The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) sounded an alarm about a fraudulent clone website that was impersonating Plus500, the Israeli-based but London-stock market listed CFD provider.
The watchdog warned investors to watch out for other websites that claim their services were developed or authorized by regulated brands to lure and possibly scam them.
The FCA said an attempt by copycat website had been made to reproduce the Plus500 webpages in many areas and context, under the domain, www.plus500un.com. To this end, the shady broker was trying to usurp the names and other legal information of Plus500 and try to convince them that they are indeed the authorized firm.
FX brokers are among those that have been targeted by rogue operators who clone their names and websites in an attempt to part unsuspecting investors from their cash.
The high number of warnings from the City watchdog, which issues clone alerts roughly on a daily basis, underscores the concern in the sector over cloned sites.
The regulator pointed out that these scammers often use the name of a legitimate firm, setting up a website with a design that closely resembles the original. This strategy has become a staple among con artists aiming to pass off illegal operations as trustworthy brands.
Today’s announcement is the latest in the FCA’s series of warnings about clone firms posing as legitimate approved businesses, to con UK consumers into making Payments for investment services.
Among those it warned about this month were unauthorised firms purporting to be affiliated with the financial services group, AT Global Markets (UK) Limited.
Clone firms are not an unusual occurrence in the industry, as fraudsters have grown increasingly resourceful in recent years. A commonly adopted tactic is for scammers to advertise an illegal operation as a reputable brand or entity.
The FCA encourages traders or those considering online trading to exercise caution. It is strongly advised against funding an account or investing via this specific company. Anyone who chooses to sign up with the impostor should bear in mind that they will not receive the financial authorities’ assistance should things go awry.
We last reported about Plus500 back in October when it reported revenues for the third quarter of its fiscal year 2023 came in at $168 million, down by 14 percent from $194 million in the three months through September 2022. In a market update, the broker reported its Q3 revenue was up 5 percent from $161 million in the second quarter of 2023.
