About the broker According to Bloomberg, ACM Advanced Currency Markets SA (ACM Forex) provides forex brokerage services online and also invites its clients to trade gold and silver. The company was founded in 2002 and has been headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. As of October 26, 2010 ACM Advanced Currency Markets SA (ACM Forex) worked as a subsidiary of Swissquote Group Holding Ltd. Lloyd La Marca launched the official website of ACM Forex which had operated until 2010 until it was bought by Swissquote, a Switzerland-based bank. Following the link of the broker’s website, we open a trading floor of the Swissquote Bank which does not provide services to the Russian citizens. Million-dollar affair According to well-informed sources, ACM Forex became one of the three brokerage companies in Switzerland which lost a license from FINMA (the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority). Eventually, the broker had to suspend its activities on Swiss trading floors. ACM Forex has gained a dubious reputation due to involvement in a series of fraudulent schemes. The police carried out a raid in the office and removed documents and computers. The office was searched after a client from Mexico had filed a lawsuit against the broker. The client was reportedly defrauded of over $1 million as a result of a scam. ACM Forex did not accept accusation of the Mexican customer. Moreover, the broker charged the former client with blackmail and forged documents. Ilya Paniotov, a forex speculator from New York, traded with ACM Forex for more than three years. He told the Swisster news agency that the company cheated clients through its own trading platform. The broker provided fake quotes, overvalued spreads, and manipulated figures of amounts required to execute a deal. The Russian trader from the US was aware of programming and claimed that the broker swindled its clients out of money. Paniotov traded with ACM Forex through MexBank. He arrived in Geneva to share his suspicions with the Swiss police. The trader said that in March 2017 when he handled two different accounts with ACM Forex, deals in these accounts were recorded at the same time but at different prices. The broker explained that it uses different liquidity providers. Besides, citing the trader the company increased margin requirements without prior notice. As a result, traders were charged extra money to continue trading. Besides, the trader told the police that his accounts were disabled immediately after he had informed the broker of these problems. A former ACM employee gave him the screenshots which confirmed discrepancies between the deals on the EUR/USD pair executed at the same in different accounts. In response to Paniotov’s testimony in Switzerland, ACM Forex made a statement to refute all allegations. The broker claimed being a victim of the former client. Moreover, the company brought an action against the trader, accusing him of blackmail, slander, and forged documents. MexBank launched a probe of ACM Forex after a loss of several million US dollars in forex trade. For a start, the bank hired a lawyer and private detectives and then applied to the Swiss law enforcement authorities. After a while, the head office in Geneva was searched. The news spread across the Internet in a flash. Forex forums started heated discussions which are still going on. We came across several complaints about the broker, one of them was from that former trader of ACM Forex. "Keep away from ACM Forex if you don’t want to lose your money," he warns traders. On the other hand, there are a lot of positive reviews of the company. Cathalene Kovacs from Lausanne calls an ACM trading platform the most suitable for ambitious traders. Tribune de Geneve, a Geneva-based periodical, published an interview with one of the ACM founders Alexander Axalis. Citing the executive, the broker’s annual income in 2007 totaled CHF 70 million. According to the periodical’s estimate, the amount of funds in ACM accounts exceeded USD 100 billion in the same year. The probe into the fraudulent scheme came to a halt and the broker went on with its routine. However, the company was not able to regain the trustworthy reputation due to maladministration and a struggle for power among shareholders. Eventually, founder and vice president Lloyd La Marca had to resign from the Board of directors. Later, the broker was taken over by Swissquote Bank, Switzerland’s bank. This is all freely available information. The ruling on the lawsuit about lost millions of the Mexican client still remains a mystery. Interestingly, judging by recent reviews, ACM Forex is now operating under a different name but carries on its dishonest activities, cheating its clients. Reviews of ACM Forex In 2017, participants of trading forums took notice that Sakura, ACM Forex, and GTP are brokerage companies operated by the same people under the same scheme. In April 2017, one of traders left a review, "ACM FX and GTP FX are swindlers. Broker’s representative Ranek (+442076917186; +442871930334; +442033896666; ranek@acm-fx.com) contacts you via email and telephone. However, as soon as you make a request for the first money withdrawal, he blocks all messages and you are not able to contact him.""I used to be an ACM FX client. The broker stands out by quality customer support. It seems to me that ACM FX and GTP FX are brokers within the same group. Perhaps, Sakura also belongs to it. The company wins your trust by first-class costumer support, replying to all your questions and advising on any problem. This produces a magic effect, making you think that the company operates in the legal field. However, as soon as you want to withdraw cash, you’re blocked immediately. Please, don’t waste your time and money. I’ve lost $3,000 with them." "The broker claims to cooperate with the global liquidity providers, referring to such banks as Citi Bank and the Bank of America. In fact, this is a lie. The FINMA watchdog refused to issue a license to ACM FX." The opinion of the review`s author is private and not obligated to reflect the position of the resource. If you have any remarks and suggestions on new articles please contact us via this form.
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When I found an article discussing the fraudulent activities of ACM Forex, it was already too late. I already opened an account and deposited $5000. I was persuaded by their representative and I trusted the company without a second thought.
At first, when articles about the fraudulent activities of ACM Forex spread out, I did not believe them. I did not want to believe it because that would mean I will lose my money too. But then after a week, the broker shut down my account and did not release my remaining funds.
To be honest, I never noticed anything wrong with ACM Forex. I was just making my trades without a clue and I only realized the misdeed when I could no longer access my account. This is when I started to see complaints from other clients and found out that the broker had been fooling us all along.
I invested a total of $3000 to ACM Forex. I was played by my account manager. He made my account so profitable that when he asked me to add more funds, I easily obliged. I never thought that this was their real intention -- to take all of their clients' funds.
ACM Forex really just disappeared on us. I was trading with the broker for more than half a year when they suddenly shut down. Their website was inaccessible and their contact details were impossible to reach. At first, I only thought that there was a technical problem but when days have already passed, I realized that it was more than just that. Indeed, the broker ran away with our money.
My experience at ACM Forex was terrible. I thought that this broker could be trusted because of their professional presentation on their website. Unfortunately, this was nothing but a fraud. After I made my deposit, none of the representatives responded to my messages again and after a few day, my account was gone.
I used to trade at ACM Forex and I even had an account manager whom I really trusted so much. In total, I deposited $3500 to this broker and after making my first withdrawal request, I was simply dumped by the broker.
The broker never planned to give us back our money from the start. I honestly feel ashamed for letting them fool me like this. I should have been more careful and I should have never trusted them so easily.
Right after ACM Forex suspended my account for trying to withdraw my profits, I immediately warned my friends to halt their plans on investing with the broker. I introduced it to them believing that I found an amazing broker. Good thing, non of them have opened an account yet.
ACM Forex was a popular broker. Everyone wanted to have an account with them because of their lucrative offers. None of us thought about the risks it entails. The broker had great PR campaigns that is why we were easily convinced to invest with them.
I opened an account at ACM Forex because one of their employees reached out to me and convinced me to open an account with them. If I only knew that this broker was a fraud, I would never deal with them. But the broker appeared reputable and their services are really promising. In the end, I lost $500 to this broker and they closed my account right after I made a deposit.
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