Forex Bastards Send Spam Mails

Forex Bastards Send Spam Mails

I get a lot of spam and junk email in my inbox every day so I usually don’t pay attention to new Forex sites that spring up over the place, however, a couple of my subscribers have added comments on this site about a popular Forex broker review and free Forex signal service at Forex Bastards.

So, this weekend I decided to go and check it out. I signed up for Forex Bastards’ free Forex signal service and read some of their popular review pages on Forex brokers, Forex education, and Forex alerts.

Having perused the site I liked the similar views held by the owner of Forex Bastards, Felix Homogratus (not his real name), on Oanda - that being: Oanda is the best Forex broker out there (but not perfect). Another interesting thing I found about Felix’s site was the economic announcement portals he uses to obtain the latest released figures. If you’re someone who isn’t using Bloomberg or Reuters to obtain your economic figures and you need these numbers with your Forex trading strategy (and you can afford the hefty monthly fee) then you’ll want to subscribe to Felix’s signals and read what he has to say. Lastly, I had a good laugh at his “Forex Scams” page where he listed popular Forex brokers such as AC-Markets, Refco, and FXCM on this page!

Probably the most interesting thing about Forex Bastards was Felix’s broadcast email that he sent out on the weekend on an interview he had with Richard Olsen, CEO of Oanda. I’m probably not at liberty to copy the entire email here, but what struck me was the fact that with Felix’s news announcement strategy (where he takes a direction as soon as figures are released on popular news announcements and then proceeds to exit that position within ONE minute of it being opened) was that Oanda were willing to take a loss with the positions he was taking (due to the fast moving market)!!

As Felix has had some success with this news announcement strategy he was looking to increase his position sizing to see if he could make more money with it, but after realizing the cost to Oanda of his strategy he concluded after the interview that he would maintain his current position sizing and continue to withdraw his profits on a weekly basis.

In a way it reminded me of the days when Forex brokers guaranteed stops and traders, such as myself, were able to make good money trading volatile announcements such as the Non-Farm Payrolls by strangling either side of the currency - unfortunately this strategy was nullified when Forex brokers no longer guaranteed stops and we all experienced slippage of between 30-50 pips!

I similarly think that Felix’s news strategy will not last long at Oanda, as I haven’t heard of too many brokers willing to take a loss on behalf of their clients. Things that make it even worse for Felix are the fact that he has a large subscriber base where he details his strategy before the event and no doubt some of them use his strategies on Oanda too - all it will take is one person with a big enough bank to nullify this opportunity for everyone else.

For those using Felix’s strategies: take advantage while the opportunity exists, but don’t think it will last forever (although for your sakes I really hope it does).

The Fake Marriage between Felix & Yuliya

The Fake Marriage between Felix & Yuliya

A Russian woman blatantly stated her objective in her postings. Her lawyer says she didn't know such marriages were illegal.

When 24-year-old Yuliya Kalinina turned to the Internet in search of a husband, she made it absolutely clear what she was looking for in a relationship:

"Green Card Marriage -- Will pay $300/month. Total $15, 000," the Russian national living in Los Angeles wrote in an ad placed on the Craigslist website. "This is strictly platonic business offer, sex not involved."

Just in case any would-be Romeos weren't taking the hint, she added, "NOT required to live together."

Kalinina's direct approach was very attractive, drawing the attention not only of the man who would marry her, but also of agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

After nearly two years of what federal prosecutors allege was a sham marriage, Kalinina and her 30-year-old husband, Benjamin C. Adams, were arrested last week at separate residences.

Prosecutors say Kalinina leased Adams a new Ford Mustang for his trouble.

She also took care of the wedding arrangements: Performing the ceremony was Dmitri Chavkerov, an Internet-ordained minister who also happened to be Kalinina's live-in boyfriend.

"I'd say it's a fairly blatant example of marriage fraud," said Assistant U.S. Atty. Curtis A. Kin, one of the prosecutors on the case.

Robert Schoch, special agent in charge of ICE investigations in Los Angeles, said it was the first criminal case he was aware of in which people had allegedly used the Internet to engineer a fraudulent marriage in hopes of obtaining a green card.

According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Kalinina began advertising in the personal ads section of Craigslist in October 2005.

She posted at least eight ads, most of them titled "Green Card Marriage -- Will pay $300/month. Total $15,000."

According to the court papers, ICE agents also obtained e-mails from Kalinina's Google account in which she and Adams discussed their potential marriage.

"How long does it have to last for?" Adams allegedly asked, according to a Jan. 9, 2006, e-mail.

"Marriage will take 2-3 years (most likely 2)," Kalinina responded.

Adams then told Kalinina that he had bad credit and suggested she lease a car for him in exchange for agreeing to marry her, the complaint alleges. The two were married Feb. 17, 2006.

A month later, Kalinina leased Adams a 2006 Ford Mustang, the documents state. That April, the couple filed paperwork seeking to establish permanent residency for Kalinina.

When confronted by ICE agent's months later, the documents state, Kalinina and her boyfriend -- the man who performed the marriage ceremony -- admitted that the marriage to Adams was a fraud intended to obtain a green card. Marrying her boyfriend would have done nothing to help her immigration status, because he is in the country illegally.

Attorney Dale Rubin, who is representing Kalinina, said his client has a pending asylum application but was concerned that it wouldn't be granted before she was due to leave the country.

He said Kalinina didn't know it was illegal to marry for a green card, which he said was evidenced by the blatant language in her ads.

"For some reason, if you're from Russia, you think the way to get around a problem is to throw money at it," he said.