Tanguo

I am not living in Panama but I want to ask for help.
I come across a website that uses a Panama address to register. I am afraid that the website may be fraudulent so I want to ask if the following address is authentic or not. Please tell me if you have heard of the place and the company name.

Address as follows:

Open Trade International Inc.
Aquilino De La Guardia Street
Ocean Business Plaza, 1206
Panama City, pa Panama 1
Panama

Does the above address exist?

themark

You could use Google maps to look at the address. What are you trying to verify? That the company is real or that that is the company's address?

Tanguo

Oh, why I haven't thought of Google maps? Thanks for reminding me. I'll check it.

Besides, I want to know as many as possible. And that includes whether the company is real and whether it is the real address.

expatplayer

I always feel more comfortable if a company offers a phone number. Then you can call them and at least talk to somebody there. The majority of scammers don't give phone numbers.

Plus, you can look up the phone number to find out if it is a well-known landline or some fly-by-night anonymous prepaid cellphone.

zomb

If you are referring to this one:

then it is (in my opinion) obviously a scam, even if the company and/or address exists.

Tanguo

Yes. That is the site I am referring to.

Thank you very much for your opinion. Can you tell me a bit more about why you think it is a scam?

themark

Sounds like any of those scams where they promise you loads of money and all you have to do is invest $20 or so books. You could find a bunch more similar scams in the "business opportunity" ads in your newspaper, or probably in your email spam box.

Lalaguayaba

Not only is it not a scam, it is one of the better Panamanian sites being put up to help ppl open a private currency (Forex) trading account. The banking laws in Panama make for a wonderfully secure trading and investing environment far from governmental scrutiny, and the ease of use for e-gold, and e-buillion and other e-payment forms is fantastic. Since Panamanian banks also use the U.S. dollar, it is nice to take into note that you aren't losing (or gaining) any $$ in the initial account funding.
https://www.opentrade.net/index.htm
Foreign exchange market - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Forex | Forex Trading | Forex Minis | Online Currency Trading
Whois.com Home Page
www.godaddy.com
There is absolutely no promise of any profit from your investment; it is a trading account, that means that YOU call the shots, you do the research, you make the trades, and if something bad happens, you take the fall. The site provides the usual broker services, and I imagine that if you had run into Orlando Ortiz several years ago, he would have had an offline forex brokerage office that catered to companies, the government, and really wealthy people, since they were basically the only private users of forex trading until the internet opened it up to eveyone. Also, the site has a really nice disclosure section, a comprehensive FAQ and updates its technical downtimes regularly, which is nice to know, considering that forex markets are open 24/7 due to the fact that there are always business hours somewhere on the planet. OTI, Inc. also follows a U.S. holiday trading schedule for the ease of use of its (presumeably, since the site is in American English) U.S. investors.

Obviously a scam? I realize that you qualified this statement as an opinion, but 'obviously a scam?' That's a little rough. Did you get a negative response from customer support? Did you not like the site design? Or did the fact that it is registered to a single human being put you off?
The vast majority of websites that you use every day are likely registered to subsidiaries that you've never heard of existing. For instance--you'd likely be suspicious of email coming from Tucows, Inc., thinking that maybe you are the target of some vicious dairy-based webscam--when, in fact, they are the registering company of Hotmail.com, which ppl think is Microsoft/MSN--and it is, but through Tucows, Inc. registry (MSN also shares Tucows registry.) And this site, Panamaforum.com--perhaps it is based in Panama? No... The U.S.? No... How about Hong Kong? Yup. Why? Who knows? Someone saw a market niche and a specific vehicle for Panama-related advertising. And while they list an address, phone # and email, there is no fax #. So you are unable to fax in advertising, letters to admin, etc. Can you name a reputable business that does not have a fax phone number? Do you trust this site? I mean, you are not going to send them $$, but you open their email, right?

Risa Stone
admin@panamaforum.com
21st Floor, ICBC Tower, Citibank Plaza, No. 3 Gard
Hong Kong, Hong Kong n/a HK
Phone: +852.22735825
Fax:

Record dates:
Record created on: 2005-11-25 17:03:14 UTC
Record modified on: 2006-11-20 06:50:19 UTC
Record expires on: 2007-11-25 UTC

Domain Name: MSN.COM
Registrar: TUCOWS INC.
Whois Server: whois.tucows.com
Referral URL: Tucows Domain Name Help Center
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Updated Date: 12-oct-2006
Creation Date: 10-nov-1994
Expiration Date: 04-jun-2014
______________________________________
As always, research for yourself before entering into any offshore investments, and take special note of listed fees, changes in fee percentages as investment amounts fluctuate or account types change, and what types of personal/federal taxation your offshore investments be considered subject.

Cheers.

panamapal

I would never get involved with any of these forex deals. There are legitimate forex traders, but there are even more scam cites pretending to be backed by forex.

Forex scam - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lalaguayaba

Thanks very much for supplying a link for something like this; it neatly details what to look for in a reputable firm, and what to notice in case it is a fleecing operation. What I still don't understand is why ppl just give their money away to someone 'to invest for them.' Someone that they don't know, or someone who solicited them for their business. That is just nuts!
Forex stands for 'foreign exchange' and is used rather glibly to talk about or explain just how margin currency exchanges function without a centralized dealer or governing body. The U.S. CFTC has a loose hold on the American dealings, but none on overseas transactions.

Once again, don't give your money away. That's not rocket science--read the fine print. Execute your own trades. Understand that no investment is secure; nothing is a 'sure thing,' there are no 'guarantees' in investments--but if you willing to be educated, you can learn a great deal, that may earn you great deal.
Anything with a risk is usually worth a reward.

Cheers.

FromPanama1

Who were the persons you contacted at that company? Where did they tell you to send funds to defraud you?

Open Trade International, Inc., is using without authorization of its owners the address and telephone numbers in Panama. Current information from Open Trade International, Inc., is available in https://www.registro-publico.gob.pa/...RT=1&ID=524171
Open Trade International, Inc., is using without authorization of its owners the address and telephone numbers:
Aquilino De La Guardia Street
Ocean Business Plaza
Panama City, Panama
Tel. 264-63XX

Said address and number belong to third parties who have notified competent authorities, Go Daddy Software, Inc., and domain registrars about the abuse and requested Open Trade International, Inc., to cease and desist said unauthorized use.

Open Trade International, Inc., has never had its offices at said address or used said telephone and is not authorized by the Panama Securities Commission or the Panama Superintendent of Banks to conduct any investment-related activities. In fact, the Securities Commission has issued this warning:
"The National Securities Commission warns the public that Open Trade International, Inc. has not been issued any kind of license by the Commission, nor has been authorized to carry out businesses as a financial intermediary of securities or investments in or from Panama. The list of all the institutions authorized by the Commission is available in our Web site" http://www.conaval.gob.pa/display.as...vedades_ID=914

Current information from Open Trade International, Inc., is available in https://www.registro-publico.gob.pa/...RT=1&ID=524171

Domain information is now:
PO Boxes 0834-2411 Panama City, pa Panama 1 Panama Tel 9963177 Fax — 9963177

According to http://hywd.info/node/562, Michael Rodden, Linda Dawley and Barbara Parrington claim to promote the program, but their identities are not confirmed.

Investors defrauded by this program are encouraged to disclose the names of the banks where payments were made to Open Trade International, in order to assist enforcement agencies investigating several claims.

keywords: warning scam forex investment open trade opentrade.net