Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) warned on Tuesday of a clone company pretending to be forex broker FXDD, which is a Malta-regulated entity. Moreover, the fake website states it is licensed by the MFSA, when in fact it has not been authorized to carry out any investment or financial services in Malta.
The clone is called FXDD Trade and operates via the website www.fxddtrade.com. It uses a name similar to FXDD and cites the license number of FXDD as its own. The scammer also provides other mislead information in an attempt to deceive investors into thinking it is associated to the genuine broker.
The Maltese watchdog warned investors should be cautious and refrain from engaging with any business with FXDD Trade. The MFSA is the sole regulator for financial services in Malta. It maintains a searchable register where investors can look up all entities licensed to operate in the country.
Both FXDD Trade and FXDD offer trading in forex pairs and binary options. FXDD’s portfolio also includes contracts for difference (CFDs), oil and metals. Both brokers offer partner programs, too.
FXDD is a unit of interdealer broker Tradition, which is part of Switzerland-based Compagnie Financiere Tradition, a company listed on the Swiss stock exchange. The broker is licensed by the MFSA. It used to be licensed as introducing broker (IB), forex firm, swap firm and a member of the US National Futures Association (NFA), but it withdrew its US licenses in February 2015, after in H2 2014 the largest US forex broker, Forex Capital Markets, or FXCM, acquired its US clients.
