Dear Clients and Industry Colleagues,
There is an ongoing scandal surrounding Ukrainian forex broker, Forex Trend (“Форекс Тренд”). The company, which operates in the Ukraine, Russia and the CIS, attracts funds from individuals, supposedly for use on financial markets. The company is currently experiencing serious problems with the disbursement of funds to its clients. It is highly likely that we are witnessing the collapse of another pyramid scheme. This situation is aggravated by the fact that Forex Trend was masking its activities by using the popular PAMM Account investment service, and thereby sullying the certified financial instrument’s and the industry’s reputation as a whole.
We are deeply concerned by this turn of events and, as such, believe it is our duty to act by way of writing an open letter.
The PAMM Account service was created and introduced by Alpari in 2008. The idea of the product is for clients to invest funds in experienced traders and share the gains of deals made proportional to their investment. The service has won many industry awards and is widespread (in Alpari alone there are over 400,000 open investment accounts of this kind), setting an industry standard. In 2010, Alpari became the official holder of “PAMM-account”, “PAMM-счет”, “ПАММ-счет” and “ПАММ-портфель” (PAMM Portfolio) trademarks.
Alpari has never objected to the use of its PAMM Account trademark by other conscientious market participants. The company is in favor of healthy competition within the industry and welcomes the expansion of internet trading throughout the CIS and Russia. However, circumstances where PAMM Accounts are being used to cover up pyramid schemes are absolutely unacceptable: they discredit PAMM services and the forex industry as a whole.
Alpari’s legal representatives have begun legal action against Forex Trend in Russian and New Zealand courts, where the company is registered, for the misleading and illegal use of the “ПАММ-счет” (PAMM Account) trademark throughout its website and affiliated forum, mmgp.ru. Furthermore, Forex Trend’s website plagiarizes a video clip about PAMM Accounts created by Alpari specialists. In this regard, Alpari calls on Forex Trend to prejudicially cease its use of the “ПАММ-счет” (PAMM Account) trademark.
From the moment it was founded in 1998, Alpari has maintained the highest standards, openness and transparency. In 2012, Alpari became the first company to reveal its yearly financial results. Alpari is a participant of the self-regulated organization CRFIN (ЦРФИН), where the company has been actively involved in the development of a law on the regulation of the Forex market in Russia, due to come into force later this year.
Best regards,
Alpari
