The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued warnings on two companies acting as clone firms of licensed financial businesses. UBS Capital Wealth and ICO Crypto are on the regulator’s watch, as fraudsters are using UBS AG and Swiss Re Capital Markets Limited details, respectively, to try to convince people that they’re a legit company.
In the case of UBS Capital Wealth, the UK FCA says fraudsters are using www.ubscapitalwealth.com and www.myubscanada.cc domains to impersonate UBS AG, although they don’t provide a registered address where their supposed offices are located.
The watchdog reminds people that UBS Capital Wealth has no relation whatsoever with the FCA-licensed UBS AG. “This FCA authorized firm that fraudsters are claiming to work for has no association with the ‘clone firm,’” it warned.
On the other hand, ICO Crypto uses the swisscoinmarket.com domain to attract people by impersonating the FCA-licensed Swiss Re Capital Markets Limited firm, whose reference number in the UK is 187863. In fact, the financial supervisor says that it’s also another case of a clone firm that has no relation with the aforementioned licensed company, nor deal with cryptos.
Definition of a Clone Firm
“Almost all firms and individuals carrying out financial services activities in the UK have to be authorized or registered by us. This firm is not authorized or registered by us but has been targeting people in the UK, claiming to be an authorized firm. This is what we call a ‘clone firm’; and fraudsters usually use this tactic when contacting people out of the blue, so you should be especially wary if you have been cold called. They may use the name of the genuine firm, the ‘firm reference number’ (FRN) we have given the authorized firm or other details,” the FCA clarified about what a clone firm is.
Recently, Finance Magnates reported that the UK financial watchdog acted against Cypriot-based ICC Intercertus Capital Ltd, known by its trade name EverFX, and banned the company from offering contracts for differences (CFDs) instruments in the country.
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