Can't get funds from my broker

I opened up an "ECN" account with OctaFX on the 8 th of August, 1:500 Leverage since I heard of the " 8 USD Octawelcome bonus" and the "30 % deposit bouns", the tight spreads and last but not least the fact that they were true ECN.
Well, I deposited my Account from the 4 th to the 13 th of september with a total of 1701 $ due to accumulation of a long position and the 30% bonus.

Here is the History:
D4776 complete 24253 300.00 USD Visa/Mastercard ************0746 09/13/2012 18:09
D4768 complete 24253 301.00 USD Visa/Mastercard ************0746 09/13/2012 15:32
D4747 complete 24253 300.00 USD Visa/Mastercard ************0746 09/13/2012 02:55
D4410 complete 24253 800.00 USD Visa/Mastercard ************0746 09/04/2012 03:01

At that time things appeared just fine to me: no requotes, very fast execution and a nice account management seemed to make trading fun.
Then I first noticed that what they offered was everything else than ECN.
What they did was just "charge " you with some pips when closing your order which you don't notice first, but I came upon that when trading for quite some time.(file attached) Also they don't charge you with any commission, so that is just another dealing desk broker.
I noticed that when equity was up about 200 % at aout 5000 $. That was when I made my first Bonus of 240 $ (for my first deposited 800 $)withdrawable. For every "bonus" buck you have to trade the half in LOT, so I had to trade 120 LOT for only 240 $ to make them withdrawable. By that, they raise the possibility to let you lose money because you really have to trade a lot. So I wrote them and was told that now I could withdraw my bonus.
That was when I first requested a withdraw :

W7693 pending
24253 4973.00 USD Bank wire 10013030282 10/29/2012 15:29

Just at the same time they wrote me the following email:

"Dear sir,

As per request of our Security Dept., there has been a suspicious activity noticed in your account, there is a reason to believe your account was accessed by third parties, other than you . There is nothing to worry about, it’s a regular check, intended for your funds security first of all.
This is to let you know that in accordance with p 13.9 and p. 13.12 of the Customer Agreement, namely:
13.9. To provide financial security for the Client in some cases the Company reserves
a right to withdraw Client’s funds only to his/her bank account;
13.12. For security reasons upon withdrawal the Company reserves a right to
demand Client’s complete identification data, such as ID copy, address proof copy,
bank reference letter and other relevant documents, apostiled or certified by a notary.
Your withdrawal request no. W7693 worth of 4973 USD will be performed by bank wire. In order to complete the withdrawals, please follow these steps:
1. Please prepare the following documents:
a. A copy of National passport
b. A Bank reference letter
c. An Address proof, ALL NOTARIZED OR APOSTILED BY A RESPONSIBLE AGENT AND TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH



2. Please send these documents (physically) to our HQ mailing address at:
Cedar Hill Crest, P.O. Box 1825, Villa, St. Vincent and the Grenadines



3. After the documents are received and verified, your wire transfer will be sent to your bank account
We apologize for any inconvenience caused."

It just appeared strange to me beacause my verification status said "account verified" and also my uploaded documents had been confirmed.

"Documents uploaded Aug 8, 2012 01:11 PM"

But referring to the "St.Vincent and the Grenadines Act" they said I had to send them the hard copies.

So I sent them the Hardcopies with all the stuff on the 8 th of November.
By that time I was so angry, I just kept on trading to make them pay more off in case that my documents would be verified.
By the end of November equity was up 330 % , 8400 $, at its highest level in the Accounts history.
During that 2-3 weeks I didn't get one single mail saying that they got my documents. I nearly wrote them every day.
When Equity came off a little, I closed all my positions at 7600 $ equity and just waited.
I waited another day, another week, and so on and every day I was told the letter had not arrived yet.
That was a total of 5 weeks approximately that I tried to withdraw even only some of my deposits, but every time requests were denied, saying my account was under investigation!

W8602 rejected 24253 500.00 USD Bank wire ............................ 11/21/2012 19:53
W8278 rejected 24253 500.00 USD MoneyBookers ..................... 11/14/2012 13:09
W7767 rejected 24253 500.00 USD MoneyBookers ....................10/31/2012 19:09
W7756 canceled 24253 4973.00 USD MoneyBookers ................. 10/31/2012 15:33

No moneybookers withdraw, no bankwire withdraw, no creditcard withdraw, even no internal transfers accepted!

I then started trading again entering GBPUSD and EURUSD short since I still didn't get any answer by them.
And that's the point when I started losing big time!
Most frustrating thing in a long while!

When my Account was down to 3000 $ i got the following email:

"REFERENCE NUMBER: LTK1212501969602X Please use this ticket number in any correspondence with us.
SUBJECT: no subject

Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting OctaFX.

Your acc verification was complete.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any additional questions.


Sincerely,

OctaFX Support"

So that was the last chance for me to get my savings out and even a little gain.

I then tried to withdraw just a small amount to check if it really was possible to withdraw:

"W9635 rejected 24253 10.00 USD MoneyBookers ...................... 12/15/2012 18:41 "

-it was not

email from octafx:

"Dear ....................,
Unfortunately your withdrawal request no. W9635 has been declined for the following reason:
Account under investigation
In case you have any questions, please contact us, we will be happy to answer them.
Wishing you luck and profitable trading!"


So they just kept telling me account was under investigation on and on and on saying they have a red flag system under the St.Vincent and Grenadines act. something.
You will never get out of this once the account is under investigation. They keep on with pushing you off as long as they want to, and that is earning the savings YOU lose.

Corresponding to their HP there is one Person called "Robert Swenson " who is the CEO of OctaFX.
I Wrote him a long "CEO-Message" - no answer. According to godaddy they got some of their servers in sweden, a bureau in Belgium and some other offices in Indonisia. I called the St. Vincent and Grenadines Headquarters several times- no answer !

At the time my last request was denied I got into positions going short again and lost it all.
Equity is now 2.37- I think even that won't be able to be withdrawn

I called mastercard to at least get my initial deposits of 1,700 $ back, but the buyers protection ends up 2 months after the purchase.


Several emails from the past days in which I wrote them to give me back my savings and gains have not been answered.


This is the most fraudulent broker with the unfriendliest support EVER - and believe me, I tried out many brokers in 3 years now.


JUST STAY AWAY from OctaFX.



If you have had similiar experiences please share them here - I'll be pleased, or tell me what could be done in my case.

Cheers

i knew already that they are a scam

Where did you get that from?

a true ECN broker gives a 30% Bonus deposit??? hmmm.... too good to be true I think...

I've always kept away from places that give you free money under the guise of a bonus, nothing is free in this world and theres always a catch involved.

http://www.pic4ever.com/images/245.gif

As mentioned before you have to trade half the Bonus Size in LOT, so in my case that were 120 LOT for the first "Bonus". They didn't say it was free, but actually that is what a "Bonus" should be. If you compare a 120 LOT to 240 $ and keep in mind that they charge you with some extra Pips when closing your positions, you actually even LOSE more than you get regarding the bonus, and the probability of getting rid of all your funds rises enormously too.

Deposit Bonus created Bonus amount Account Action D4768 Sep 13, 2012 06:24 PM 90.30 USD 24253 Canceled D4776 Sep 13, 2012 06:24 PM 90.00 USD 24253 Canceled D4747 Sep 13, 2012 02:58 AM 90.00 USD 24253 Canceled D4410 Sep 4, 2012 03:09 AM 240.00 USD 24253 Completed

Here's their answer from the 31 st of October 2012 to my email regarding the rejection of my 1 st withdrawal request,

"Hello, "........................."

In case you refuse to cooperate we reserve a right to refund your total initial deposit amount into your Mastercard.

Profit will be paid only in case you follow our instructions.

Thank you


Quoting message from 31.10.2012 15:07

Hello, What is the suspicious activity in my account ? There has been no other access from other people except myself to the account. Used PIN and other information can only be typed by myself and be known by myself. Concerning 13.9 the name of my OCTAFX account equals the name of my bank account. Why do I have to send to you the files physically ? Sending it to St.Vincent and the Grenadines will take over weeks. There is no point in 13.12 that says these files will have to be sent to you physically Why can't the files just be uploaded normally like with any other broker ? Why can't the total amount not be withdrawn through Creditcard, just like I debited the account. This to me seems very very suspicious. If you do not cooperate in the nearest future and keep putting off the transaction to my bank account I will make use of the right from the Protection by Paylife and Mastercard and will report any fraud activity in connection with the denied transaction. Greetings, T.S"

that's why I said it's too good to be true if the ECN broker give us 30% deposit bonus, we should check the terms and rules before deposit. Is it really ECN anyway? What is it's LP??

Be very careful with firms that offer deposit bonuses, especially the large ones (like the 30% you mentioned.)

Money isn't free, it doesn't grow on trees, if they are giving you a bonus it's because they expect to make it back (and more) from your account in one way or another.

Brokers using the agency model (as in, just providing the STP/ECN like service, only processing trades on your behalf and not taking on market risk by providing the liquidity as well) won't usually be seen doing deposit bonuses since there'd be no way to pay for it.

I will add a Screenshot, where you can see that when closing your buy position, the order price is WAY under the bid price, the opposite for your sell order. It will also appear in the Order History. That doesn't have anything to do with ECN. Also they don't charge any commission as it was demanded if they were true ECN.

Wow, I was shocked to read this thread. I deposit more than $ 200 on OctaFx. But never make withdrawals because of my trade have not produced. But my referral make a deposit more than $ 4700 for following my beliefs on OctaFX and he has never made a withdrawal. But what about the future of my trade if it is true OctaFX like that? Damn!!

Hi, well nearly a pitty that I have to say I'm not the only one likely to face trouble with OctaFx.
Did you get any bonuses ?
My advice is to cancel them all if not too many LOTs to trade are left and try to withdraw your money ASAP and take it to a real ECN broker.
We don't seem to have any chance to find out where they are located. I would enjoy to see them take responsibility for all that bullshit.
I couldn't find the screenshots on my HD that substantiate the fraud when charging you extra by closing your trades.
Maybe you could post it here.
Thx

Tell your referral about this case as soon as possible,. I'm afraid if it's something happen then he blame you... and I think the freak2star have enough proof to warn traders in ff about this kind of broker...

Oh boy..looks like i am not alone..

I am facing the same situation with my withdrawal today.
They asked me to send hard copy to their HQ.

The email i received EXACTLY THE SAME.




Dear sir,

We have received an information, ( from who? ) that your account MIGHT have been involved into fraudulent activity or accessed by third parties intending to do so. We have grounds to believe the documents provided for this account as well as its identity do not belong to the actual account owner or the documents are forged.

This is not a statement, but an assumption, which requires investigation in accordance with of our Security Dept. requirements and policies. There is nothing to worry about, it’s a regular check, intended for your funds security and transactions' transparency first of all.

This is to let you know that in accordance with p. 13.9 and p. 13.12 of the Customer Agreement, namely:

13.9. To provide financial security for the Client in some cases the Company reserves a right to withdraw Client’s funds only to his/her bank account;

13.12. For security reasons upon withdrawal the Company reserves a right to demand Client’s complete identification data, such as ID copy, address proof copy, bank reference letter and other relevant documents, apostiled or certified by a notary.

Your withdrawal request from account 53XXX will be performed by bank wire. To complete the withdrawal, please follow these steps:

1. Please prepare the following documents:

a. Personal ID/passport copy (all the pages containing records)
b. Bank reference letter, clearly showing account name and account number on a bank letterhead with stamp and date.
c. An address proof, clearly showing residential address

ALL THREE TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH, NOTARIZED (OR CERTIFIED WITH AN APOSTILLE STAMP) BY A RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT AGENT.

2. Please send these documents (physically, by mail) to our HQ address at:
Cedar Hill Crest, P.O. Box 1825, Villa, St. Vincent and the Grenadines

3. After the documents are received, case investigated and verified, your wire transfer will be sent to your bank account

We apologize for any inconvenience caused.

* I deposit my account using LR, request for withdrawal also using LR.
* I did not claim the 30% so called 'bonus'.


My chat with their support.

You are now chatting with 'OctaFX Support'

OctaFX Support: Hello. How may I assist you?

Me: My withdrawal has been decline.

Me: Said that i i am not me?

OctaFX Support: the account no 53XXX?

Me: Yes

OctaFX Support: Your account is currently under investigation and you received an email with the instruction for the further actions

Me: Yes i have read it. But what is the verification purpose then? With all my national identity uploaded, bank statement uploaded.

Me: 2. Please send these documents (physically, by mail) to our HQ address at: Cedar Hill Crest, P.O. Box 1825, Villa, St. Vincent and the Grenadines 3. After the documents are received, case investigated and verified, your wire transfer will be sent to your bank account

Me: Are you kidding me with this?

OctaFX Support: The copies of your ID and the address proof are supposed to be certified by notary and sent to our physical address

OctaFX Support: No kidding.

Me: I am going to refer with your local IB.

OctaFX Support: Sorry?

Me: You have local IB here in Malaysia. Been recommended to use your platform by him. I will consult him.

OctaFX Support: Ok, sure!

Me: All the instant withdrawal and no hassle looks like not apply here

Me: i have to send a physical proof to Cedar Hill Crest, P.O. Box 1825, Villa, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, do you know how long it will takes?

OctaFX Support: not longer than 2 weeks as far as i'm concerned

Me: but it still time consuming.

Me: i am one of the international trader' member. this 'regular' check is 'something'.

OctaFX Support: well, sorry about that inconvenience, but this issue is mentioned in the Customer Agreement

OctaFX Support: Chapter 13.12. For security reasons upon withdrawal the Company reserves a right to

OctaFX Support: demand Client’s complete identification data, such as ID copy, address proof copy,

OctaFX Support: bank reference letter and other relevant documents, apostiled or certified by a notary.

Me: Sir/Madam, what makes you 'assume' that i am not me after all regarding all the document uploaded on the first place?

Me: *Please take note as well that this conversation will be appear in one of the forums that i am in.

OctaFX Support: This decision is made by the Financial and Security departments. So if the documents are required, there is no other way to go

Me: You have the rights to hold my withdrawal. I also have the rights to ask why and i demand a transparent answer. You did not go for other option, straight demanding that i need ti ship all of those documents that going to take 2 weeks to reach there.

OctaFX Support: you can create an official complaint if you disagree with some of the issues

OctaFX Support: To file any complaint, the Client should email it to [email protected]

OctaFX Support: 16.4. A complaint MUST contain:

OctaFX Support: 16.4.1. First and Last name of the Client (or company name if the Client is a

OctaFX Support: legal entity);

OctaFX Support: 16.4.2. Client’s login details in the Trading Platform (i.e. Account number);

OctaFX Support: 16.4.3. Details of when the conflict first arose (date and time in the Trading Platform Time Zone);

OctaFX Support: 16.4.4. Ticker of the position or Pending Order;

OctaFX Support: 16.4.5. Description of the conflict situation supported by the reference to the

OctaFX Support: Agreement;

OctaFX Support: 16.5. The complaint MUST NOT contain:

OctaFX Support: 16.5.1. Affective appraisal of the conflict situation;

OctaFX Support: 16.5.2. Offensive language;

OctaFX Support: 16.5.3. Uncontrolled vocabulary;

OctaFX Support: It'll be reassigned to the appropriate department and you'll receive the respond as soon as possible

Chat session has ended.


My so called 'complaint' email to them.

Dear Sir/Madam,
My withdrawal has been rejected. Your support personnel does not be able to tell me what is the 'security breach' that my account has done.
I trade manually. As you can see none of my trades using EA or robot. I online using a mobile broadband.
It is normal if you find my IP address will be a few.
About me enter the market while my withdrawal is still processing, i do not think that it will brings up to all of this hassle.
Said to be process within 1-2 hour, so after seeing the fund still not in my Libertyreserve's account, i figure i could still make some profits while it.
About to send all of my documents abroad, this is the very first time i am having this.
And believe me, afraid of anything could happen along the way, who know what will happen if it will not reach your HQ.
You can call me or we can do some video conference to verify all of this without me have to send the snail mail.
I hope this can be done without any hassle on my behalf.
I believe i have done nothing wrong.
All of my trades are manually and executes by me.
Thank you.


My account's statement = http://vadconfx.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Octa.jpg

@vadconfx: OMG !

well that is absolutely the same situation I used to be in !
First of all: avoid the same behaviour like me and close ALL your open orders !
don't even THINK about opening a new order.
from what I think they try to do is letting you KEEP on trading for some weeks, where they say this takes that long, and since they are no true ECN they will trade against you and try to let you lose your blocked fundings in that time.
From what I've seen the letter containing my Hardcopies had arrived Curacao, that is close to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, after only 5 days shipping all the way from Austria, but they SAID (i don't think they actually got it), that they have received it some weeks later.
I bet they tell you they got your Hardcopies when they see that your Account balance is close to when you opened your account, meaning that they
won't let you get your profit out. By the time my Equity was down from 8400 to 3000 they said they got my Hardcopies, but at the same time when trying to procced in withdrawing they STILL denied and kept on saying that the account was under investigation. WTF ?!!?
I also wondered why my identity hat to be proven if the only person that could have got a security PIN for withdrawal was myself ?!?
Also by giving you the "supports" email adress they refer to themselves.LOL
I wrote a "CEO message" ([email protected]) in which I pointed out the issues and complainted, going to post it here, NEVER got an answer.
It's ridicolous they keep on like that. By now they must have earned BIG times through that.
WE gotta put a stop to their game

I stop enter the market right after i got that email.
Honestly do smell something.
Stop doing anything for now.
Just wait and see.
Surely will fight for this truly, deeply and madly.

Where is the regulator? Ohh they dont have one?

Your bad.

Try well renown regulated markets like Australia UK and USA.

well, there is indeed a difference between NO regulator and the one they say there is :

St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which is Part of the Commonwealth and as such Part of the , ah, that's what you wrote, UK !!!!!

Most brokers, including legit and other variants offer bonus so you cannot use that as a metric to sort through the list. Do review the terms and conditions on bonus options and as regards this broker, just walk away since there's not much you can do at the moment. Of course you can post a review on your experience with this broker which should serve as a warning to others.

LOL, you certainly have a blanket over your eyes if you think UK has a lot of say in the affairs of Commonwealth nations. These brokers offer one way deposit only, onto their bank. Good luck getting your money back
People, please wake up and stop opening accounts with random brokers. Every now and then you see a thread like this