#liquidity-fee

My 'broker' demands a 'liquidity assurance fee' to withdraw profits. Is this legit or am I being scammed?

Hey everyone, I'm feeling really stupid right now, could use some advice. I got into forex trading late last year after seeing some ads on Instagram. This 'broker' platform looked legit, had a decent interface, and my 'account manager' was super attentive. I put in about $2,000 to start, and they kept showing me these amazing 'profits' on my dashboard. It went up to like $15k really fast. So, I tried to withdraw a portion, like $3,000, just to see if it works. But now they're saying I need to pay a "liquidity assurance fee" of $1,500 before they can process the withdrawal. They say it's to ensure market stability and prove I'm a serious trader, and that it's fully refundable once the withdrawal clears. It sounds really fishy to me, but I also don't want to lose the $15k if it's actually real. I'm based in Joburg, and I used my local bank for the deposit. Has anyone heard of this before? What should I do? I'm so stressed out.