Online Trading Academy - Scam for at least $ 370 million

Online Trading Academy - Scam for at least $ 370 million

Do you think that the Amber Gold financial pyramid was the biggest financial scam in recent years? Both in terms of the scale of losses and, above all, the sophistication of the deception, it was even ... kindergarten. See how the largest financial pyramid in the world operated for the last 20 years, created by "professional" fraudsters from the USA. Here's a story that shows that there are no shortcuts in trading.

The case came to light now that the US Federal Trade Commission has finally dealt with the matter of the Online Trading Academy. The lawsuit filed this year has over 8 thousand. pages. It is worth 370 million USD, and this is only the amount calculated for the last six years. Money obtained extortion before 2014 will be forfeited because the case will be time-barred. Lawyers argue that in total losses reach USD 670 million, i.e. over PLN 2,8 billion.

Franchise for 750 thousand USD

The lawsuit was filed in California and we can read in it how a professionally prepared and conducted financial pyramid operated, managed by two really talented fraudsters: Eyal Shachar and Sam Seiden. The allegations are so well documented that the court in the initial phase decided to freeze not only the company's assets, but also personal assets owned by both partners.

The investigation in this case was conducted by the American TradingSchools.Orgwho managed to reach a man who worked at the Online Trading Academy. Let us emphasize right away that this company dealt with criticism uncompromisingly. Anyone who started to suggest that it might be an illegal act - would immediately get a lawsuit, which was widely publicized so that others would not follow in his footsteps. Costs didn't matter - any negative voice had to be silenced, regardless of the price.

The company operated with a huge impetus. The headquarters of Online Trading Academy was in Irvine, California, but there were also a lot of volunteers who tried to get rich quickly thanks to the franchise, although it was not cheap. Depending on the size of the population in a given area, you had to pay from 300 USD up to 750 thousand USD. For this money, you could use the company logo and name, but above all know how, how to convince customers that "Easy to earn millions during the day".

Who are the founders of Online Trading Academy

Sam Seiden

Eyal Sachar flew to the US from Israel. Sam writes in the biography that he had no money. Journalists checked why - it turned out that in his homeland he regularly came into conflict with the law. He was even supposed to hide after a failed attempt to sell fake diamonds. However, he focused on selling quick enrichment programs.

It turned out that the myth of the "American dream" means that there are many more people in the US willing to make their financial dreams come true. This observation and the meeting of Sam Seiden, who sold several thousand. USD your "Secret trading system"and then a book "Millionaire entrepreneur day", influenced his further life.

How to extort over PLN 1,5 billion?

The idea was - like all others - to convince clients that the secret trading system was working fine. For this purpose, potential clients were invited to the office with dozens of computer screens on which graphs were displayed. The more complicated the better. There were "traders" sitting in front of them, gesturing lively, calling somewhere and carrying out complicated financial operations all the time.

The tour guide said they earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. It was even possible to exchange a few sentences with them, during which a potential client learned that day-trading virtually anyone can learn. And maybe the "traders" even believed it themselves, because they were previously car and real estate sellers or people who took part in casual occasional activities.

The cost of training to become one of them was 60. USD. However, not everyone had that amount right away, so the generous company had an offer also for those who did not have a lot of cash, but had regular income. They could take advantage of a "super-offer" in a loan with an interest rate of 18%, which had to be repaid within the next 6 months.

The stupid the customer, the better

All salespeople were trained to select the customers who would be the easiest to cheat. Therefore, they focused on the least educated people, or even brushing against financial illiteracy.

When they did not have the means to pay for the training, they were persuaded to pay with credit cards, because the investment was supposed to pay off quickly ... This was evidenced by a document from the United States Patent Office. Company employees repeated that “this patent is proof that our trading strategy is legal. The US Patent Office would not grant us a patent if we could not prove that our trading strategy is validated. " In fact, it costs $ 495 to patent anything in the US. This something - a strategy or an invention, for example - doesn't even have to work.

It was also important to recruit the right people for salesmen. Mainly men who knew how to sell, but acted on the border of the law, or even broke it, were selected. If they had trouble with debts, that's even better. A good salary for cheating people ended their troubles and allowed them to start life again. Such people were the most determined and loyal. By the time.

Two years of infiltration Online Trading Academy

In 2018, a secret investigation against the Online Trading Academy began. All thanks to the former seller of their services, who began to cooperate with law enforcement. Thanks to it, investigators could pretend to be clients and learn fraudulent practices from within.

Investigators operating under cover began to apply for a franchise and underwent the entire training period. They recorded the instructions on how to cheat and mislead customers. They learned how to talk about earning hundreds of thousands of dollars, what about expensive apartments in which they live, private schools of their children and sports cars, yachts and charity.

Then there was the time for numbers: after training worth 60 thousand. USD was earning 50-250 thousand. USD in the first year. After that, of course, it only got better, and the work would take an hour a day. The job was only to respond to system indications - buying and selling with one easy button.

Customers believed it. They deposited money, and if they did not have them, they took loans - also against a mortgage. We know this because investigators screened the account statements of every victim of the Online Trading Academy. That's 4799 bank accounts.

The record holder lost USD 1,3 million

A careful analysis of the accounts shows that the average deposit size ranged from 5 to 15. USD. On the other hand, the average loss was… 94%. As a rule, the account was reset within the first six months of trading. One victim lost all their savings of USD 1 364 337.

The process continues and it is not known when it will end, but one thing can be certain: few will get their money back and hope that they will remember the lesson that there are no shortcuts in trading, and counting on "brilliant systems" you can expect that in the near future, it will not be profits that count, but losses.

We warn against participating in any paid training, in which the leaders against the background of luxury cars, exotic places and with expensive watches on their wrists, tempt their students with promises of easy and quick profits.