PocketOption Scam Review

PocketOption dot com is an online CFDs / binary options trading platform.

A contract for difference (CFD), as Wikipedia defines it, is a contract between two parties, typically described as “buyer” and “seller,” stipulating that the buyer will pay the seller the difference between the current value of an asset and its value at contract time (if the difference is negative, then the seller pays instead to the buyer).

Unfortunately, in platforms such as PocketOption, there is no buyer and no seller; you’re playing against the house. And you cannot win. Or at least the majority of users cannot win.

In this sense, trading online “CFDs” is more akin to gambling than trading on an exchange.

This is also why PocketOption and other similar platforms are banned in the United States and Hong Kong.

Binary options trading is also illegal in the United States unless performed on an exchange (e.g., Nadex) rather than OTC.

Still, the fact that PocketOption provides service in the US does not make it a scam.

The following PocketOption review summarizes a thorough investigation of this website on May 12, 2021.

If you have any information about PocketOption, please take a moment and enlighten us by leaving a comment below this review.

Preliminary Checks

Pocketoption.com is registered with GoDaddy.com, LLC.

The domain was first registered in July 2016.

It was updated on October 16, 2020. (Before the update, it was still a binary options trading service provider, but it may have been owned by Gembell Limited alone because PO Trade LTD is not mentioned.)

If not renewed, it is scheduled to expire in 2023.

The owners may be from Russia.

So, pocketoption.com has been around for a while, which is good because it means there are enough people who have tried them by now, and we should be able to tell if they are a legitimate company quickly.

How popular are they?

It is popular enough to be a trustworthy website.

Their Alexa rank is 138,514, and they are getting almost 2 million monthly visitors from countries such as the United States, Canada, the UK, and Germany.

Its domain rating is 73/100, which means it has a strong backlink profile.

Are there any legit websites linking to them, though?

Not, besides links to their apps from the Google Play Store.

Most of their traffic comes from a “press release” type post, which was published on observer.com on February 10, 2021.

The post, titled “Best Binary Options Brokers: Top 5 Binary Trading Sites of 2021,” reviews pocket options, along with other binary options brokers (binary.com, RaceOption, IQ Option, and IQCent.)

Regarding Pocket Option, which the review labels as “Best Broker Overall (USA Accepted),” it concludes:

All in all, Pocket Option is a safe, convenient binary options broker with a worldwide client base. If you’re looking for a tried-and-true platform to put your trust in, Pocket Option is your best bet.

However, since this is a sponsored post and the person who posted this article has probably already made thousands of dollars from this review, we can not trust it.

Website

Pocketoption.com has been blacklisted by badbitcoin.org, Dr. Web Anti-virus, and the CRDF Labs Threat Center.

The connection is secure (https), but the SSL certificate provided by Sectigo Limited does not supply any ownership information.

Who is behind Pocketoption? Can you trust them with your money?

On the homepage, we read that Gembell Limited owns the pocketoption.com domain.

In the About Us, it says:

Pocket Option was founded in 2017 by a team of talented IT and FinTech specialists who wanted to prove that people don’t need to compromise to earn on financial markets — that trading should be accessible, convenient and more fun.

A Victor is presented as the Head of the Pocket Option customer support.

Gembell Limited is said to be regulated by IFMRRC, the International Financial Market Relations Regulation Center, which is based in Russia.

We could claim that their license is valid until October 4, 2021.

Is this regulated enough, though, for people not from Russia?

No. Ideally, it is best to invest only with a company that the financial regulator regulates in your own country. Otherwise, the license may not protect you.

While the domain pocketoption.com belongs to Gembell Limited, the “materials and services provided on this site are subject to copyright and belong to ‘PO Trade.'”

So PO Trade LTD is another company involved with this website registered in St. Vincent & the Grenadine.

St. Vincent & the Grenadines is a popular tax haven where many companies whose owners wish to remain anonymous (and not pay taxes) base their business. They do not even have to be there to do so physically.

PO Trade LTD is also regulated by the Russian regulator, FMRRC, which is essential since the brokerage activity on this website is provided by PO Trade LTD and not by Gembell Limited.

So still, we cannot find any real people behind Pocket Option—just two unknown, unheard-of companies from Russia and the Caribbeans.

No addresses, LinkedIn profiles, or local telephone numbers.

(Elsewhere, we could find the following address for Gembell Limited: Trust Company Complex, Ajeltake Road, Ajeltake Island, Majuro, Republic of the Marshall Islands MH 96960.)

Not even an email address.

However, in a different document on this website, the company PO Trade Ltd. & ITTrendex OU is said to have the following email address: support@po.trade. The website po.trade is a mirror of pocketoption.com.

Also, elsewhere, we could find the following email address: support@pocketoption.com.

Contact information available includes:

1. A contact form
2. A support desk
3. A forum where you can connect with the community for help
4. A hotline: 1 (800) 982-1251

They have profiles on the following networks:

• Facebook
• Vkontakte
• Instagram
• Telegram
• YouTube
• Twitter

While visiting the website, we can’t help noticing popups announcing the “wins” of other users.

Brionna N. from the US “Earned $64 in 51 seconds for a correct rate change forecast of EUR to RUB”

or:

Andrii S. from Poland “Earned $85.14 in 36 seconds for a correct rate change forecast of EUR to RUB”

It makes us wonder if they are real or a clever marketing strategy.

Most alarming, however, is that the only payment methods allowed are cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, Litecoin, Paxos, Stellar, and Ethereum.) Depositing money with such non-secure payment methods is very difficult to reverse.

Community Feedback regarding PocketOption

We like to check many sources for reviews left by people who traded with the company in question.

At forexpeacearmy.com, their reputation is terrible, with a score of 1.246/5 and 15 reviews.

Many of the reviewers claim that their accounts were blocked because they were in profit. We do not doubt these claims because, in a business model such as this one, the company must block profitable traders. Otherwise, they may go bankrupt because they will have to pay their clients more than they would be making.

To take just one example, one reviewer from Pakistan wrote in October 2020:

I deposited 50 dollars and made 84 dollars and when tomorrow i made request of withdrawal 20 dollars and i received withdrawal they blocked my account without any reason even i trade alone and did not violate any policy but i understand this is scam broker plz stay away from them

On the other hand, some negative reviews seem unjustified. For example, a trader from Israel complains his account was blocked after he made some profits. However, the website notes that people from Israel cannot use the service.

PocketOption claims to not provide service in some countries, including countries of the European Economic Area, USA, and Israel.

Unfortunately, they seem to accept clients from these countries instead of using a geo-location service to prevent such registrations. And later, the accounts are blocked, with the funds invested in them lost for good.

A warning against them has been published by the AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers), the French Financial Markets Regulator.

Moreover, they have been blacklisted by the Consob (Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa), the Italian Companies and Exchange Commission.

Similar negative reviews can also be found on Reddit and trustpilot.com.

One review posted on Trustpilot highlights a critical point to remember with binary options brokers such as PocketOption:

The demo account is easy to use however it is rigged to not pay withdrawal due to the fact that it automatically applies a bonus to you deposit amount so that you cannot withdrawal until you triple you deposit amount which with all the lagging you will never be able to do. I have tried to enter a trade it will say Request in process forever then when it finally done no trades have been placed making me miss my entry point or the entry point is so far from where price initially was that its now in a bad spot and my trade is now in no profit zone. I hate that there are no honest platforms to grow with.

You should know that if you accept a bonus, then you will have to reach a specific volume of trading before you’re able to withdraw.

Often, brokers use this as a way to keep clients’ funds locked in for a long time to increase the chance that they will lose their funds “naturally” instead of having to block them in case they can make a withdrawal.

On the Google Play Store, we were also able to find some worrying reviews, such as:

This app is a big scam you trade anything higher the 20 dollars it shoots up or down which way you have it going super fast which makes it not feel like an organic system. For example if you think it’ll go down it’ll go down all the way till the flag and shoot up real quick right when it’s about to finish losing you money definitely not worth it. It’s also a drag trying to deposit here. Don’t just take my word for it though check it out for yourself. Lose your money at your pace.

And regarding the differences between the demo account and the live trading account:

every trade is executed late to make me lose…But if I trade on demo without logging in,trades are executed immediately.

There are also positive reviews, but as they are adorned with a referral link promoting the service, we hope you won’t mind if we skip them in this review.

There are also positive comments regarding PocketOption, but you can never know if the company and its affiliates did not post them.

PocketOption Review Conclusion

Is PocketOption a scam? We don’t think so. As long as you remember, they provide a financial betting service and are not a regulated investment company unless you live in Russia…

Money deposited is money you will most likely not see again.

Trading on financial markets carries risks, especially in over-the-counter CFDs and binary options trading platforms where your wins are paid by PocketOption themselves. You can imagine it doesn’t make sense for them to pay more than they earn, so most users will have to lose money for this business model to be sustainable.

If you choose to involve yourself in such financial gambling, then just remember you run the risk of losing your entire investment.

Also, remember your account might get blocked if you start earning too much money or are discovered to be a resident or citizen of the European Economic Area countries, USA, or Israel.

If you are not from one of the disallowed countries and you can keep your earnings low enough to go under the radar without disturbing support too much, then there’s a chance you will be able to make some money with PocketOption.

But we would only recommend that to someone who knows what they’re doing, doesn’t mind losing their investment, and, again, in a country where such betting is allowed. And even then, there are probably better alternatives.

If you have any information about PocketOption, please take a moment and enlighten us by leaving a comment below this review.