The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the United Kingdom’s financial sector regulatory agency, has advised traders against doing business with Crypto Vault Traders, a company located in the US. In a report issued on its official website, the watchdog stated that the company is selling financial products or services in the United Kingdom without its permission.
“Virtually all businesses and people providing, marketing, or selling financial products or services in the United Kingdom must be authorized or licensed by us,” the regulator added. It also stated that;
“This company has not been authorized and is mostly targeting persons in the United Kingdom. In the event that anything goes wrong, you will neither have contact to the Financial Ombudsman Service nor will you be covered by the FSCS (Financial Services Compensation Scheme); as a result, your funds will not be recovered.”
The FCA cautioned traders and investors to “be mindful that some organizations may provide more information or modify their contact information with time to different telephone numbers, email addresses, or physical locations.”
Traders Advised To Trade With Licensed Platforms
It advised traders to visit the register of the FCA to verify that the financial institutions they intend to do business with are licensed or registered with the regulatory authority. According to the FCA, the register contains information on organizations that have obtained a license and are allowed to operate in the country. A company not listed in the register must be reported to the organization.
“If someone traded with a registered company, the access they will have to the Financial Ombudsman Service and FSCS protection will be dependent on their kind of investment, the services the company is offering, and the licenses they have,” the surveillance agency stated.
Recent Warnings From The FCA
In the past months, the crypto industry has faced many fraudulent activities targeted at exchange firms and naive investors, leading to millions of dollars being lost.
At the beginning of the month, the FCA issued a warning to investors about the trading company Etradefxlive. Its statement noted that the organization had not been approved and might be a clone of E*Trade, a company in the US. Last month, the organization issued another warning to investors about a clone corporation called AZOptions, which was imitating Octopus Investments Limited to defraud naïve investors in Europe.
Also, the surveillance agency issued a warning against another company that was impersonating XTB, a dealer that is part of the XTB Group with branches in the United Kingdom that the FCA authorizes.
