29 January, AtoZForex.com, Lagos – In the latest discovered stunt by fraudsters, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) have discovered the cloning of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. The SFC discovered the wrongful use of BlackRock’s details by another firm, which falsely claims to be “Blackrock Financial Co Ltd”, therefore wrongfully utilizing the details of the genuine firm.
This practice of cloning has become quite rampant in recent times, with many regulators taking a hard stance against the act. Hong Kong’s SFC is no different, as they constantly update their alert list with firms found guilty of this. The watchdog has now emphasized to the public that the firm “Blackrock Financial Co Ltd”, should not be mistaken for the SFC licensed firm “BlackRock Asset Management North Asia Limited”, and both firms have no affiliation to one another.
Clone firm details
This clone operates via multiple websites listed as:
www.815048.com; www.078517.com; www.860119.com;
www.697338.com; www.211776.com; www.093944.com.
Also providing the address: 23/F B07 Hover Industrial Building, No. 26-38 Kwai Cheong Road, Kwai Chung, New Territories, Hong Kong, -the SFC says that this address belongs to a secretarial company.
FCA also warned of BlackRock clone
This case of BlackRock clone bears striking similarity with a previous warning issued by the UK Financial Conduct Authority. In the FCA case, the perpetrators of the BlackRock scam went as far as using the company’s exact name “BlackRock Advisors (UK) Limited” as well as the same address and the same FCA Firm Reference Number (FRN). They have mixed this genuine details with fake information to deceive clients into thinking that they are doing business with a well known and legitimate company.
Goldman Sachs similar case
Hong Kong’s SFC also recently faced a similar case of a mega firm being cloned in its jurisdiction, as it was discovered that fraudsters had perpetrated a Goldman Sachs clone. In this case, the face company operated under the name “Hong Kong Goldman Sachs Financial Investment Ltd”. Also, listing the address: 58/F, Cheung Kong Center, 2 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong and websites: http://gsjr222.com, www.151178.com. This prompted the Hong Kong regulators to clarify that the company gives the above Hong Kong address but it is not located there. The company is not associated with Goldman Sachs (Asia) L.L.C., Goldman Sachs Futures (Asia) Limited and Goldman Sachs (Asia) Securities Limited, which are all SFC licensed corporations.
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