Robot AI Trading: Fraudster Posing as Legitimate Company Warned Three Times by SC Malaysia

As investors become more aware of fraud prevention, the tricks used by fraudsters are evolving. In recent months, some scammers based in Malaysia have begun posing as legitimate companies and recommending illegal trading platforms for investors.

Recently, a BrokersView user submitted a complaint alleging that he was scammed by a trader at Pelaburan MARA in Malaysia. Upon closer investigation, we discovered that the entity committing the scam was Robot AI Trading, a fake broker posing as a legitimate company.

Robot AI Trading victim's experience

The victim told us that he saw an investment ad on Facebook and became interested in the investment package described in the ad, and contacted the admin who posted the ad to talk about it.

During the conversation, the person claiming to be the administrator of the "MIDF" told the victim that the "chief trader" of Malaysian company Pelaburan MARA Berhad could help investors trade with Robot AI Trading and make a good profit and sent a business card to prove she was telling the truth.

On the face of it, everything seemed fine - an employee of a legitimate company recommended a trading platform with good returns. The promised profits were attractive, and the deposit requirements were not too high, so the victim gave his personal information to the admin and opened an account with Robot AI Trading to deposit RM500.

After a few hours of "trading" by the "chief trader," the investor's account soon earned a profit of up to RM 86,800, nearly 174 times the principal! But the fraudster began to play tricks on withdrawal.

To cheat as much ill-gotten gains from the victim, fraudsters use the victim's desire for high profits and ask him to pay "withdrawal fees" under various pretexts, again and again. The amount of the fees range from RM1500 to RM5500. In total, the victim made 6 transfers and was cheated for RM20,200.

Posing as a legitimate firm to deceive the victim into investing in a false broker

Although the foreign exchange market is full of risks, investing successfully is not impossible. However, Robot AI Trading's false claims of profitability are unrealistic.

When you open Pelaburan MARA Berhad's website, you will see a scam alert about scammers misusing its name on chat apps and social media platforms, reminding the public not to fall for the scam. Attached to the warning was a fake business card with a design very similar to the one received by the victim.

Upon closer comparison, it was found that the scammer claiming to be a Pelaburan MARA employee was using the logo of the company, but the domain name of the email left behind did not match the domain name used by the company. The email domain name provided on the Pelaburan MARA Berhad website (https://pelaburanmara.com.my/) is "pelaburanmara.com.my" while the one used by the scammer is "pelaburanmara.com." Although these two domains are very similar, we have no direct evidence that they belong to the same person. Other information on the scammer's business card, such as telephone numbers and addresses, cannot be linked to the company.

As for the broker recommended is a typical false trading platform. As the broker claimed to be regulated by the Securities Commission of Malaysia (SC), we searched the agency's portal and found that the scammer had been warned by the regulator three times in just over a year.

According to the regulator, Robot AI Trading was warned in 2022 for carrying out unauthorized fund management activities in the capital markets. In 2023, the fraudster operated as a clone entity under the names of Pelaburan Mara Trading, 29Mara Trading 06, and Amara Investments Berhad. The scammer also offered illegal investment schemes under the name and license of a legitimate company, Amara Investment Management Sdn. Bhd., with the promise of earning RM9,000 profit in 3 to 6 hours at a deposit of RM300.

It is worth mentioning that the person recommending the fake broker called himself "MIDF Admin," which reminds us of another clone entity called "MIDF Investment." The clone was warned by the regulator for misusing the information of registered firm MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Berhad. We have no proof that the MIDF scam is related to the scammers in this article, but it is a scam that investors need to avoid.

We checked Robot AI Trading's website and found that it was created and last updated on May 30 this year. However, since the domain was warned last year, the site was likely shut down for a short time.

BrokersView reminds you

Investing with Robot AI Trading is a sure way to lose all your capital and even more money due to the scammers' rhetoric. Many such fraudulent brokers in the market unrealistically promise unrealized profits to people who do not understand the investment market, fake the illusion of profitability, and use this illusion as bait to lure the victims to keep transferring money to them.

Although Malaysia does not have a regulatory body that specifically regulates foreign exchange activities, the Securities Commission Malaysia's Investor Alert List can be of some assistance to local investors. It is recommended that you search for information about a company on the regulator's portal before investing to avoid being deceived.

If you don't know how to check a broker's regulatory status, you may search for its name on BrokersView to see the results of our review or ask us a question.