Binary Option Scams

There is a significant difference between deciding that you want to invest in binary options, researching the area and trading yourself through legitimate and regulated stock exchanges, and being involved in a binary option scam. 

Binary option scams will often involve people approaching you, whether over the phone, email, in person or on social media, to discuss binary options. Scammers will usually come across as being very knowledgeable in the area and will take their time to build your trust, before convincing you to put money into a binary option that they have identified as a great investment opportunity, based on their ‘knowledge and expertise’.

Usually this will involve them asking you to send money into what they claim is a secure account for your investment to be made, but unfortunately, this usually just involves your money being stolen as part of binary fraud. 

Binary option scam artists will act as legitimate investment brokers or a similar role, or they may even pretend to work for established companies to assist in building your trust. However, it’s actually illegal for regulated investment brokers to offer binary option investments in the UK, as a ban was put in place by the FCA to make it illegal for brokers to offer them to you.

Off-shore brokers or unregulated brokers could legally offer this, however, this is a huge red flag and we would never advise working with anyone off-shore or unregulated on any investment unless you’re extremely experienced in the field. Even if it is ‘legal’ for them to approach you, there is a high likelihood you could be a victim of binary fraud. 

The best way to avoid binary option scams is to completely ignore any contact that is made with you about them. The only eventuality that someone makes contact with you about a binary option where it’s legal would be if a broker based off-shore. However, this is a huge red flag and we would never recommend using an off-shore broker for your investments. 

So, to summarise, if anyone contacts you about binary options, or you see an advert for binary options, we would advise ignoring it and never giving away any information. When investment opportunities that you’re not experienced in look too good to be true, often they are, and should be avoided at all costs to avoid binary option scams.

If you think you’ve been a victim of a binary option scam, call your bank immediately. If the payment hasn’t been taken yet, they may be able to pause the transfer.

Once you have contacted your bank about the suspected binary fraud, if the transaction couldn’t be stopped and they are unwilling to reimburse the money you have lost, then get in touch with legal experts specialising in wealth recovery and online trading scams. Doing this as soon as you realise you have been scammed will help to increase the chances of part, or all, of your money being recovered through advanced tracing services.

You should then also report the binary option scam to the police and fraud companies such as FCA Scam Smart and Action Fraud, to help stop the scammers and prevent it from happening again.

Whether or not binary options are a good investment depends on a number of factors, including your experience in the area, the market you choose (Forex, Stock Indices, Commodities and Events) and also the level of risk you are willing to invest with.

There is a high return on investment opportunity with binary options, as well as a fixed risk as you know exactly what you have the potential to win or lose. The turnover rate is also quick which can make this type of investment exciting, however, this can lead to an addiction, just like it would with actual casino gambling.

Binary options could be a good investment for you if:

• You trade through a regulated stock exchange
• You have expertise and knowledge in the area you are investing in, to make informed decisions
• You are well aware of the high risk nature of binary options
• You know you are making rational investment decisions
• You know how to spot and avoid binary option scams

Even if someone does approach you about investing in a binary option and then being your broker, it’s actually illegal in itself in the UK for a regulated investment broker to offer you a binary option as an opportunity. So, there is no completely legitimate outcome of anyone contacting you about binary options if they’re claiming to be based in the UK, whether they’re an actual broker who is practising illegally or simply a scammer. A broker who is based offshore or one who is regulated could contact you and that would technically be legal, but again, we would never recommend this as you could still easily become a victim of binary fraud.