The subject is probably the best comparison to the type of people you will have to deal with at this firm.
I've opened my account with Broad Street International which was later purchased by the current management www.IBWorldWide.com led by Hannes Andersson as the CEO & Eric Brown as in charge of support.
I requested my account closed & access to my account was immediately disabled by the firm.
THIS IS WHERE THE MAJOR PROBLEMS BEGAN...
I was told account closures take 10 days. Well I made the account closure request on March 22nd, & as of May 9th I've received less than half of the remaining funds that were in my account. I've had to chase these guys down daily by sending multiple emails & messages & was given every excuse in the book as to why they haven't yet sent the money. Every excuse pointed to nothing more then a completely disorganized & fraudulent brokerage firm. In the end Eric claimed I've been harassing him & I should contact a trade school that I have never heard of before (www.bsicglobal.com) located in Italy for the remainder of my funds. CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS COMING FROM A BROKERAGE FIRM that you would think your money was safe with?!
During the time I had my account this firm has changed names, locations, countries, & bank accounts for processing incoming wires more times then I could remember.
Their CEO Hannes Andersson is completely incompetent & could care less about his clients.
After being made aware of my request to close the account I received an email from Hannes asking what he could do for me to remain a client of the firm to which I responded that I had requested to close my account & would appreciate if he could assist in expediting this process.
I've continued to send Hannes numerous emails making him aware of the ongoing issue of having not received the remaining funds after more than now 50 days & he has chosen to ignore all of those emails.
With the apparent lack of professionalism & apparent theft of client funds its absolutely incredible that IBWorldWide.com is even allowed to operate as an international brokerage firm.
But it gets even better...
What was even more surprising to me was when I reviewed their current website www.ibworldwide.com I noticed the locations of their offices all seem to be P.O. Boxes or virtual office locations.
I've also noticed at the bottom of their website it states the following: INTERNATIONAL BROKERS, INC. is a registered Broker-Dealer and a member of the International Financial Services Commission (IFSC) - No.IFSC/60/207/TS/12
I clicked on the link of their license No. which took me to the official IFSC website listing the licensed service providers for trading in securities for 2013: http://www.ifsc.gov.bz/list-f.html
As you can clearly see out of the 37 firms currently listed on this page the firm "INTERNATIONAL BROKERS, INC." does not happen to be one of them.
The IFSC has actually issued a FRAUD WARNING against the firm on April 29, 2013:
Office of the International Financial Services Commission,
Sir Edney Cain Building,
Belmopan,
Belize, C.A.
29 April 2013
WARNING NOTICE
INTERNATIONAL BROKERS, INC.
aka INTERNATIONAL BROKERS WORLDWIDE
It is hereby notified for general information that International Brokers, Inc. (also known as International Brokers Worldwide) is no longer licensed by the International Financial Services Commission of Belize (IFSC) for trading in securities or to offer any other international financial services.
All persons concerned are asked to take note and exercise caution.
GIAN C. GANDHI
DIRECTOR GENERAL
International Financial Services Commission of Belize
I've warned them via email to both the CEO & their customer support department on April 23, 2013 that had I not received the remaining funds in my account by their next wiring cycle on May 1, 2013 I would proceed both legally & by making the public aware of this dishonest & fraudulent brokerage firm. As of May 13, 2013 I have received a wire for less than half of the funds in the account & was told by Eric Brown to contact http://bsicglobal.com (an online day trading school located in Italy) to receive the remainder of my funds. BSICGlobal isn't even a brokerage firm & I certainly did NOT open an account with them so why I was told to turn to them to receive the remaining funds in my account has left me just as stumped & in disbelief as most of you reading this review.
I would STRONGLY URGE EVERYONE who may have opened an account with either Broad Street, Broad Street International, IBWorldWide.com, Lake Street Trading or whatever other name(s) or entities associated with these firms to close their accounts & request their funds IMMEDIATELY. As you can see by the injustice that has happened to me just because you see an account balance on your trading platform every morning certainly does NOT mean the money is physically there for you to withdraw.
I have full trading records of my account, account opening documents, every wire sent & received from this firm, copies of emails & messages exchanged between the CEO & support department at this firm. All this information can fully back up everything stated above if anyone has any questions of concerns regarding this manner.
Until this day May 13th, nearly 2 months since I've requested my account closed I'm still owed $11,468.51 & have been last told that I've harassed & treated their support staff badly. If anyone would see the messages exchanged during this ordeal you would be absolutely shocked at the level of ignorance & obvious deceit from this firm that its absolutely unthinkable such fraud could be allowed to continue to happen. As of May 13th two of the listed phone numbers for the firm (TEL: +1.888.419.4446 & TEL: +44 208.123.0810) seem to have been disconnected.
ABSOLUTELY STAY AWAY! I will be contacting the SEC & Mr. GIAN C. GANDHI DIRECTOR GENERAL of the International Financial Services Commission (IFSC) of Belize alerting both that this fraudulent firm not only steals client funds, but also continues to fraudulently market itself as being a registered Broker-Dealer and a member of the IFSC of which they are NOT!
It will not take long before this firm will be forced to shut down.
This review is the subjective opinion of an Investimonials member and not of Investimonials LLC
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