How do you avoid bonus and promotion traps?

Deposit bonuses sound like free money and usually come with trading-volume conditions that make withdrawal nearly impossible. Offshore brokers use them most aggressively, and the terms are always written to favour the house.

Have you taken a bonus?

• what the conditions actually required
• whether you ever withdrew the bonus or profits attached to it
• what you'd tell a beginner offered one today

The pattern is well known; forex scams lists it among the classic hooks.