Today, a warning was issued out about a fraudulent clone website, having been issued out by the Financial Conduct Authority, or FCA. The warning details a new fraudulent clone website attempting to impersonate the LSE-listed, Israeli-based CFD provider, Plus500. Investors were warned by the FCA to be on the lookout for any website claiming that their services were authorized and/or developed by regulated brands, as it’s an easy tacting to lure them in for a scam.

FRCM Trying To Pretend To Be Plus500

As for who the culprit was in this case, the FCA pointed the finger toward FRCM Management. The regulator claimed that FRCM has been trying to reproduce Plus500’s webpage in multiple contexts and areas, doing so under the www.financereserve.com domain. Through the process, the broker playing copycat has gone as far as to try and take legal information from Plus500, names included to convince their victims that they are indeed Plus500 instead.

Rogue operators have been targeting a number of businesses, FX brokers included. These operators clone the websites and names of these regulated entities in an attempt to take cash from unsuspecting investors.

Clone Firms Seemingly A Daily Issue

As it stands now, the watchdog has been issuing a high number of warnings, and clone alerts happen roughly every day. As such, the sector is clearly dealing with a plague of copycat operations. In particular, the FCA warned that genuine firms are primarily targeted, with the copycat site built in its image to try and lure in unsuspecting customers.

The announcement for today, in particular, is just the latest of its warnings about clone firms trying to pose as approved businesses in a bid to make money from UK consumers. Prior to this, the FSA had issued out warnings about unauthorized firms that claimed they were affiliated with one AT Global Markets (UK) limited, when no such connection existed in the slightest.

Exercise The Due Caution

It’s a sad fact that clone firms are more common than they should  be. With the fraudsters of today ever-working towards developing the “perfect” strategy to counteract regulators and regulators doing the same against them, many tactics never really change. Of these tactics is to pretend to be a reputable entity or brand in advertisements in order to convince users to do business there.

It’s openly encouraged by the FCA that any individual considering only trading, be it, traders or newbies, to exercise caution above all things. The regulator advised that users don’t fund or invest an account by way of FRCM, as they will not be able to receive the help of the financial regulator once things go wrong.