FCA Issues Continued Warning on Clone FX Brokers
Another set of scammers have taken it upon themselves to develop a Clone FX Brokers website of a Forex & Cryptocurrency firm. This time the site that was cloned related to the FCA-Approved Swiss Investment Corporation firm. The scammers would take from unaware clients by using the reference number they provided over to what these clients believed were SIC.
The Financial Conduct Authority has issued out a warning to all brokers & brokerages licensed through the FCA. This regulatory board has been hard at work fighting against fraudsters that clone brokerages & steal funds from investors.
However, there are slight differences in the Official Swiss Investment Corporation Website & the fraudulent one operated by these scammers. The websites had different visual cues, including the logo, is different from the official one. The only real claim to being a clone website was that this fraudulent site used the company’s regulation & reputation by exploiting their FCA Seal of Approval and website address.
Swiss Investment Corporation is a certified company that maintains offices in Geneva, Zurich, Lugano and London. The Financial Conduct Authority commissions the company in the United Kingdom and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority in Switzerland. Since opening in 1993, this firm has specialised in Capital Markets, Order Executions and Private Placements.
Regulators Fight Back
It’s hard to time when a fraudster is at large. There are numerous ways in which they can take money from victims & it’s becoming increasingly common for these websites to appear across the European Union. These websites intend to ultimately steal your login credentials, credit card numbers & potentially your financial portfolio. This is accomplished by creating a fake site that looks and works the same as the forex brokerage you use. Often, clients don’t even know they’re accessing a different website.
The Financial Conduct Authority states to clients: “Fraudsters usually use this tactic when contacting people out of the blue, so you should be especially wary if you have been cold called.”