In what is another case of cloning of legitimate financial institutions, the Financial Conduct Authority issued a warning against DuPont Financial, DuPont FX & DP Global Services Ltd. The fraudsters are using the details of firms which are authorised to try to convince people that they represent a genuine, regulated firm.
DuPont Financial claims on its website that it has been operating since 2011, boasting that its founders have been financial industry veterans since 1991.
The website is far from related to the widely known chemical company DuPont, instead the entity has focused on using the details of an EEA Authorized company containing the “Dupont” name - Dupont Denant Contrepartie S.A. which is operating as a subsidiary of French investment bank, Natixis Securities SA.
Just as with any clone, the firm is banking on attracting newbie investors, who are not aware of the existence of regulatory registers and are ill-informed to take investment decisions. Frequently, the victims of clone entities reside outside of regulatory jurisdictions, just like in the case of fake websites catering to Chinese clients.
The FCA doesn’t have much in store to counteract this worrying trend. Some countries such as Indonesia have tried to micromanage the problem, issuing traffic limitations on certain websites, however, this has proven to be quite a painstaking process with all the new and ingenious ways to bypass the authorities’ limitations coming up every day.
The UK regulatory body explains that “cold calling” is one of the ways of recognizing that there is a suspicious entity involved. Fraudsters usually use this tactic to attract new customers, using a genuine name and coming up with registration and Regulation numbers on their own.
Frequently, they are also use genuine details of companies in order to prevent the victim from discovering the discrepancies from the original firm.
FCA Reporting
With the growing weariness of Clone companies, people who have been contacted are encouraged by FCA to call the company’s Consumer Helpline on 0800 111 6768. Companies who believe their website or company has been cloned and scammers are purportedly using the firm’s name or other details, the FCA hotline to contact is 0845 606 9966.
