A forex trading scam is any scheme employed by certain people to trick individual traders by trying to convince them of gaining a high profit margin by trading in the foreign exchange market. The forex market has long been plagued by swindlers able to prey on the gullible in order to defraud them of money. Gullible foreign exchange investors can be defrauded of thousands of dollars in a forex trading scam.

A typical case of a forex scam happens when investors are promised with tens of thousands of dollars in profits in just a matter of a few weeks or months in return for an investment of a thousand or so dollars. When an investor agrees to take part in the scam, the investor’s money is never actually traded in the forex market. It is usually diverted to an unknown account for the personal benefit of the scam instigators.

The nature of the forex market is that it is a zero-sum market. This simply means that whatever one trader gains, another trader loses. Unlike in the stock market, there is no instance that everyone profits in the foreign exchange market at any one time. There are always winners and there are losers, although it might not be on a single transaction.

Forex scams may be identified for their common characteristics. One of the obvious signs of such scams includes promises of large profits. Most forex scams try to attract unknowing victims by guaranteeing high returns for low risk investments in certain currencies. Masterminds of forex scams also use high pressure tactics to convince investors to immediately send money through money transfers or through overnight delivery companies.

These scams may come your way through advertisements in newspapers and magazines. Such ads promise high rewards for supposedly low risk investments in the foreign exchange market. Some scams may even make use of unsolicited phone calls to contact prospective investors and use their high pressure tactics to convince people to take part and invest in their scam.

One of the ways to avoid becoming a victim of such forex trading scams is by being aware of these signs. Another way is through a bit of investigation. Before investing on a supposedly attractive deal that you suspect to be a scam, try to investigate its background. Before you give any amount to a certain forex company offering highly profitable guarantees, try to check whether the firm involved is registered with the CFTC or the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission or the NFA or the National Futures Association.