How to tell a real broker from a scam
We would rather you check us properly than take our word for it. Here is exactly how, and what the operations that collapsed here had in common.
Both platforms
Live chart, on the phone you already have
FSA-licensed broker · Licence SD133
The five checks, in order
None of these need expertise. They need twenty minutes and a willingness to walk away.
Not a link from the broker, not a certificate image — type the regulator's address yourself and search their register. Ours is TNFX Ltd, licence SD133, Financial Services Authority of Seychelles. An expired or withdrawn licence still appears on most registers, so read the status line, not just the number.
The company on the register should be the company behind the account you fund. If the money goes to a personal wallet or a differently-named business, stop there.
Anyone can take a deposit. Ask specifically what pays out, and what the minimum is. A vague answer here is the single most reliable warning sign in this market.
Before you build a balance. Deposit, trade a little, withdraw a small amount, and watch what happens. A firm that pays $60 cleanly will pay $6,000.
In Arabic and English both. You are not looking for zero complaints — every firm has some. You are looking for a pattern of people who cannot withdraw.
The pattern behind the ones that collapsed here
Unlicensed operations have been shut down in the Kurdistan Region and elsewhere in Iraq, and they rhyme. If you recognise several of these together, leave:
A real office with good furniture, because premises feel like proof and cost less than you think. A fixed monthly return — eight per cent, ten per cent, whatever — which no trading operation on earth can promise. Someone who trades on your behalf and asks for your password. Pressure to bring in friends and family, with a cut for each. And withdrawals that work perfectly at first, for small amounts, until they do not.
That last one is the cruellest and the most common. Early withdrawals are paid precisely so that you and everyone you tell will deposit more.
Early small withdrawals are paid on purpose. They are the marketing budget, not proof.
Things a legitimate broker never does
- Never asks for your account password. Not support, not your account manager, not anyone. We do not need it and will never request it.
- Never guarantees a return. Not a percentage, not a floor, not "low risk high reward". Real markets do not work that way and saying otherwise is the signature.
- Never pays you into someone else's name. Withdrawals go to the account holder, always. If a firm offers to pay a third party, that is a money-laundering red flag, not a convenience.
- Never pressures you to deposit today. Countdown timers on a personal message are sales pressure, not opportunity.
- Never refuses to explain a fee. If nobody can tell you plainly what a charge is for, assume the worst.
If it has already happened
Stop depositing. That sounds obvious and it is the hardest step, because the operation will tell you one more payment unlocks the withdrawal. It does not — that request is the final stage of the pattern, not a solution.
Save everything: messages, receipts, transfer confirmations, the wallet or card you paid, names and phone numbers. Report to the regulator named on whatever licence they claimed, even if you doubt the licence — a false claim is itself reportable. If money went through a local wallet or exchanger, raise it with them immediately; speed matters far more than completeness.
And tell people. The reason these operations keep working in Iraq is that the people they catch are too embarrassed to say so.
Common questions
How do I check if a forex broker is real?
Look up the licence number on the regulator's own website — not a link the broker gives you — and confirm the company name matches who you are paying. Then make one small withdrawal early.
Is TNFX licensed?
Yes. TNFX Ltd is authorised as a Securities Dealer by the Financial Services Authority of Seychelles, licence SD133. Look it up on the FSA register rather than taking our word for it.
Someone offers a guaranteed monthly return. Is that possible?
No. No trading operation can guarantee a return. A fixed monthly percentage is the single most reliable sign of a scheme rather than a broker.
My broker asks for my password to help me trade. Is that normal?
No, and no legitimate firm ever needs it. Anyone asking is either running a scam or breaking their own rules — either way, refuse.
They paid my first withdrawal, so they must be real?
Not necessarily. Paying small early withdrawals is a deliberate part of the pattern — it is what convinces you and your friends to deposit more.