Fact-check: Is World Investment Conpany a legitimate forex trader? No, it is fake

Writer: Amule Alex 

The “World Investment Conpany” page on Facebook, which is currently running ads claiming that they are forex traders, is spreading false information.

Forex trading is the exchange of one currency for another for trading purposes. Forex traders (foreign exchange traders) anticipate changes in currency prices and take trading positions in currency pairs on the foreign exchange market to profit from a change in currency demand. They can execute trades for financial institutions on behalf of clients or as individual investors. 

In its ad, the company says it was founded with a vision to create a 100 per cent transparent digital trading experience for its clients. “We always had the idea that the investment industry was missing more broad-minded business…,” it partly says in this post.

At the end of the Facebook post on its page, readers are provided with a link to download the Telegram messaging app as well as instructions on how to talk to Aisha or join the company’s channel.

The first link will take you to a web page called “World Forex Traders,” and to make use of the services it provides, you will need to have a Telegram account. The second link should be used when you wish to speak with a woman named Rimi Aisha.

Here is a screenshot of their post on Facebook

Screenshots of the World Forex Traders & Aisha Rimi’s Channels

Because of the large number of forex traders operating in the modern market, including impostors, it is very challenging to differentiate between legitimate and illegitimate businesses.

In the case of “World Investment Conpany,” 211 Check conducts an investigation to determine whether or not the company is a genuine forex trader.

We started by asking Aisha about their company, and here is what she told us.

Screenshots of our engagement with Aisha

Screenshots of our engagement with Aisha

The red flags in this company:

The word company has a spelling mistake. Instead of company, they prefer to call their Facebook page “conpany.” This is very unusual for a company that values its reputation. 

Check the above screenshot

Following a Google search, three pages with the same post and all leading to the same link with the same logos and photos are returned. The difference is the time period in which the pages were created. On April 20, the “World Investment Company” was established, followed by the “Forex Trading Company” on October 1 and the “World Investment Conpany” on November 21. They appear to have been created by the same people.

Screenshots showing the transparency section of three different yet similar pages

Only mPesa is accepted for payment. Why not have multiple transaction methods?

When I asked Aisha how to pay, she told me to use mpesa, which is a service that lets both international and local merchants offer Africa’s most popular payment method as an option at online checkouts. She says that the money needs to be sent to her, and then she will put it in the bank for the person. The same thing happens when someone wants to withdraw.

This is not true of real online forex trading, as they are expected to have a website and more than one way to make transactions.

The company uses stock images on its Facebook page.

A reverse image search on the photo used as the cover of its Facebook page yields several results of the same image being used by various sites, including here, here, and here. Stock images are photos, illustrations, and icons that were created with no specific project in mind. They are then licenced to individuals or institutions, usually for a fee or free of charge.

Screenshot of the Facebook page’s cover photo

Conclusion:

The claim that “World Investment Company” is a legitimate forex trader is found to be false by 211 Check. The company does not have a website or flexible payment methods.

This fact-check was published as part of an assignment for the Empowering Fact-checking in South Sudan (EFiSS) Training Program by 211 Check.