January 04, 2019 | AtoZ Markets - The British Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has recently issued a new warning about a clone brokerage company, which claimed to have obtained the regulator’s licence.
In the details of the news, the FCA said in its warning that Leleux Associated Brokers was posing as an FCA regulated trading broker, using the same name and brand of the targeted, cloned authentic company.
The regulator warned in its notice as well of methods fraudsters follow to pose as regulated financial entities, saying “fraudsters usually use this tactic when contacting people out of the blue, so you should be especially wary if you have been cold called.”
The fake website, as the financial watchdog explained in its warning, impersonated the original firm that obtains an authentic licence from the FCA, to lure consumers and investors into dealing with it, copying the exact business categories the genuine company, which operates from Soignies in Belgium and has a licence from the National Bank of Belgium for providing investment brokerage and asset management services.
The copycat broker used the email address markshepard@leleux.co.uk, along with including it within the alleged registration details the former showed on its website “www.leleux.co.uk”, which is very similar to the website of the FCA regulated firm, that is www.leleux.be.
Consumer protection constitutes a basic factor to take into consideration
The FCA has a long list on its website, warning of fraudulent websites that claimed to be legal entities, where some of those companies forged the regulator’s stamp, along with the signature of official FCA employee in charge of approving the business.
In a similar context, the regulator was recently reported to have started a probe on around 18 companies involved in cryptocurrency trading and dealing, amid concerns of market risks and consumer protection, as AtoZ Markets reported on January 02.
The UK financial watchdog also tightened the margin for CFD and banned binary options, following the ban the EU financial regulator ESMA imposed, where the latter said in one of its latest publications that under Article 40 of Regulation (EU) No 600/2014, the financial watchdog prohibited the marketing, distribution or sale of binary options to retail clients, which ESMA started on the 21st of September the last year.