IronFX Chinese Traders Storm Offices Demanding Money Back

In August 2014, a damning twenty-minute investigative TV report on the operations of IronFX suggested that Chinese affiliates of the global broker had not received due Payments Payments One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl Read this Term. Now it's the Chinese traders' turn to voice similar claims and take action.

Several Chinese websites have reported two instances of heated protest in IronFX’s offices in Shanghai last week, culminating in a violent attempt to attack a company executive.

According to the website "waihuiTV," a client burst into IronFX’s offices with a knife and threatened an executive to approve his withdrawal by the next day, else he would kill him. According to the report, the attacker did indeed receive his money back the following day.

This violent move sparked a second physical confrontation with protesters who have been claiming that their funds are held by the broker. "[The knife attacker's success] is the main reason that all the other victims decided to protect their rights together," one protester was quoted in the report.

The arena

Photos from the scene show that the situation was extremely tense, as traders stormed and vandalized the office and, according to the report, even physically attacked the manager.

Normal operations were disturbed as the protesters shattered some windows and took over the office to display their banners inside.

The event unfolded in the offices of Global Investment Holdings, one of the brands IronFX uses to onboard clients and affiliates in China.

Based on the brand's website (www.ighgl.com) it seems Global is owned and operated directly by IronFX. Records indicate that the accounting department of IronFX Global Ltd. controls the domain of Global and the email associated with the website address is domains@ironfx.com.

Police Intervention

Last week's event ended after local police were called to the scene, as can be seen in photos, restoring order to IronFX's office in Shanghai. In the report the traders state that if IronFX does not provide them with a reasonable solution to the withdrawal problem, they will continue to escalate their protest.

The last time a negative report came out against the broker, IronFX said they were very surprised by the false allegations and that their lawyers are taking the necessary legal steps against the TV station.

This time the Chinese customers went beyond just making accusations and evidently used violence - which suggests the broker may be forced to resort to legal measures again to protect its operations in China.

IronFX: "complaints are clearly defamatory"

IronFX has provided Forex Magnates with the following comment about the accusations:

"We have identified a group of Abusive Traders that employ an abusive trading strategy to manipulate our Promotions. This group has been placed under investigation for breach of our trading terms and pending this investigation we have put a limitation on all Promotions-related withdrawals from this abusive trading strategy as we are entitled to do.

We reiterate that we have received no complaints or other formal notification from CySEC CySEC The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) is a financial regulatory authority of Cyprus. CySEC is one of the key watchdog authorities for brokerages in Europe, whose financial regulations and operations comply with the European MiFID financial harmonization law.Founded in 2001, CySEC is instrumental in providing licensing and registration for forex brokers and previously binary options providers.CySEC is responsible for a variety of different functions, which includes the supervision The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) is a financial regulatory authority of Cyprus. CySEC is one of the key watchdog authorities for brokerages in Europe, whose financial regulations and operations comply with the European MiFID financial harmonization law.Founded in 2001, CySEC is instrumental in providing licensing and registration for forex brokers and previously binary options providers.CySEC is responsible for a variety of different functions, which includes the supervision Read this Term or any other of our seven regulatory authorities about withdrawal delays. Please also note that all withdrawals are being processed in accordance with our obligations and in line with the normal industry processing times.

Any purported "complaints" are clearly defamatory and may be linked with the recent rumors about the company pursuing an IPO on the NYSE. They follow a line of rumors about our business practices directed against our success, none of which are true.

In its five-year history, IronFX Global has never received a formal notification or fine from any of the seven regulatory authorities to which it reports (CySEC, FCA, ASIC, FSP, FSB, CRFIN, UCRFIN). IronFX Global will continue taking the measures to which it is entitled to protect the legitimate interests of the company and the 450,000 clients who maintain active accounts with the company."

The original report can be found in Chinese here.