I was surprised how many ppl i know is involved in TriumphFX, which is supposedly regulated in Cyprus and Seychelles. TriumphFX is a securities broker, like CIMB securities. They are not licensed to sell funds.
However, ppl i know with zero financial experience and unlicensed to sell investment funds, tells me about the forex funds available on this TriumphFX platform that makes more than 10% per month. They say the funds are offshore hence not regulated by Securities Commission of Malaysia. And that you need to be involved because so many people are already living off commissions. For every dollar invested by new recruits, 30% of profits go back to the direct sellers. They sell using a multi-level marketing structure.
First of all, I checked the direct selling association of Malaysia. TriumphFX is NOT part of it.
When I expressed interest to learn more, the friendly sales person shared a list of managed funds profiles in PDF format and a detailed presentation on one of the funds. The forex funds work miracles by making more than 10% per month, better than all global hedge funds. The fund documents do not include any logo of TriumphFX, contacts details or identifiers of anyone if you are keen on the fund and most importantly, disclaimers involving financial regulators warnings.
To have some fun, I decided to sign up with US$1k. After signing up online, and reluctantly shared my identity card details, I was onboarded! To pay my US$1k, there are various payment options revealed on the platform. However, if I pay TriumphFX by telegraphic transfer, they claim I will be paying banks in Hong Kong, Dubai or United Arab Emirates. A closer look at the payment details (beneficiaries) will reveal that I am actually paying individuals in Hong Kong and a strange company called Spectre Cyber Technology in Dubai and United Arab Emirates . We are also reminded not to take any screen shots because the details may change. If I choose to fund my TriumphFX through local payment gateways due to prohibitive costs of telegraphic transfer, I am asked to pay through paytrust88 which sounds like the paytrust inc, a subsidiary of the US$100 billion market capitalisation US company in a similar business. Paytrust88 however, also infringes the rules of the Bank Negara Malaysia by allowing the Paytrust88 website to ask for bank login and password, instead of directing the user straight to the bank portal. Paytrust88 may be collecting bank details and avoid displaying the ultimate beneficiary recipient of the funds.
Lastly, the friendly direct seller also offers a prospect another way to fund and withdraw from the TriumpFX account. They tell you that if you want to save on FX charges, you could pay a few other local random individual bank accounts a fixed discounted amount and your TriumphFX balance increases miraculously a short while later. To withdraw, a member is usually discouraged from doing so given the high returns and I suspect, to avoid disappointing your upline direct sellers’s share of marketing profits. But when it does happen, a random and unknown direct seller will buy you out in cash and takeover your TriumphFX account. I cant imagine it’s so easy for someone to takeover by my Interactive Broker’s or Charles Schwab brokerage account. None of these methods are compliant with anti-money laundering best practices obviously.
Financial regulators in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong already put TriumphFX (and its many websites) on their Investor Alert list.
In the Singliworld forx pyramid scheme, TriumphFX was named as one of the entities involved.
In my case, my upline discourage me from withdrawing. Ask me why I am unhappy with super high returns.
All these sounds fishy la.. better to avoid. Else later at night cannot sleep well also if the amount you deposit means a lot to you.