Forex Broker Sigma Forex Accused of Scamming Clients

A U.K.-based forex brokerage by the name of Sigma Forex has recently taken its well deserved place in the forex hall of shame.

The company seemingly turned out to be just another fraudulent forex broker (read more about how to choose a legitimate forex broker) that disappears into the night taking their client’s money with them and leaving a long string of customer complaints in their wake. In the end of the article you can read about other forex brokers that are scamming their customers.

Background on Sigma Forex

According to online sources, Sigma Forex’s real corporate name is SIGMAREX LIMITED based out of London, England. The company was at one time at registered as a business with companieshouse.gov.uk, although a current search for the company at that website returned no results.

Nevertheless, some Sigmarex data previously on the companieshouse.gov.uk website was able to be obtained from a third party. According to that source, the information for the company had it listed with a London address and a companieshouse business number: 06481102, while the nature of the business was suspiciously registered as a:

SIC(92): 7499 – Non-trading company.

Furthermore, the officers of the company are all listed as British nationals living abroad in Norway and Sweden. The two living in Sweden, Mohamed and Catherine Karim, are registered as the company’s directors, and since they share the same last name, they appear to be related. The Norway resident, Ingjerd Unsvag, was the Secretary of the company and may have provided an address for the company to receive mail at.

In addition, the former Sigma Forex website cited a number of regulatory agencies that they claimed to comply with, including the Financial Services Authority or FSA in the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, checks with that agency have shown that the company does not appear to be registered with the FSA, nor with any other regulatory agency, for that matter.

Sigma Forex’s Account Services

Since Sigma Forex’s official website can no longer be accessed, the recovered website provided by the Wayback Machine archives shows the forex broker touting their two types of forex trading accounts as follows:

• Standard Dealing Desk Account – which can be opened with $500 minimum deposit, and
• No Dealing Desk Account – where a $2,000 minimum deposit is required.

Furthermore, both account types offer leverage ratios ranging from 1:1 to 1:500, as well as the ability to trade Standard, Mini or Micro lot sizes from the same account.

With the No Dealing Desk account option, the broker’s website claimed that you could either direct your orders to the dealing desk or send them directly into the market with the no dealing desk feature.

The broker apparently also did not charge commissions, rollover swaps or any other kind of fee, and permitted accounts to be set up in USD, EUR, GBP, AUD and CHF. This must have added substantially to their attractiveness to potential clients, perhaps getting them to overlook other flaws with the broker.

Additional Features Claimed on Sigma Forex’s Website

According to the archives, the now “unavailable” Sigma Forex website had a long list of claimed features, which frankly do not seem to matter much if clients are separated indefinitely or permanently from their funds by the probably-fraudulent broker.

Some of these features included:

• Low margin requirements,
• Full hedging capabilities and
• The lowest spreads in the business, of just one pip in major currency pairs.

The archived website also stated that, “Maintaining the security of your money is a major objective at Sigma.”

About their regulatory qualifications, the archived website questionably claims:

Sigma is a registered financial institution, and registered with the European registration authorities. The regulations set out into notice by these agencies are created to help ensure the safety of our clients’ deposits.

The site ends the list of the broker’s features with,

In addition to all the above, Sigma holds all deposits with only highly reputable financial institutions. We are (sic) appreciate the trust of our clients place (sic) in us.

Then, as a last word, they offer this precious nugget:

Please be aware (sic) of brokers that guarantee the safety of your funds or that claim that your funds will receive special protections such as FDIC insurance. Nobody can guarantee profits in Forex trading.

Not only was their English extremely poor, a classic forex fraud warning sign, but they did not seem to have a problem reassuring potential clients in order to cover up their apparent intentions to defraud clients of their trading money and gains.

What Sigma Forex’s Clients Say

Regardless of Sigma Forex’s claims, the majority of online forum posters commenting on this brokerage are overwhelmingly negative. Apparently, many of their former clients were unable to recover any of their funds, and those that have gotten their money back waited for long periods of time after mediators intervened on their behalf.

Often, the company questionably claimed that the client had broken their trading rules. They also made the flimsy excuse that trading funds were frozen due to a pending merger, but they then refused to give any further details about the transaction, which does not seem to have yet materialized.

Stay Away From Sigma Forex

Basically, the last-quoted statement on Sigma Forex’s archived website says it all. Not only is the safety of your funds not guaranteed with this broker, but “Nobody can guarantee profits” is probably the most accurate statement on their no-longer active website.

When this kind of forex broker firm, which cannot guarantee the safety of your funds, goes belly-up or closes down, the possibility that they comply with every regulatory agency under the sun will not help you get your money back if they are not actually registered with a regulating authority, regardless of where they are based.

Remember, many forex broker fraudsters can make the money entrusted to them by forex traders grow legs and walk away. As a result, it is hardly surprising when they either intend or give into the temptation to do this and end up defrauding their clients.

Accordingly, make sure to do your homework when shopping for a forex broker, and avoid taking their word for anything. Find out the facts for yourself about which regulatory agency they are registered with, as well as what kind of withdrawal policies and reputation they have. Also be certain to read their fine print carefully.

Other Forex Broker scams:

Read about the 2.4 billion dollar Refco fraud.

The forex broker Crown Forex fraud.

Chris Lee

Share

Tweet

Safest Forex Brokers 2024

	Broker	Info	Best In	Customer Satisfaction Score
#1	Your capital is at risk Founded: 2014	Global Forex Broker	BEST SPREADS Visit broker	4.8
#2	Your capital is at risk Founded: 2006	Globally regulated broker	BEST CUSTOMER SUPPORT Visit broker	4.9
#3	* 82% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money Founded: 2008	Global CFD Provider	Best Trading App Visit broker	5
#4	Between 74-89 % of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs Founded: 2010	Global Forex Broker	Low minimum deposit Visit broker	4.9
#5	51% of retail CFD accounts lose money Founded: 2007	Global CFD & FX Broker (*Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn more)	ALL-INCLUSIVE TRADING PLATFORM Visit broker	4.9
#6	Your capital is at risk Founded: 2009, 2015 and 2017	Global Forex Broker	Low minimum deposit Visit broker	5
#7	Your capital is at risk Founded: 2006	CFD and Cryptocurrency Broker	CFD and Cryptocurrency Visit broker	5

Forex Fraud Certified Brokers

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 74-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.