Forex CRM Lifehack: Real Cases “HACKER ATTACK”
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In the previous article, we wrote that UpTrader Forex CRM has a useful system for controlling fund deposit and withdrawal. In short, it allows you to flexibly configure the approval settings for withdrawal requests though a variety of parameters. The system lets you control the requested amount, the departments that approve the withdrawal, which managers are allowed to approve the requests, whether account details are mandatory, whether or not the CEO approves the requests and many more. All these settings are extremely useful and allow the broker to protect themselves from many unpleasant situations. Only a few of our clients take advantage of these features, while they are available in UpTrader Forex CRM completely free of charge. We highly recommend using them! As an illustration, we would like to share with you a recent case from one of our clients’ operations. Thanks to a well-configured withdrawal control system, the broker team noticed that something was wrong, quickly reacted to an unusual situation, and prevented a large-scale case of fraud.
The company asked us to change the names of the client and the manager and not to mention their own name, but allowed us to tell their story in detail.
Hacker attack
John is a professional trader who regularly withdraws profits from Company X. That is why no one was surprised when he sent another request to withdraw his profit for the previous month. The finance department was ready to approve it, but the withdrawal control system was set in a way that all large requests over $10,000 must also be approved by the client's personal manager.
When Casper, John's personal manager, contacted him, he immediately suspected that something was wrong. John's voice sounded unusual. Casper always builds relationships with each client, so he started the conversation with small talk and asked how John's children were doing. John replied that everything was okay and that they were at school. But Casper knew perfectly well that John's youngest child was born only a few months ago, which meant that he was talking to somebody else!
A few days later, it turned out that the hackers were able to create a duplicate of John's SIM card and used it to hack into his account. Thanks to the fact that his broker used the UpTrader withdrawal control system, John was able to keep his monthly profit, and the company prevented reputation losses. It allowed the company to maintain a trusting relationship with their clients and to ensure the safety of their funds.
"The Planet of Vogons"
In this user case, we will talk about a medium-sized Ukrainian broker who has been working in forex for many years, has an extensive departmental network and a complex withdrawal control system. Before adopting the UpTrader withdrawal control system, the company processes were barely automated.
The broker N started working on the Ukrainian market many years ago. At that time, the broker only had clients from Ukraine and the CIS. The withdrawal approval was coordinated by two people: the dealer and the CFO. The process was manual but smooth and fast. Then the broker began to grow, got foreign clients, then foreign partners, and launched several types of affiliate programs.
Each affiliate program has its own conditions for the accrual and payment of affiliate fees. In some cases, additional conditions can exist for different partners within the same program. The broker also allocates bonuses for the deposits. It means, for instance, that if a client came to the broker through a Vietnamese partner who works for the lots, and deposited 5,000 dollars to the account, they get a bonus: + 100% of the deposit for 1,000 dollars. According to the terms of the bonus, for every 100,000 units of currency traded, they kept $3 for themselves. The broker then must pay the bonus for this client to the partner without taking into account the bonus funds and the funds received from the bonus trading, remove excess lots and draw up the balance. Imagine then that such a client requests a withdrawal.
All the numbers were compiled manually. As a result, 6 departments, the secretary and the CEO of the company were engaged in approving requests for the broker. First, the withdrawal had to be approved by the client’s personal manager to make sure that the request was not a scam. Then the request fell in the partner relations department’s lap, because they needed to make sure that extra lots did not get into partner payments. Then, in some cases, they had to contact the dealer to make sure that everything was traded according to the rules. Next, the application went to the compliance department, which may find that the client has not fully completed KYC and that they need to finish the process (the client corrects errors and resubmits the request, and it follows along the same path). Then the application went to the finance department, which once again verified the numbers. And finally, the secretary manually collected problematic requests and took them to the CEO for final approval.
Thus, one request could take 5 days, 10 days, or two weeks to get approved. Needless to say, everyone was tired of it. Not only did this situation take up a lot of time and resources, it still did not prevent the company from making mistakes. Ultimately, the broker adopted the UpTrader withdrawal control system. It helped automate calculations, divide clients into groups, set conditions for calculating an affiliate program for different groups, and automate some of the withdrawals that do not require additional attention. A system of quick notifications pinging the team about new requests was set up, and the request statuses became visible in the CRM.
Now even the most complex requests take 1-2 days to approve. At the same time, the number of errors in calculations decreased significantly. As an additional bonus, the broker was able to take a closer look at the terms of affiliate programs and, in some cases, it became obvious that it was extremely unprofitable for them to continue working under the conditions they previously set themselves. The broker removed all unprofitable programs, freed up a lot of resources, and significantly increased their income from affiliate programs.
