The new FMA warning in a brief
The financial authority of New Zealand which is responsible for enforcing securities, financial reporting and company law, regulates securities exchanges, financial advisers and brokers, auditors, trustees, and issuers.
According to the agency, the Smart Financial Markets representatives are cold-calling New Zealand residents, claiming to be dually registered in Switzerland and New Zealand, with the registration number 90/353. The regulator reported, that the aforementioned company is not registered to provide financial services in New Zealand, therefore the authority considers that this entity bears the hallmarks of a scam.
The FMA of New Zealand has also noted in its report that an Australian registered company with a similar name Smart Financial Pty Ltd, has confirmed on its website to have no association with Smart Financial Markets.
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More clone firms on the international regulators' radar
The Smart Financial Markets are not the first in the list of the brokerage firms’ impersonators. Among financial scammers, it is becoming popular to borrow the name of truly existing retail companies in order to lure funds from unaware investors. Last month the company with a similar strategy appeared on the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) radar.
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) revealed details of the cloned firm BAT Financial Management.
According to the UK regulator, the fraudsters were using the details of firms, authorized by the FCA, to try to convince people that they work for a genuine, authorized firm. As the UK regulator states, EEA an authorized firm that fraudsters are claiming to work for has no association with the ‘clone firm’.
In March the British financial authority, which is involved in the control and supervision of the financial firms in the UK flagged Sucden Financial clone firm. The clone firm copied a name, logo or website to create a false perception of belonging to a legitimate company - Sucden Financial Limited.
The authority warned investors that the scammers may give out other false details or mix these with some correct details of the registered firm and the public should always be aware of that.
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