the totally made up information.  Of course, I was not arrested for this and having a wife and kids is news to me.   If nothing else, this has taught me that I need to tighten up the search engine results for my name.

I especially like how Cyr Circle is not a street anywhere in Hawaii.  Good one guys.

What I'm doing about it

I filed a DMCA with Google, but I was largely ignored.  It seems like they will not get involved if there is questionable legality.  I also filed with WordPress, but they still allowing pictures of me to be posted in that blog.  It is tough to combat these bastards because they are from another country.

What prompted the email in the beginning of this post however, was my posting this on the Forex Peace Army forum.  They are the biggest Forex scam reporting website on the internet.  According to one of the Moderators, FPA had a similar issue before and many other scammers have done the same since.

Here is his response to my post:

Thanks to the folks at FPA for their support. So prepare to see a hundreds of fake articles written about me…soon.

The bottom line is that this is more of a pain in the ass and a waste of time than anything else.  But do you know what?  The story has to be told and we have to stop these scammers!

And they are giving me something to write about.  So I guess there is a silver lining.

What can you do?

If you have a blog or are a journalist, write up a little something on Adrian Shiroma and this scam that is apparently coming out of Bulgaria.

Do you know of other Forex scams that are going down?  Tell us about it below…

Hope your week is going better.  Now back to trading.

Cheers,

– Hugh

###

Photo: *saxon* via Flickr Creative Commons

The post Death Threats, Slander And Proof That Adrian Shiroma Is A Forex Scam appeared first on Trading Heroes.

The scamster Adrian Shiroma apparently has a new broker.  I'm not too sure what happened to MitsuiFX.com, but that domain is now redirecting to Shatori.com.  This is just the latest development in the ongoing story of this “Spanish” scam.

The original report that I wrote on Adrian can be found here.  Then I found out from a Trading Heroes reader that Adrian is using a broker called MitsuiFX.  You can read the looong post with the evidence of why I think it's a total scam.

Then recently, Dragonportis alerted me that MitsuiFX has been changed to Shatori.  Just out of the blue, doesn't seem to be any explanation.

Let's see what they are up to now…

Here is what the old MitsuiFX website looked like:

Here is what the “new” Shatori website looks like:

Adrian didn't even bother to change the design.  There is even the big space next to “Regulated” where they had to take out the “NFA” part.  Why not, Adrian is still running his blog on a free Blogger blog.

I never noticed this before, but there is evidence that this is a scam out of Bulgaria.  Super sketchy that you have to convert your USD to BGN (Bulgarian Lev) every time you deposit and withdraw. But they do make it easy to “make a deposit” via credit card.  How convenient…for them.

Check it, this is on the “Live Accounts” page:

Our friend Dragonportis from the last post even went so far as to try to sign up for an account.  Here is what he found:

Interesting, what is the angle?  Identity theft?  Not too sure.

Finally, here is what Adrian's website looks like now.  He changed the terms a little, but the idea is the same.  Just for the record, that account that he is tracking with MyFxBook is up +117% as of today.  But it is still NOT verified.  This text has been Google Translated for us English speakers:

I'd like to think that they have had to make these changes because of what I am writing, but I'm not sure.  Anyway, that is the latest news…stay away!

I haven't heard from all the spammers from the first post in awhile.  Where are all you guys now?

UPDATE (10/12/2012): The scammers have now resorted to writing totally false articles about me online, saying that I have been convicted of unspeakable acts.  I'm working on getting them removed, but I have struck a nerve and these guys mean business!

###

The post Adrian Shiroma Is At It Again, This Time With Shatori appeared first on Trading Heroes.

Back in January of this year, I wrote a post about a trader calling himself “Adrian Shiroma.”

If you missed it, check out the post and why I believe that Adrian Shiroma does not exist and is a Forex scam.

I wrote that post a little tongue-in-cheek because I didn't expect much to come of it.

But I was very wrong…this scam keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Here is the latest…

About about a month ago, a Trading Heroes reader alerted me to the fact that Mr. Shiroma is now promoting a broker called MitsuiFX and believed that the broker is also fake.

Here is the actual comment:

Now, in all fairness, this comment is anonymous, so I dug a little deeper.

If you go to the GoDaddy whois webpage and look up mitsuifx.com, this is what you currently see:

Notice that they look like a legit Japanese company.

Also note that they created the domain name in 2010, but their website says that they have been in business since 1998.  Why so long to get a website?

There is also something interesting when you Google: “whois mitsuifx.com.”

This page shows that the website server is located in Australia.

Why would a Spanish-speaking, Japanese guy with a “Japan-based” company choose to host in Australia?

Here is a screenshot:

What I did next

I checked out the Adrian Shiroma blog and saw the Mitsui FX badge.

This is a current screenshot and as you can see, Mitsui FX is listed among some legitimate brokers.

I'm kicking myself for not getting a screenshot of the blog at that time because Mr. Shiroma had Mitsui FX slapped all over the place and there was a custom banner.

But that is not all, it gets much better.

After that, I naturally checked out the mitsuifx.com website and it was (and still is) ugly.

As you probably know, that is one of my criteria for spotting a forex scam.

But I could have been wrong, so I looked for more clues.

The thing that stuck out on the website was that they said that they were NFA regulated.

I mentioned that in my reply to dragonportis.

Here is what the website looked like with the NFA number.

Notice the “NFA Regulated” link at the top and the NFA number in the footer.

From there, I went to the NFA website.  They allow you to check on any regulated broker on their broker information page.

I entered the NFA number shown above and found that NFA number to belong to MITSUI BUSSAN COMMODITIES USA INC.

This confused me for a minute. Could this really be legit?

I did a name search for “Mitsui” on the broker information page and discovered that MITSUI BUSSAN is owned by MITSUI & CO. Ltd.

Interesting…so I surfed on over to the Mitsui & Co., Ltd. website.

As you can see, they are a huge legitimate multinational company based in Japan.

Maybe I was wrong about MitsuiFX.

But wait a minute…

MITSUI BUSSAN is not listed as an approved Forex broker.

Here is the screenshot from the NFA website.

They are listed in commodities and futures, which makes sense because they deal a lot in raw materials like iron and steel.

So what the hell are they doing operating an FX brokerage when the are not registered with the NFA?

It was not adding up.

“We don't have a FX division”

At that point, I was stuck.

This was probably a scam, but I couldn't tell where the snake oil was spewing from.  Was Mitsui & Co., Ltd not following the rules?  Or (the more likely scenario) was MitsuiFX illegally using a legitimate NFA number?

Then I saw a phone number.

Listed on the NFA website was an address (New York) and phone number for MITSUI BUSSAN COMMODITIES USA INC.

So I figured, what the hell?

I called the number and the conversation went a little something like this…

Mitsui guy: Hello, Mitsui

Hugh: Hi, can I speak to someone in your FX division?

Mitsui guy: We don't have a FX division

Hugh: Well, I'm on a website called mitsuifx.com that shows your NFA number.

Mitsui guy: What's the number?

Hugh: 0231324

Mitsui guy: Yup that's our number, but that isn't our website.  What's the domain again?

Hugh: mitsuifx.com

Mitsui guy: OK thanks, I'll get this checked out.

I'm just paraphrasing but you get the picture.

My hopes were sky high

I got off the phone that day thinking that Mitsui & Co. Ltd. would use their vast resources and legal eagles to squash and scamsters at mitsuifx.com.

When I checked the site a few days later imagine how disappointed I was when I saw this:

As you can see, all my phone call did was get the “NFA” removed from the menu and the NFA number taken out of the footer.

The only good thing that came out of this was that this was proof that mitsuifx.com was not a part of the legit Mitsui & Co. Ltd.

Any company that has to illegally use a NFA number is probably a scam.

As dragonportis also astutely pointed out, Mitsui FX also made their logo look like the Mitsui & Co. Ltd. logo.

But the scam must go on…

Unfortunately, Mr. Shiroma is not your average shyster.  He is a stubborn fucker. Here is how he gets around not being “NFA regulated” anymore.

He now offers two different accounts on his blog.

I have used Google Translate on the page so we can all understand.

The banner is a picture, so cannot be translated, but reading the text at the bottom will give you the information you need.

The first and more highly visible banner is for his “Dukascopy account.”

Obviously Dukascopy is a legit broker, so this makes Adrian look like the real deal.

But 30% commission for only a 10% return and a 50,000 EUR minimum?!

You will understand why when you see this…

Just below the Dukascopy banner is this banner.

Ahhh…there is good ol' MitsuiFX.

This account has a much lower minimum deposit, promises 25% per month and only charges 15% commission!

It's a no-brainer, right?

I have a feeling that if you try to get into the Dukascopy account, they will tell you it is full and will try to get you into the MitsuiFX account.

You are probably wondering what is up with LibertyReserve.

I haven't looked into that because this post is getting pretty long as it is, but I have a feeling that it equally shady as MitsuiFX.

If you have any information on LibertyReserve, let me know in the comments below.

But here's the kicker…

Adrian's “trading results” are supposedly posted on MyFxBook, a trade reporting system that I also use.

However, there is one difference.

When you click over to his trading report from his blog, this is what you see:

Notice in the upper right corner that the Track Record is not verified and neither are the Trading Privileges.

Why is this important?

Because false trading reports can easily be uploaded without these safeguards.

Here is the official statement from the MyFxBook blog.

Whew…that is all of the information I was able to dig up on Adrian Shiroma and MitsuiFX since my post in January.

I know that you will never fall for this, but I hope that by putting this information out on the internet, it will save some people from losing their hard earned money.

A special thanks goes out to dragonportis for the heads up and help with providing details!

What do you think?

Is this a scam or not?

Do you have any personal experience with Adrian Shiroma?

If you believe as strongly as I do that this is a scam, be sure to share this with as many people in the FX community as possible!

It will be tough to get any US agency to do anything because they are operating outside of the US, but if this information makes its way to the right people, it could bring down Adrian Shiroma and MitsuiFX.

UPDATE (10/12/2012): The scammers have now resorted to writing totally false articles about me online, saying that I have been convicted of unspeakable acts.  I'm working on getting them removed, but I have struck a nerve and these guys mean business!

The post Is MitsuiFX a Huge Scam? You be the Judge appeared first on Trading Heroes.

My biggest pet peeve is all of the Forex trading scams out there.

Forex is one of the best markets to trade and these slimeballs take people's money before they ever have a chance at becoming successful.

The reason that there are so many scams in this market is because Forex was unregulated for a long time. Until about 2010, you could manage other people's money in the Forex market without a license.

Think about those possibilities.

Anyway, there is a certain individual that came up on my radar recently that is a perfect example of how Forex scams are set up. Hopefully this post will help beginners avoid such unscrupulous individuals.

For people who take things literally, I'm not actually telling you to do this.

I hate people like this!

The following is my way of making fun of how badly some of these scams are set up.

Step 1: Create a Fake Name and Back Story

The first thing that you have to do is create a believable name and compelling life story.

In this case, I came across a “person” named Adrian Shiroma. Luckily for Adrian, he is Japanese/Spanish, so most English speakers cannot understand his website enough to realize that it is BS.

I'm not even going to give the website the gratification of a direct link, so you can Google the name if you want to check it out.

Step 2: Setup a Free Blog

Yes, if you want to scam people out of millions of dollars, there is no need to spend $100 and get a real domain name and website hosting.

Just setup a free blog on Blogger or WordPress. Nobody will know the difference.

If you Googled the name, you will see the blog that I am talking about. He even uses a free Hotmail email account.

In all fairness, there was a very small chance that he is a real person, so I sent him an email. After all, I have been known to be wrong in the past.

So this is what I said…

No surprise, but I didn't get a reply.  Probably because he speaks Spanish…yeah right!

There is a “track record” on his homepage going back to November 2009. But if you actually go back through his blog posts, they only show records going back to March 2011. That is half-assing at it's best.

The actual currency pair and prices are mysteriously blocked out and somehow the account always starts with $30,000 in it.

Hmmm….

In addition, there are is no account name or number on the statements that are posted.

It looks like a random report from Metatrader that could have been done in a demo account.

Step 3: Create buzz

Now go out and spam as many Forex blogs as possible. Here are the comments that were left on my blog:

I left out the email address and IP addresses because I actually give a shit about privacy. However, they were all from the same email and IP address.

But they were clever and used different names. Important point there, be sure you are taking notes.

When looking around for proof that he won the Traders Marathon, I couldn't find it.

No surprise there either.

Great idea though.

In addition, if you Google Adrian Shiroma, there are a bunch of “interviews” on different websites like Baby Pips and Forex Banks. Well, actually it is the same interview, posted in different places.  Another key point, get the maximum mileage from your crappy broken-English interviews.

One funny thing is that if you look on his blog, he spams his own blog! There are multiple comments that are exactly the same.

Apparently he had some videos too, but most have been taken down. That is one area that you can improve on. Be sure to make quality videos.

However, I did find one on YouTube and it is pretty funny. I don't know Japanese (in spite of my name and 6 years of Japanese School) or Spanish, but I'm pretty sure that she never says Shiroma at any time in the “broadcast.”

Look carefully at the subtitles…you will see Adrian Shiroma come up a couple of times in the text, but she says “Yamanaka.”

The final thing to look for in the video is at about 0:53. The name Adrian Shiroma comes up with the Japanese characters under it, but they are wrong.

If you do a quick search for the Kanji, this is what Shiroma should look like.

Hmm….

Step 4: Take the money

Now, this is the easy part. Just get them to send you money.

I'm not exactly sure how he does it because I never got that far, but I'm sure it is pretty easy.

There you have it!

That is all it takes.

Pretty sad huh?

Why I posted this

Ordinarily, I would just ignore the spam comments on my blog. But in this case, the scammers did put in a little effort into this, so I want this to show up in Google alongside the name.

Actually, I want this post to outrank him for his own name!

Of course, experienced traders will recognize this as a scam right off the bat.

But beginners may fall for it, so…

Avoid Adrian Shiroma!

UPDATE (10/13/2012): There have been two more updates in this story with even more incriminating evidence, read them here and here.  Also I just found out today that they are writing false articles about me on the internet, saying that I have been convicted of unspeakable acts.

This, of course, is NOT true and is a weak attempt to get back at me for this article.

The post The Anatomy of a Half-Assed Forex Scam appeared first on Trading Heroes.