Serial scammers launch fake brokers one after another, aiming to quickly fill their wallets with investors’ money. Typically, such scam projects disappear after some time when regulators issue warnings about fraud. But before that, they manage to cause harm and defraud many. Today, we will look at one of these fraudulent organizations – BlaFX. According to online reviews, the company actively attracts novice traders from Russia and other CIS countries.
Information about the dubious broker
BlaFX (Bethle Aster) presents itself as a reliable broker that has achieved a high level of trader satisfaction. Potential clients are promised prompt execution of trades, a wide selection of trading instruments, and secure fund storage.
The project’s launch date and information about its leaders are missing. The company behaves covertly and anonymously, typical of fraudsters. The domain history shows that the blafx.com website has been operational since 2015, but this does not guarantee its reliability. From the website archive, we can see how it looked recently:
Originally, it was a Chinese company unrelated to brokerage services. Scammers acquired the domain and recently started promoting their services. The latest update to the website was on March 29 of the current year. Probably, since then, the organization we are examining has been in existence.
The shady office offers some fake phone numbers and email addresses. According to user reviews, contacting support is impossible, which is fair. Fraudsters ignore those who ask questions or are unwilling to invest more.
Official documentation
The platform lacks scanned copies of documents confirming legal activities, but BlaFX claims to be officially registered in Hong Kong and Australia and has the following regulators:
- BETHLE ASTER GLOBAL INVESTMENTS LIMITED, Hong Kong (Certificate No. 2267160),
- BETHLE ASTER GLOBAL INVESTMENT PTY LIMITED, Australia (License No. 421246).
Upon checking this information, we found that ASIC did not issue a license to this brokerage firm, as seen in the screenshot below. Regarding activities in the Russian-speaking segment, there are no chances of obtaining a license. The Central Bank of Russia included blafx.com and crm.blafx.com in the blacklist on May 19, 2023, warning about the fraud of this organization. Client reviews confirm this, and no help can be expected from the regulator.
Trading account options
BlaFX does not provide detailed contract characteristics. We learned the following:
- Availability of MetaTrader 4 platform (download the terminal on the broker’s website),
- Various methods for deposit/withdrawal of funds,
- Auto trading,
- Diversity of trading instruments (Forex currencies, CFDs),
- Backtesting for advisor optimization,
- Referral program,
- Trader’s calculator,
- Instant order execution.
Terms of cooperation become known after registration. Reviews mention that scammers change the rules and do not allow for earnings. The minimum deposit is $25, and the maximum leverage is 1:2000.
Negative experience reviews
Negative reviews about BlaFX only confirm the poor reputation of this company. Real clients leave discouraging feedback.
Fell victim to this scam? Share your experience to help others avoid financial loss. Reviews can be submitted through a special form under our review.
Scam
The scammers from BlaFX lure newcomers with promises. They aim to attract novice traders and deceive them, even if it’s with small investments. They promise trading assistance and offer to install software for remote access. They say it will help learn in practice, but in reality, it’s just a convenient way to gain access to the user’s account and deliberately withdraw their deposit. Retrieving funds will be challenging.
In conclusion
BlaFX cannot be trusted, as the verification results and user reviews indicate. It is recommended to stay away from this broker and look for alternative options. Pay attention to documentation and trader reviews.