Props for the Thought to Spsantos.

I see lots of newcomers on this website discussing different brokers. I will see someone saying and so ripped off me. And the brokers mentioned are extremely questionable.

I don't want to get off on a rant here but if you are going to entrust money to a broker, know who you are dealing with. My approaches for that aren't foolproof but most of the time, they will help you separate scam artists or even scam artists out of the legit brokers.

-How did you hear about them?

Did somebody come here, posted 5 times and 3 from 5 posts where about how good his broker was before he got banned? It is rarely an newcomer and frequently someone covered by the broker to post drivel.

-Domain name

forexhappy.com? ifxorgasm.com? forexsuperduperprofessional.com? weguaranteeyouwontlosemoneyinforex.com? All of those are outrageously. Is that when the title sounds cheezy, I would say scammy, I would question it. I would even question it was a SERIOUS sounding title such as wedontfuckaroundFX.com. But whether it sounds or not. Simply take the domain and continue on to the next step.

-Whois records

I can not stress that enough. Assess the WHOIS records. It is free, fast, simple and will save you from getting scammed.

My favorite spot to check whois documents is Name ligence's Whois Source. Simply take the domain and place it in the end of http://whois.sc/. So for example, if I would like to look up Oanda.com, I would type http://whois.sc/oanda.com.

You'll see information like the site name, the META description, etc.. That's not what we're after. Scroll the page down a bit and you'll see. You will see the Registrant's speech and much much more. But we will return to that in a moment.

Whois RecordRegistrant:
OANDA Corp..
140 Broadway
New York, NY 10005
US


Check out the actual website you are investigating. Is your address matching? If they claim to be on Wall Street would be the Whois record demoning a registrant's speech in Lagos? If it occurred would be suspicious?

Domain Name: OANDA.COM

Adminiive Contact:
Florian, Chris http://www.domaintools.com/registran...58bbdb28ebce81
Oanda Corp
30 St. Patrick Street Suite 300
Toronto About M5T 3A3
CA
416Â 586Â 0328 fax: 416Â 593Â 0185


Adminiive contact. Does the individual on the adminiive contact have anything on the internet? Google the contact name but do it with quotes. You'll notice things like negative threads about that person/broker on different forums and they are not Forex related. A BBB report will come up as a search result. There might be. You can also use variations from the Google search for example Joe Blow Forex, Joe Blow City name. Possibly something horrible will come up you'll find out that he's a part of the Chamber of Commerce's baseball team, he's a Saggitarius and enjoys to play with Chess. The more you find out, the better. Bear in mind, know who you are dealing with. You may have to call and yell at him over your account someday



Run a Google search on your telephone number. Are the consequences coming up looking great? For legit brokers, I see the broker's website as the very first outcome. I see a house telephone listing, When it's bad. I saw a telephone number connected with a garage listing. The guy running the website was a mechanic and the telephone number was his parent. What gave that guy the belief he could be a Forex broker is beyong me personally but that you have to cover yourself. I wish I was joking by the way about that story that is mechanic.



Google the email address too. It is fascinating what comes up.


Technical Contact...


Same as the Admin contact. The title is the same, sometimes it's not. If it is different google it.


Record expires on 03-Aug-2011.
Record created on 04-Aug-1996.
Database last updated on 25-Feb-2009 04:39:03 EST..


With this example, it demones that the record was created in 1996. This to me is an indior they've been around for long enough they are stable. That's the very first thing that I look at before taking a look at something different.


Post here if you have questions in my methodology and I will answer them to the best of my abilities. I will not do the research for you but will be pleased to tell you what I know you could do it yourself.