N1CM

A summary of what happened?

N1CM, or Number One Capital Markets, is an offshore forex and CFD broker established in 2017. The company operates under the registration of the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC) with license number 15035. While N1CM offers trading services across various financial instruments, several concerns and complaints have been raised regarding its regulatory status and operational practices.

Regulatory Status

• Offshore Regulation: N1CM is registered in Vanuatu, a jurisdiction known for its lenient financial regulations. This offshore registration allows the broker to offer high leverage ratios up to 1000:1 and to accept clients from regions with stricter financial regulations, such as the United States. However, this also means that N1CM is not subject to the stringent oversight associated with top-tier regulatory bodies like the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). As a result, clients may have limited recourse in the event of disputes or financial issues.

Client Complaints and Allegations

• Chart Manipulation: Some traders have accused N1CM of manipulating price charts, leading to unexpected spikes that trigger stop-loss orders prematurely. For instance, a user on the Forex Peace Army forum reported that N1CM’s charts exhibited unusual spikes not present on other brokers’ platforms, resulting in significant losses. When confronted, N1CM’s support allegedly denied any manipulation, causing frustration among affected traders.
  Forex Peace Army
• Customer Support Issues: There are reports of unresponsive or unhelpful customer support, particularly when addressing concerns about platform discrepancies or withdrawal delays. Some clients have expressed dissatisfaction with the support team’s inability to provide satisfactory explanations or resolutions to their issues.

Trading Conditions and Practices

• High Leverage: N1CM offers leverage up to 1000:1, which, while attractive to some traders, significantly increases the risk of substantial losses, especially for inexperienced traders. High leverage can amplify both gains and losses, and without proper risk management, traders can quickly incur significant debts.
• Scalping and Hedging: The broker permits trading strategies such as scalping and hedging. While this flexibility is beneficial for some traders, the combination of high leverage and aggressive trading strategies can lead to rapid account depletion.

User Reviews and Feedback

• Mixed Reviews: User feedback on platforms like Forex Peace Army is mixed. Some traders appreciate the low spreads and ease of deposits and withdrawals, while others have raised concerns about chart anomalies and customer service issues. For example, a user from Germany praised N1CM for its low spreads and efficient USDT transactions, whereas another user from Sri Lanka commended the broker for its services in trading U.S. stocks.

While N1CM provides a range of trading services with attractive features like hiexible trading strategies, its offshore regulatory status and reported issues related to chart integrity and customer support present significant concerns. Potential clients should exercise caution, conduct thorough due diligence, and consider the inherent risks associated with trading through offshore brokers. Engaging with brokers regulated by reputable financial authorities may offer greater investor protection and peace of mind.

Analyzing the Fake Copyright Notice(s)

Our team collects and analyses fraudulent copyright takedown requests, legal complaints, and other efforts to remove critical information from the internet. Through our investigative reporting, we examine the prevalence and operation of an organized censorship industry, predominantly funded by criminal entities, oligarchs, and disreputable businesses or individuals. Our findings allow internet users to gain insight into these censorship schemes’ sources, methods, and underlying objectives.

What was N1CM trying to hide?

N1CM‘s attempts to hide unfavourable content through the misuse of copyright notices while allegedly engaging in perjury present serious legal concerns. These actions suggest a calculated attempt to manipulate legal systems to suppress free speech, a fundamental violation of copyright law principles and an abuse of legal processes. The use of such tactics not only undermines the integrity of copyright protection but also potentially constitutes perjury, further entangling N1CM in legal accountability. Let’s examine the information N1CM may be trying to remove from the internet –

Investigative Report: N1CM (Number One Capital Markets) – Complaints, Allegations, and Concerns

Introduction

N1CM, or Number One Capital Markets, is a forex and CFD broker established in 2017 and registered under the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC). While the broker claims to provide a range of financial instruments and competitive trading conditions, it has been the subject of numerous complaints and allegations. This report examines the adverse claims, regulatory concerns, and client feedback associated with N1CM, providing a comprehensive analysis of its practices and reputation.

1. Regulatory Concerns and Offshore Status

Offshore Regulation

• Jurisdiction: N1CM operates under the VFSC, a regulatory body in Vanuatu. While legally recognized, Vanuatu’s financial regulations are considered lenient compared to those of top-tier regulators such as the FCA (UK), ASIC (Australia), or CySEC (Cyprus).
• Implications of Offshore Regulation:
  • Low Oversight: VFSC-registered brokers are not required to adhere to stringent financial transparency or capital adequacy requirements.
  • Limited Recourse: Clients of N1CM have limited options for dispute resolution in case of malpractice or financial loss, as Vanuatu’s legal frameworks for investor protection are minimal.

2. Client Complaints and Allegations

Chart Manipulation

• Multiple clients have accused N1CM of manipulating price charts to trigger stop-loss orders. Complaints include:
  • Unusual Spikes:
    • Clients report seeing sudden price movements on N1CM’s trading platform that do not align with market data from other brokers.
    • These anomalies often result in the premature triggering of stop-loss orders, causing unnecessary losses.
  • Example Case:
    • A user on Forex Peace Army reported losing significant funds due to a chart spike that appeared exclusively on N1CM’s platform. The broker denied any manipulation, attributing the discrepancy to market volatility.

Withdrawal Issues

• Delayed or denied withdrawals are among the most frequent complaints against N1CM. Issues include:
  • Prolonged Processing Times:
    • Clients report waiting weeks or months for withdrawal requests to be processed, despite the broker’s advertised timelines.
  • Unjustified Rejections:
    • Some users claim their withdrawal requests were rejected without explanation, often after significant profits were made.

Unresponsive Customer Support

• Many clients express frustration with N1CM’s customer service, citing:
  • Lack of Communication:
    • Support tickets remain unanswered for extended periods, leaving clients without resolution to pressing issues.
  • Evasive Responses:
    • When responses are provided, they often lack substance or fail to address the root concerns.

3. Trading Practices and Policies

High Leverage

• N1CM offers leverage ratios up to 1000:1, significantly higher than most regulated brokers. While appealing to some traders, this leverage exposes clients to:
  • Increased Risk:
    • Amplified losses, particularly for inexperienced traders who may not fully understand leverage mechanics.
  • Potential Account Wipeouts:
    • Aggressive leverage combined with market volatility can lead to rapid depletion of account balances.

Scalping and Hedging

• N1CM allows trading strategies such as scalping and hedging. However:
  • Conflict of Interest:
    • Critics argue that brokers with lenient regulations may exploit scalping strategies to generate profits at the client’s expense.

4. Regulatory Warnings and Independent Alerts

Absence of Top-Tier Regulation

• Unlike brokers regulated by established entities (FCA, ASIC), N1CM’s VFSC registration does not offer the same level of investor protection or oversight.
• Some reviews describe the broker as operating in a “grey zone,” where the lack of stringent oversight increases the risk of unethical practices.

Forex Peace Army Alerts

• Forex Peace Army, a prominent review platform, has flagged several concerns regarding N1CM’s:
  • Withdrawal issues.
  • Discrepancies in chart data.
  • Unresolved client disputes.

5. Mixed User Feedback

Positive Reviews

• Some clients praise N1CM for its:
  • Low Spreads: Competitive pricing on forex pairs.
  • Ease of Deposits: Quick processing times for account funding.

Negative Reviews

• The overwhelming majority of feedback highlights serious concerns:
  • Platform Issues: Frequent glitches and discrepancies in trade execution.
  • Withdrawal Delays: Persistent issues with accessing funds.
  • Customer Service: Perceived lack of accountability and resolution.

6. Broader Implications for Traders

Financial Risks

• Clients face significant risks when trading with N1CM due to:
  • High leverage amplifying potential losses.
  • Lack of regulatory safeguards, leaving funds vulnerable.
  • Withdrawal challenges restricting access to profits or initial investments.

Erosion of Trust

• N1CM’s reported practices contribute to a broader distrust of offshore brokers, particularly those operating in jurisdictions with lenient regulatory standards.

Impact on Novice Traders

• The broker’s aggressive marketing of high leverage and lenient trading conditions often appeals to inexperienced traders, who may not fully grasp the risks involved.

7. Recommendations for Potential Clients

1. Verify Regulation:
   • Engage with brokers licensed by reputable financial authorities (e.g., FCA, ASIC, CySEC).
2. Start Small:
   • Test a broker’s withdrawal process with minimal deposits before committing significant funds.
3. Conduct Independent Research:
   • Rely on reviews from multiple sources to assess a broker’s reliability and track record.
4. Understand Leverage Risks:
   • Avoid brokers offering excessively high leverage unless you are fully aware of the associated risks.

Conclusion

N1CM presents itself as a competitive forex and CFD broker, but its offshore registration, lack of regulatory oversight, and mounting client complaints raise serious concerns. Allegations of chart manipulation, withdrawal issues, and unresponsive customer support suggest a pattern of practices that may not prioritize client interests.

For traders considering N1CM, the evidence strongly advises caution. Opting for brokers with robust regulation, transparent practices, and positive client feedback is essential to ensuring a safer and more reliable trading experience. N1CM’s case underscores the importance of thorough due diligence in the volatile and often opaque world of online trading.

How do we counteract this malpractice?

Once we ascertain the involvement of N1CM (or actors working on behalf of N1CM), we will inform N1CM of our findings via Electronic Mail.

Our preliminary assessment suggests that N1CM may have engaged a third-party reputation management agency or expert, which, either independently or under direct authorization from N1CM, initiated efforts to remove adverse online content, including potentially fraudulent DMCA takedown requests. We will extend an opportunity to N1CM to provide details regarding their communications with the agency or expert, as well as the identification of the individual(s) responsible for executing these false DMCA notices.

Failure to respond in a timely manner will necessitate a reassessment of our initial assumptions. In such an event, we will be compelled to take appropriate legal action to rectify the unlawful conduct and take the following steps –

Since N1CM made such efforts to hide something online, it seems fit to ensure that this article and sensitive information targeted online by these events get a lot more exposure and traffic than what it would have received originally

We hope this becomes an excellent case study for the Streisand effect…The key idea behind the Streisand effect is that efforts to restrict information can backfire, often causing the information to gain more attention than it would have otherwise. This effect is widespread in the digital age, where users quickly notice and spread censorship efforts on social media and other platforms. Trying to suppress something can unintentionally lead to it becoming more visible, which N1CM is finding out the hard way.

Potential Consequences for N1CM

Under Florida Statute 831.01, the crime of Forgery is committed when a person falsifies, alters, counterfeits, or forges a document that carries “legal efficacy” with the intent to injure or defraud another person or entity.

Forging a document is considered a white-collar crime. It involves altering, changing, or modifying a document to deceive another person. It can also include passing along copies of documents that are known to be false. In many states in the US, falsifying a document is a crime punishable as a felony.

Additionally, under most laws, “fraud on the court” is where “a party has sentiently set in motion some unconscionable scheme calculated to interfere with the judicial system’s ability impartially to adjudicate a matter by improperly influencing the trier of fact or unfairly hampering the presentation of the opposing party’s claim or defense.”  Cox v. Burke, 706 So. 2d 43, 46 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998) (quoting Aoude v. Mobil Oil Corp., 892 F.2d 1115, 1118 (1st Cir. 1989)).

Is N1CM Committing a Cyber Crime?

Yes, it seems so. N1CM used multiple approaches to remove unwanted material from review sites and Google’s search results. Thanks to protections allowing freedom of speech in the United States, there are very few legal ways to do this. N1CM could not eliminate negative reviews or search results that linked to them without a valid claim of defamation, copyright infringement, or some other clear breach of the law.

Faced with these limitations, some companies like N1CM have gone to extreme lengths to fraudulently claim copyright ownership over a negative review in the hopes of taking it down.

Fake DMCA notices have targeted articles highlighting the criminal activity of prominent people to hide their illegal behavior. These people, which include US, Russian, and Khazakstani politicians as well as members from elite circles including the mafia and those with massive financial power, are all connected – and alleged corruption ranging from child abuse to sexual harassment is exposed when exploring evidence found at these URLs. It appears there’s a disturbing level of influence being exerted here that needs further investigation before justice can be served. N1CM is certainly keeping interesting company here….

The DMCA takedown process requires that copyright owners submit a takedown notice to an ISP identifying the allegedly infringing content and declaring, under penalty of perjury, that they have a good faith belief that the content is infringing. The ISP must then promptly remove or disable access to the content. The alleged infringer can then submit a counter-notice, and if the copyright owner does not take legal action within 10 to 14 days, the ISP can restore the content.

Since these platforms are predominantly based in the U.S., the complaints are typically made under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which requires online service providers and platforms to react immediately to reports or violations. Big Tech companies rarely have systems in place to assess the merit of each report. Instead, all bad actors need to do is clone a story, backdate it, and then demand the real thing be taken down.

Reputation Agency's Modus Operandi

The fake DMCA notices we found always use the “back-dated article” technique. With this technique, the wrongful notice sender (or copier) creates a copy of a “true original” article and back-dates it, creating a “fake original” article (a copy of the true original) that, at first glance, appears to have been published before the true original.

Then, based on the claim that this backdated article is the “original,” the scammers send a DMCA to the relevant online service providers (e.g. Google), alleging that the ‘true’ original is the copied or “infringing” article and that the copied article is the “original,” requesting the takedown of the ‘true’ original article. After sending the DMCA request, the person who sent the wrong notice takes down the fake original URL, likely to make sure that the article doesn’t stay online in any way. If the takedown notice is successful, the disappearance from the internet of information is most likely to be legitimate speech.

As an integral part of this scheme, the ‘reputation management’ company hired by N1CM creates a website that purports to be a ‘news’ site. This site is designed to look legitimate at a glance, but any degree of scrutiny reveals it as the charade it is.

The company copies the ‘negative’ content and posts it “on the fake ‘news’ site, attributing it to a separate author,” then gives it “a false publication date on the ‘news’ website that predated the original publication.

The reputation company then sent Google a Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice claiming the original website infringed copyright. After a cursory examination of the fake news site, Google frequently accepts the notice and delists the content.

In committing numerous offences, N1CM either premeditated actions or were unaware of the consequences. Despite hiring an agency to make Google disregard any negative information about N1CM, ignorance does not excuse this wrongdoing.

Fake DMCA notices have targeted articles highlighting the criminal activity of prominent people to hide their illegal behavior. These people, which include US, Russian, and Khazakstani politicians as well as members from elite circles including the mafia and those with massive financial power, are all connected – and alleged corruption ranging from child abuse to sexual harassment is exposed when exploring evidence found at these URLs. It appears there’s a disturbing level of influence being exerted here that needs further investigation before justice can be served. FSMSmart is certainly keeping interesting company here.

The Reputation Laundering

Rogue Reputation agencies use spurious copyright claims and fake legal notices to remove and obscure articles linking clients to allegations of tax avoidance, corruption, and drug trafficking. Most of these reputation agencies are based offshore, mainly in Russia, India, and Eastern Europe, and they do not worry about complying with US-based laws.

The content in all of the articles for which the fraudulent DMCA notices have been sent relates to allegations of criminal allegations, including corruption, child abuse, sexual harassment, human trafficking and financial fraud against businesses and individuals with ultra-high net worth.

In addition to the misuse of the DMCA takedown process, there is a notable absence of enforcement concerning perjury violations. The statutory requirement related to perjury is designed to deter copyright holders from submitting fraudulent or knowingly false takedown requests, as they may face legal consequences for making false declarations under penalty of perjury. However, to date, there have been no known instances of any individual being prosecuted for perjury in connection with the submission of false DMCA takedown notices.

This lack of enforcement has emboldened copyright holders to exploit the DMCA takedown process to suppress dissent, criticism, or other unfavorable content, without fear of legal repercussions.

Some of the people and businesses who have employed this tactic to remove legitimate content from Google illegally include a Spanish businessman-turned-cocaine-trafficker, Organised crime, an Israeli-Argentine banker accused of laundering money for Hugo Chávez’s regime, a French “responsible” mining company accused of tax evasion, child molesters and sexual predators. N1CM is in great company ….

What else is N1CM hiding?

We encourage you to ‘Dork‘ Google by searching for keyword combinations such as [N1CM] + {Negative Keyword, such as Scam, Fraud, Complaints, Lawsuit, Sanction, etc} on Google. It’s likely if you scroll down to the bottom of this Google search results, you’ll stumble upon this Legal Takedown notice (pictured below)

To make such an investigation possible, we encourage more online service providers to come forward and share copies of content removal requests with industry experts and researchers. If you have any information on N1CM that you want to share with experts and journalists, kindly email the author directly at [email protected].

All communications are strictly confidential and safeguarded under a comprehensive Whistleblower Policy, ensuring full protection and anonymity for individuals who provide information.