InvestTeck

InvestTeck lines up with so many other brokers in a queue, steadily and patiently awaiting for the next big fish to bite their bait. The lure is a very well crafted broker website that presents unsuspecting users with a deceptive opportunity. How far does the rabbit hole go? Read on to find out.

It’s a rocky start at best. To get any idea of a regulation, one must check the Privacy Policy, the Footer and the Terms and Conditions. This is where things start revealing themselves. The footer states that InvestTeck is owned and operated by GreenRiver OU located in Estonia, a country known for its liberal laws, which in turn attract many suspicious companies. For financial activities and capital markets trading Finantsinspektsioonacts (FI) acts as a regulatory entity, with all regulated companies being officially included in an online register. After personally searching for both GreenRiver and InvestTeck, we got no results. There’s more. The T/C unexpectedly mentions the FCA a couple of time, with no claim or evidence of any kind to justify these references, save for an “operational address” in Ireland as pointed out in the footer. The FCA is the most revered regulator of Forex brokers, second only to the NFA and CFTS in the US. Yet again the register search results confirmed our suspicions. We can safely conclude that InvestTeck is NOT REGULATED, and thus a hazardous environment for any investors.

Investing in unregulated brokers is the digital equivalent of throwing your money away for the wind to disperse it. It’s obvious that no one would do such a thing. Go with brokers that are actually regulated by the FCA, and have the ability and will to prove it. The FCA makes sure that brokers work within the confines of the law, and requires regular detailed reports on brokers’ affairs. Brokers under the FCA are also apart of the FSCS, which allows for the reimbursement of up to £85 000 to clients who are victimized by the broker’s inability to pay its debts (due to bankruptcy, or any other similar cause).

InvestTeck gives traders a leverage of 1:200. Since the company is supposedly based somewhere in Europe, this value goes against ESMA regulations: the leverage has been maxed out to 1:30. Anything higher than that is illicit.

The spread as indicated on the website shows 3 pips for the EUR/USD pair. This is a very unappealing number, because it’s in the broker’s best interest to offer a low spread to attract users.

There is a satisfactory number of tradable instruments: Currency Pairs, Cryprocurrencies, Commodities, Indices and Shares.

The only available language is English. For an allegedly European broker this won’t do. Only some US brokers offer English as an exclusive language.

INVESTTECK LOGIN

The proprietary platform, aptly named InvestTeck Trader is the only trading terminal and leaves traders wanting more.

INVESTTECK TRADER

This platform has been in our peripherals for some time now, namely associated with fraudulent brokers like TDS Capital Group. And as with the other brokers that utilize this terminal, our conclusion has not changed: the platform simply does not offer enough to retain. We opened a Live account without even presenting any documents whatsoever; furthering our distrust with InvestTeck.

The EUR/USD spread we got was 3 pips, as advertised on the website. The leverage in the EU/UK is limited to 1:30 by ESMA, but seeing as the broker goes by its own rules it has offered a leverage of 1:200.

The platform is said to be a desktop and mobile trader, yet there were no links or download buttons to back up these claims. We were only able to access the terminal via a web browser.

INVESTTECK MINIMUM DEPOSIT

The minimum deposit is $250. There are multiple account types that require an increasingly higher deposit.

Funding methods are inconsistent. The Deposit and Withdrawals page indicates 3 options, while the Payment Terminal showcases only one of them:

As far as this is concerned, for us the only method of depositing is either a Credit or Debit card.

This is another instance that furthers our trustworthiness with this unregulated broker, hence we advice against making any deposits whatsoever. If traders wish to trade in a safe and regulated environment, we recommend any broker that has a license from the FCA/CySEC since these agencies are renowned for their strict law enforcing and protection of clients’ investments and personal information. Not to mention that they offer more payment options without misleading the client.

DON’T PROVIDE YOUR CREDIT CARD CVV CODE

For safekeeping your money NEVER share your credit card number and CVV code with a salesperson. InvetTeck has purposefully left this significant detail out. All online payments require this 3 digit number in order to complete purchases or transactions, and by giving yours away to some offshore broker may lead only to the complete drainage of funds from your credit card.

DON’T PROVIDE ACCESS TO YOUR COMPUTER AND BANK ACCOUNT VIA ANYDESK OR TEAMVIEWER

Another novice mistake that has been numerously repeated and taken advantage of is providing access to your computer and bank account via AnyDesk or TeamViewer. These two softwares allow for others (in our case the people behind the shady brokerage) to log-in to your PC and flip through all files and browsers, essentially taking over your computer as another user and having access to your personal information like bank account passwords, credit card information etc. Thankfully, these platforms are completely legal and will need your own personal approval in order to be used.

INVESTTECK WITHDRAWAL TIME AND FEES

The minimum withdrawal amount is $100 for Wire Transfer and $50 for other methods. There is no indication on withdrawal methods leaving us puzzled.

Fees and charges have been abused, so bear with us as we cover them all. Withdrawal fees are all over the place, and get confusing quick.

So… there is a withdrawal fee on credit cards that has no percentage attached to it:

Furthemore, a fee of 0.5% is charged on all “other” withdrawals. What these “other” withdrawals are is a question most perplexing:

It probably means that all other methods, excluding Credit Cards, are charged with a 0.5% commission of the total sum.

This theory is quickly debunked in the Withdrawals subsection, where suddenly the charge shifts to 3.5%

Second there is a vague mention of a commission in the Order Execution Policy section,

after the broker specifically says that there are 0 commissions on trading on the Account Types page:

Furthermore, InvestTeck includes a Renewal Fee, which occurs once a trading position is extended to the next day (and thereafter). The amount is, unsurprisingly, not mentioned, other than it’s above $3, but what is more controversial is that clients, according to the T/C that they agree upon once registered, give their full consent to the broker who can hereby charge said sum directly from their Credit cards.

Last but not least the dormant fee of $50, if no trading has been detected for over 60 days, is extremely high. Usually sleeper account fee do not go above $30 (and even this is high), and are activated after a minimum of 3 month of inactivity. Such is the case with many licensed brokers, like Plus500 ($10) or ETX Capital ($25).

The process time for withdrawal is 7 days according to the T/C.

Processing times are usually capped at 5 days with regular brokers, and anything higher than that is seen as an oddity.

Nevertheless, the Withdrawal page lowers the withdrawal processing threshold with 3-4 days:

No matter which source you trust, be assured that Investteck will likely never return your funds.

ADDITIONAL FEES AND TAXES

Unlicensed brokers utilize smartly crafted tactics to keep you as invested as possible into their schemes of deception. And seeing that every day there are many who fall victim to their plans, one must realize that these people are smart and fully capable of manipulating the mass of novice traders, either by finding or creating loopholes in the T/C, by reassuring that the more you postpone your withdrawal the better the chance of quadrupling your initial investment, or just asking for more deposits.

ACCOUNT VERIFICATION

We strictly advise against giving away an ID and proof address to unregulated brokers: they can be literally anyone with enough time and skill to mask themselves as a broker. Usually, these individuals use the anti-money laundering legislation as front for when traders start to get suspicious. Once this suspicion is confirmed and you file for a chargeback, they will use your details against you case.

We are positive that this so called broker will not return your funds; the evidence we have laid out before you work in sync against it. The sound thing to do is to direct your attention and investment to an FCA or CySEC licensed broker where the law is integrated in every aspect of their operations.

HOW TO RECOVER

The most sound advice we could give you is to immediately file for a charge back with you credit card company.

If you have given away your credit card details including the CVV code to the “broker” you should cancel it ASAP and check with your bank to see the damage inflicted.

Also, beware of self proclaimed “recovery” agencies or agents. These cheeky scammers promise to fix your problem and restore the lost funds. They offer their services in exchange of a small sum from your end, after which you won't ever hear from them again.

BOTTOM LINE

The last line of defense for these indecent folk is more like a desperate cry: often times they will comment on reviews and cite the whole ordeal as a conspiracy initiated by competitive brokers against them; at times even claiming that reviewers are anything but objective, and that no one writes good reviews. The absurdities are limitless!

This brokers has intertwined itself it its own deceptive words, yet it takes a careful and patient approach for one to realize that. Make no mistake, InvetTeck is UNREGULATED and probably a SCAM.