Only yesterday, we wrote about how the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) had reported losses of $13.3 million to investment scams. Today, we have the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC ) adding six more firms to its warning list. The document is reserved for companies that continued to solicit clients through phone calls and emails offering investments, loans and financial advise without holding an Australian Financial Services or Australian Credit license.
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The six new firms are BBB Markets, IvoryOption, Plusstocks, Aram Binary Options, Millenium Options and VX Markets. These firms offer a variety of investments products though most of them seem to be focused on providing investment schemes, products and investment advice based on binary options.
The binary options industry has earned a very bad reputation for itself with the cropping up of such fly-by-night firms who use binary options as the base product for them to launch their schemes to gullible clients. The regulatory authorities in various parts of the world, including ASIC, have begun to cast a very stern eye on the binary options industry and companies associated with it. This has led to even more strict controls over the industry.
With companies like those listed above continuing to peddle their wares on unsuspecting customers, it has become a struggle for legitimate companies to gain credibility in what is already a highly crowded space. It remains to be seen whether these kind of stern measures will help the industry mature over the course of time or will push it further into oblivion.
