City Police, FCA Swoop on 20 Binary Options Firms in London

Binary options brokers blamed for investment scams that robbed British victims of more than £18 million in the first half of 2017 have been rounded up in a crackdown involving UK police earlier this week.

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The raids, which took place two days ago, were the culmination of an unprecedented operation led by City of London Police. The police officers joined the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the largest financial regulator for all financial markets in the United Kingdom (UK).The UK regulator is responsible for the conduct of firms authorized under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Moreover, the FCA is also responsible for the regulation of behavior in retail and wholesale financial markets, supervision of the trading infrastructure that supports those markets, and the prudential regulation of firms not regulated by the PRA. Its rol The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the largest financial regulator for all financial markets in the United Kingdom (UK).The UK regulator is responsible for the conduct of firms authorized under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Moreover, the FCA is also responsible for the regulation of behavior in retail and wholesale financial markets, supervision of the trading infrastructure that supports those markets, and the prudential regulation of firms not regulated by the PRA. Its rol Read this Term) and HM Revenue & Customs in a series of raids across London's financial district in one of the biggest anti-binary options actions ever staged.

In what police have described as the biggest operation of its kind, officers swooped on the offices of 20 binary options brokers in order to “review their Compliance Compliance In finance, banking, investing, and insurance compliance refers to following the rules or orders set down by the government regulatory authority, either as providing a service or processing a transaction. Compliance concerning finance would also be a state of being following established guidelines or specifications. This designation can also encompass efforts to ensure that organizations are abiding by both industry regulations and government legislation. Understanding ComplianceCompliance is a In finance, banking, investing, and insurance compliance refers to following the rules or orders set down by the government regulatory authority, either as providing a service or processing a transaction. Compliance concerning finance would also be a state of being following established guidelines or specifications. This designation can also encompass efforts to ensure that organizations are abiding by both industry regulations and government legislation. Understanding ComplianceCompliance is a Read this Term documents and gather intelligence on different types of investment fraud.”

Investment scams related to binary options providers, which of course are not limited to the suspects of this week's raid, are believed to have duped more than 700 British victims in the first six months of 2017.

Since 2012, the UK authorities have identified 2,065 victims who lost roughly £59.4 million or £22,811 each, but detectives believe that this is "the tip of the iceberg" as many may have not reported being a victim of a binary options scam.

UK-based binary options companies are currently regulated by the Gambling Commission, but the FCA wants to bring them under its authority, the regulator said earlier this year. Until then, investors do not receive the protection offered by the UK’s financial services regulatory framework when purchasing binary options.

In addition, and in line with practices across most of the EU, the FCA expects to bring certain types of binary options within its regulatory perimeter alongside the implementation of the MiFID II, which will apply from January 3, 2018.

Glenn Maleary, head of the economic crime directorate at the City of London Police, said in a statement: "With our partners, we want to ensure the City is a hostile environment for fraudsters to operate in and we will continue to do everything we can to ensure that this is the case. Throughout this year we have been raising awareness of Binary Options fraud and over the coming days we will be providing more advice on how people can beat the boiler rooms and protect themselves from all types of investment fraud."