The French financial market supervisor, locally known as Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), has sounded the alarm against Immediate Connect, which offers automated trading with forex and cryptocurrencies.

AMF Flags Automated Trading Scheme

According to the announcement today (Friday), the warning came after the regulator received dozens of complaints from the victims of the investment scheme, which promoted its services on the internet with well-known personalities and websites.

The scheme also lured investors with promises of extravagant returns. One of its advertisements in a French publication promised a return of a million euros in 12 to 15 weeks and was even touted to be ideal for people who want to get rich quickly. These claims literally put it among 'get rich quick' schemes, which are usually outright frauds.

Initially, the platform sought the details of the potential investors through a form, and then they were contacted quickly by someone claiming to be a financial advisor, who tricked the investors into registering with unauthorized trading platforms and investing in risky products like forex and cryptocurrency derivatives.

Though the platform offered usual services, the red flag came when they asked investors attempting for withdrawals to pre-pay capital gains tax.

Investors Should Be Cautious

"The AMF reminds that only companies approved as investment services providers in the European Union are authorized to offer brokerage services, such as trading, automated or not, on Forex or crypto-asset derivatives," the regulator highlighted (translated from French using Google Translate).

The French regulator has now asked investors to be cautious of investment schemes guaranteeing quick returns and avoid forex and other unregulated currency trading markets where the risk is very high.

Earlier this year, the AMF issued a warning against the services of unauthorized automated forex trading robots, which were offering unrealistic returns between 5 and 15 percent per month or up to 400 percent yearly, Finance Magnates reported. Other European regulators also flagged similar scams.