It all began when we were called by Christopher Bale, a representative of Globalfx Management Trading Ltd, in Nov. 2009. He promoted the idea of investing in their managed forex trading service, stating that clients were averaging a return of 5% monthly, and that such offshore investment has significant tax benefits.

We then spent time researching Globalfx, concluding it was unlikely to be a boiler-room scam and were persuaded to invest an amount which we then increased in Sept. 2010 after regular monthly statements from Globalfx had documented excellent returns on our forex trading account. In October I met with Andrew Frankland of Globalfx Teleconsultants S.L. (business consultant to Globalfx) in Manchester and he recommended we increase our investment as much as possible – ideally to at least £100,000 if we wanted to generate a good retirement income.

By August, our statements were showing that our account had grown by approximately 80%, and we decided to withdraw £5,000 to assure ourselves Globalfx was absolutely legitimate. To our relief, Globalfx honoured this request and we received the funds within our agreement’s 30 day period. However, in February 2012, Globalfx emailed us saying that notice on fund withdrawals had been increased from 30 to 90 days notice.

The next stage in the story, CFD trading, is when everything started to go wrong. In Oct. 2012, I was contacted by David Hick from Globalfx and we discussed the fact that forex trading was fairly flat at the time. Hick told us that he was now recommending all his clients move their funds into CFD accounts, claiming this was producing very good returns. Hick’s new “Fixed Income and High Dividend yielding equities specialist” Robert Mathewson then rang me to explain the returns he was getting trading in Bank of America CFDs. His arguments were forceful, he anticipated BoA shares would rise substantially over the next year, and he was insistent this opportunity should not be missed.

At no stage in conversations with David Hick or Robert Mathewson did they mention that the new trading would be under different terms and conditions to those of our existing forex account, and we assumed it was just another product (as documented in our agreement options) that Globalfx were offering their clients to be traded under the same terms. Nor was it mentioned that all capital deposited in the CFD trading account would be invested, with nothing retained to cover possible margin calls. At this stage, in early Dec. 2012, our forex account balance was very healthy, and we decided to transfer around 75% of it into a CFD account. Incredible profits showing on the CFD platform then persuaded us to deposit a further amount in mid December.

On the 7 Jan. 2013 a number of clients including ourselves received an email from Globalfx Teleconsultants S.L, the part of Globalfx operated by David Hick’s business consultant Andrew Frankliand stating he was severing all ties with the other Globalfx companies. We interpreted this as just meaning that these two partners in Globalfx were going their own separate ways. However, the email included a list of Globalfx clients and their contact details, enabling us all to begin communicating with each other. I think we all see that as fortunate, given subsequent events: all had seemed fine to now with the CFD investment, with profits continuing to grow until…..

I was astounded to listen to a message on my mobile phone from Robert Mathewson on 25 Feb. 2013 telling me I needed to make a margin call deposit and to ring him back urgently. Unfortunately I got this message a few days after it was left, and when I reviewed my CFD trading statement on-line, it was apparent that our account balance had been decimated.

I requested an explanation from David Hick and his colleague in two successive emails but received no reply. Nor did I ever receive any formal correspondence (email or letter) regarding my CFD terms or agreement – all correspondence had been done verbally, though with access to our CFD trading account available on-line. However, during Apr. 2013, I managed to speak to David Hick about the crisis. David stated that they been monitoring and discussing the CFD situation. But clearly, despite their believing there was little risk of a dramatic fall in the price of BoA shares (and hence CFDs), it nonetheless still occurred, precipitating the margin call affecting all Globalfx CFD investors. David was confident that the BoA share price would rise again, but as I explained to him, it had been reckless to trade his clients’ monies at a level of risk completely unlike the careful management governing Globalfx’s forex trading, and I raised the fact I’d understood that the CFD trading would be covered by the same terms and conditions governing my forex account, and that these had not been adhered to. David stated simply that CFDs could not possibly have been traded under the old T&C. I replied that this had never been made clear, adding that he and Robert Mathewson had emphasised this investment was effectively a “no-brainer”. David ended off the conversation saying they would see if anything could be done, and that he’d ring me in a few days, also recommending that the only way to reverse these losses was to put further investments into BoA CFDs! However, Hick didn’t in fact get back to me.

At this stage, we had lost all confidence in Globalfx and decided to cut our losses, closing all our accounts with them. During Aug. 2013 I spoke with David Hick a couple of times who stated we would be liable for certain current losing “open positions” listed  separately and amounting in our case to a considerable sum. This was complete news to us, and on inspection it became clear these hidden losses were a breach of our forex trading agreement. He then went on to state that before taking into account the losses, Globalfx would take 45% commission on every month’s trading profit on closure of the A/c. When I objected that nowhere in our agreement with Globalfx did it state there would be a 45% commission, David laughed and said something to the effect “we don’t trade your money for fun and we have to make a profit somehow”. He then went on to recommend we didn’t close our A/c at this moment since he believed Globalfx would be able to close the open positions during September without such losses being incurred.

We decided to keep our forex A/c open for the near future, to see if this in fact would materialise. However over the next few months, it appeared Globalfx had been making losses on forex trading which was reflected in our A/c. We have now closed our forex A/c, but still await payment of the remaining balance.

…..Very unhappy and frustrated investors !