Hi there. I have bought shares with (PRIAMA) in Aug 2017 for the first time. I got involved with them based on a cold call that was made and as naïve as I was back then, I thought this is my break to make money on the side. Everything went well until I asked to repatriate some of the money a year later. Needless to say, I still don’t have one sent back as of 21 Nov 2024.
I have paid countless compliance request from alleged international financial regulators.
Anti-Money Laundering Certificate (AML), Personal Identity Clearance Certificate (PICC), International Fraud Prevention (IFP Cert), Combating the Financing of Terrorism Compliance (CFT Statement). I also had to pay for an Indemnity Insurance that the Peoples Bank of China requested. Just after the Indemnity insurance was in place, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) called for a Tax audit. PRIAME then claimed from the Insurance, but the insurance company pulled out an exclusion clause, because the tax audit request had a financial risk attached to it. I had to pay a collateral/bond for the insurance to pay out. A transfer agent in Switzerland apparently picked up the repatriation, but then FINMA started with compliance requests (the previously mentioned, IFP, CFT) and to top that, the Swiss National Bank then requested ‘Stamp of Approval’, which was a flat collateral fee or USD25,000-00. UBS Bank in Switzerland provided me with a ‘Cover of Payment Obligation’ and apparently settled the SNB request, but then requested an ‘International Processing Fee (IPF).
At this stage I refused to pay that and the PRIAMA indicated that they can cancel the repatriation, route the money to their bank in Singapore (OCBC). This happened and my account had to be audited by an external 3rd party auditor. 8 weeks later, PRIAMA called me and said the audit came back clear and that they will restart the repatriation. Next moment they told me that the money is now with J.P. Morgan in the USA, but the Federal Reserve Bank is requesting an IPF as a collateral before they will pay the money out to me, with a backing ‘Cover of Payment Obligation’.
I’m basically bankrupt and don’t have the money to pay for another compliance request.
To date, I cannot verify if PRIAMA is real, if these compliance requests are real.
Did anyone have dealings with PRIAMA before? Are they real and legit?
How do I verify these compliance requests? I just get told by PRIAMA that they can’t provide anything in writing due the Chinese data privacy laws. I’m lost and broke and need some advice.
Hello, I’m Nuri AI, and I’m jumping in with a quick AI-generated response until BrokerChooser Staff members can join the discussion. I’m really sorry to hear about your situation with Parnell Rosenberg Irwin Asset Management (PRIAMA). Based on what you’ve described, there are several red flags that suggest you might be dealing with a scam. Here are some points to consider:
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Cold Calls: Legitimate financial institutions rarely, if ever, make unsolicited cold calls to potential clients. This is often a tactic used by scammers to lure in unsuspecting individuals.
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Numerous Compliance Fees: The repeated requests for various compliance fees and certificates, such as Anti-Money Laundering Certificates and others, are a common scam tactic. Genuine financial institutions typically do not require such fees to be paid by clients.
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Complex and Unverified Processes: The convoluted process involving multiple international banks and regulatory bodies, along with the inability to verify these requests, is highly suspicious. Legitimate transactions do not involve such complexity and lack of transparency.
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Excuses and Delays: The constant delays and excuses for not being able to provide documentation due to “Chinese data privacy laws” are concerning. Legitimate companies should be able to provide clear and verifiable documentation.
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Recovery Scams: Be cautious of any offers to help recover your funds for a fee. These are often scams themselves, preying on individuals who have already been victimized.
Unfortunately, recovering funds from scam brokers is an extremely complex procedure, and the chances of success are rather low. I recommend checking out this article by BrokerChooser for more information: How to recover your funds when scammed.
If you haven’t already, please provide details on how these suspected scammers contacted you. This information can be helpful for others in the community and for any further investigation.
Lastly, I urge you to be cautious and avoid sending any more money. A human will review your topic shortly and join the conversation to provide further assistance.
Hi there,
Thanks for your message. I’m sorry you’re dealing with this stressful situation. Could you please send me an URL to this broker? If you are referring to Parnell Rosenberg Irwin Asset Management (PRIAMA) I can confirm that it’s clearly a scam as it’s listed on the IOSCO’s warning list.
Regardless, simply based on the details you’ve provided, PRIAMA seems to be a sophisticated financial scam as well. Here’s why:
- Red Flags in the Process:
- Cold Calling: Cold calling is often the first step in many financial scams.
- Unending Fees and Compliance Requests: Genuine financial institutions do not require multiple layers of compliance fees, anti-money laundering certificates, or indemnity insurance paid directly by clients, especially when you’re simply trying to withdraw your own funds. These are classic stalling tactics used in scams.
- Unrealistic Bureaucratic Chains: The involvement of numerous high-profile institutions like the People’s Bank of China, CBRC, Swiss National Bank, UBS, and J.P. Morgan seems designed to overwhelm and confuse you. Genuine institutions would never involve this many unrelated entities for a simple transaction.
- Verification Challenges:
- Lack of Transparency: PRIAMA’s refusal to provide written confirmations or verifiable documentation under the pretense of “data privacy laws” is extremely suspicious. Reputable companies operate transparently and provide written documentation upon request at any time.
- Unverifiable Requests: Legitimate regulatory or compliance fees are always paid directly to the authorities (not through intermediaries), and their requirements are publicly available and verifiable.
- Indicators of a Scam:
- The names of institutions and processes used are misrepresented to appear credible.
- The continuous demand for payments without any results is a clear warning sign for scams.
Given these, please do not send any more money to PRIAMA or any associated entities. Continuing payments will only deepen your losses.
Unfortunately, the recovery of funds from scam brokers is an extremely complex procedure and chances of success are rather low.
After investigating numerous money recovery services we found that they are just another layer of fraud. We could not find any that was proved to be legitimate. So, please do not use these services as it will only lead to further losses. You can find more details here:
https://brokerchooser.com/safety/scam/money-recovery-scams.
Regardless, I would recommend checking the following article where we collected a few things you can try to get your funds back: https://brokerchooser.com/forex/regulation/scams#how-to-recover-your-funds-when-scammed.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Best wishes,
Andris
Thank you very much for your reply @Andris
This is very concerning and it feels impossible to verify if PRIAMA’s is registered company.
What I cannot understand, is that I have been with them for almost 9 years now and still communicating with mostly the same people.
Is it possible that a company can be a sophisticated financial scam for such a long time?
I’ve asked them many times about their legitimacy and they claim that the company has been established in 2005, which is consistent their website domain age.
If they are not regulated by the top international financial regulators, surely they must be regulated by another international financial regulator somewhere in the world. Otherwise they would not be able to trade on the American Stock Exchange. Unfortunately I don’t have access or tools to find that information, and I can’t find someone that has.
Further, it feels impossible to find any platform were PRIAMA is being mentioned by anyone. Whether other people around the globe had either good or bad experiences in the last 10-15 years.
May I have been an unlucky customer that had to kneel down for endless compliance requests? and others have no issues with PRIAMA?
Regards