A Manitoba man thought he'd found a great trading opportunity online and recruited his friends — only to lose a combined $144,000.
The man clicked on an ad for PluStocks and created an account. After he was able to withdraw some of his "investment" and figured it was legitimate, he encouraged two friends to sign up for the "zero-risk, high-yield opportunity." They were told to expect a potential 75% gain in just 30 days, and that they could withdraw their money at any time.
"Next came a series of unauthorized credit card charges from companies they didn't recognize," said Jason Roy, senior investigator with the Manitoba Securities Commission. "When the friends realized there was a problem, requests to withdraw their money were ignored. It was too late. Unfortunately, we're seeing this pattern far too often."
The victims lost $84,486.08, $46,396.58, and $13,503.85. "These companies are exceptionally good at what they do — parting people with their money," said Roy. "One of these men has lost his entire RSP and had to remortgage his home. They can destroy a person's future."
Binary options are a sort of "wager": Investors bet on an asset — such a currency — for a short period of time, minutes or even seconds. When time's up, the investor either gets a predetermined payout or loses the bet; it's an "all or nothing" proposition, the MSC says. But some of the companies purporting to do this aren't even placing the bets but are simply stealing investors' money, officials say.
PluStocks is affiliated with Almog Ltd. PSBM Ltd., Altredo Ltd., and Greymountain Management, and associated with offices in London, U.K.; Dublin, Ireland; Nahariyya, Israel; and Saint Vincent, Grenadines. These addresses may be fabricated.
This year, Manitobans have lost nearly $330,000 to unregistered, offshore binary options firms, trading under a variety of names. The MSC believes more losses have gone unreported.
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