£73,200 frozen behind an “account verification” that never ended

How it started

After a cold call, Priya opened an account with 101investing, which displayed a licence badge from a European regulator. She deposited in stages as a “senior broker” coached her through trades.

Where it went wrong

When she tried to withdraw, she was locked into an endless verification loop and then told her account was under “compliance review.” The licence badge, it turned out, belonged to a different, unrelated firm.

What we did

1. Confirmed the licensing claim was a clone of an unrelated regulated entity.
2. Traced her card and transfer deposits to the broker’s payment processors.
3. Filed chargebacks and a bank recall with the cloned-licence evidence attached.
4. Reported the clone to the impersonated regulator’s enforcement team.

Red flags, in hindsight

• A licence “badge” you can’t verify on the regulator’s own register.
• Unsolicited calls from a “senior broker”.
• Withdrawal blocked by ever-changing verification.