Exclusive: Police Raid FX and Binary Call Centers in Albania

Albania is the next Eastern-European country that is starting to take action about call centers which are typically soliciting Western-European clients to deposit their savings into high-risk financial products. The country has become a hub for binary options and Forex Forex Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Read this Term call centers over the past several years with the Italian market being one of the main sales targets.

About a month ago Finance Magnates exclusively reported about a coordinated police raid in Ukraine. Call center operators have frequently moved their locations across Eastern Europe. After being popular destinations for outsourcing since about a decade ago, Bulgaria and Romania ceded their spots to countries like Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, and apparently Albania.

A source with close knowledge of the matter shared with Finance Magnates: “There is a big big problem there, mainly for Italian facing brokers. I give legal services to several call centers and IBs who closed their operations and are moving to Serbia, Kosovo and other places in the area, while others are still active.”

More Raids

Other sources familiar with Albanian call center operations shared that competition between different establishments could have caused the raid. Allegations about the involvement of the local tax authority reminisce of other Eastern European raids.

The number of unregulated brokers which are targeting EU clients has increased materially over the past year. The upcoming regulatory shift could well accelerate this trend.

After our report in early May about some police raids in Ukraine, we can now confirm that more sporadic visits from local enforcement have been paid to call centers in Kharkiv and Dnepropetrovsk.

A Long Saga

FX and binary options call centers have frequently been targeted by legal authorities worldwide. The hot sales practice which eventually led to the ban of the binary options product in the US and the EU has attracted attention on the part of regulators as losses among unsophisticated investors reached millions.

The US CFTC has been the most notorious enforcer of drastic financial sanctions against binary options brokers, ultimately settling with Banc de Binary for $11 million. European authorities have been less successful in issuing adequate fines for illicit binary options operators. While the 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 has fined some companies, the amounts have been minuscule when compared to the