• Questions concerning this advisory may be addressed to the CFTC's Office of Public Affairs at (202) 418-5080.

  Commodity Futures Trading Commission
  Three LaFayette Centre
  1155 21st Street, N.W.
  Washington, D.C. 20581

• The Commodity Futures Exchange Act (requires an Adobe Acrobat reader, which can be downloaded for free from www.adobe.com and numerous other sites on the Internet)
• For other consumer advisories concerning possible fraudulent activity in the commodity futures and options industry, click on the CFTC Customer Protection page.
• Contact the National Fraud Information Center (www.fraud.org).
• You may wish to visit our Home page.
• To find out whether firms or counterparties with whom you plan to trade are registered or regulated institutions or entities that are outside the CFTC's jurisdiction, you can check the lists of regulated institutions on the following websites. Some institutions outside the CFTC's jurisdiction do not appear on any of these lists or in other readily-available places:
  • Federal Reserve Board (www.federalreserve.gov)
  • Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (www.ffiec.gov)
  • Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (www.fdic.gov)
  • U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov)
  • The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (www.occ.treas.gov)
  • Office of Thrift Supervision (www.ots.treas.gov)
  • National Credit Union Association (www.ncua.gov)
  • National Association of Securities Dealers Regulation, Inc. (www.nasdr.com)
  • All U.S. Government web sites can be located through links at www.firstgov.gov
  • Your state Attorney General's office and state banking, insurance and securities regulators (which often have their own web sites).

• Forex Scams
  Generally speaking, foreign currency futures and options contracts may be traded legally on an exchange or board of trade that has been approved by the CFTC.

• Forex Fraud
  Have you been solicited to trade foreign currency contracts (also known as "forex")?

• Understanding Legitimate Foreign Currency Operations
  Generally speaking, foreign currency futures and options contracts may be traded legally on an exchange or board of trade that has been approved by the CFTC.

• Stay Away From Opportunities That Sound Too Good to Be True
  Get-rich-quick schemes, including those involving foreign currency trading, tend to be frauds.

• Avoid Any Company that Predicts or Guarantees Large Profits
  Be extremely wary of companies that guarantee profits, or that tout extremely high performance. In many cases, those claims are false.

• Stay Away From Companies That Promise Little or No Financial Risk
  Be suspicious of companies that downplay risks or state that written risk disclosure statements are routine formalities imposed by the government.

• Don't Trade on Margin Unless You Understand What It Means
  Margin trading can make you responsible for losses that greatly exceed the dollar amount you deposited.

• Question Firms That Claim To Trade in the "Interbank Market
  Be wary of firms that claim that you can or should trade in the "interbank market," or that they will do so on your behalf.

• Be Wary of Sending or Transferring Cash on the Internet, By Mail
  Be especially alert to the dangers of trading on-line; it is very easy to transfer funds on-line, but often can be impossible to get a refund.

• Currency Scams Often Target Members of Ethnic Minorities
  Some currency trading scams target potential customers in ethnic communities, particularly persons in the Russian, Chinese and Indian immigrant communities, through advertisements in ethnic newspapers and television "infomercials".

• Warning Signs Of Commodity "Come-Ons"
  If you are solicited by a company to purchase commodities, watch for the warning signs listed below:

• More Information and Contacts
  Questions concerning this advisory may be addressed to the CFTC's Office of Public Affairs at (202) 418-5080.

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