France’s financial market regulators, Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) and the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR), have jointly flagged 14 forex trading websites operating in the country without authorization. Both watchdogs announced the addition of the new sites to their blacklist today (Friday).
More Websites on the Blacklist
According to the regulators, the illegal platforms include action-sure.com, algo-robot.co, eu.vtmarkets.com, fxwinning.pro and fxwinning.net. Also, mainet.business, mainetfrance.com, morganfinance.trade, rxkcapital.com and weareturbo.io are also included in the list. Additionally, the others consist of xmarket-finance.com, xmonetatrading.com, autofxbroker.com and polarbtc.com.
Since the start of the year, AMF and ACPR have identified and added 22 illegal forex trading platforms to the blacklist. However, no new website offering unauthorized cryptocurrency derivatives to French citizens has been spotted during the period.
AMF Tackles Automated FX Trading
The latest addition to the blacklist follows AMF’s recent warnings against automated forex trading platforms. Last month, the financial watchdog flagged Immediate Connect, an investment scheme that tricked investors into registering on unauthorized platforms that offer automated trading in forex and cryptocurrency derivatives, with the promise of high returns.
Similarly, the AMF earlier this year warned investors against patronizing the services of unregulated companies selling subscriptions to their automated forex trading robots. The regulator sounded the alarm after it received several reports from investors and institutions, mainly those in French overseas territories, about firms offering fraudulent trading robot software in the forex market.
Regulatory Actions in Other Regions
Outside of France, other market supervisors are actively battling the continued rise in fraudulent forex trading and investment schemes. On Friday, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) blacklisted clones of Interactive Brokers and Polar Capital LLP.
Earlier this week, New Zealand's financial watchdog slammed a stop order on Validus and all its associated companies. The regulator said that the company, which supposedly invests in forex, crypto and stock markets, was enticing investors by promising a return of 350% on investments after over 60 weeks.
Furthermore, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dragged Florida resident Sanjay Singh to court during the week for allegedly raising $112 million through an FX Ponzi scheme that promised investors returns of 325%. Similarly, a US court recently ordered a commodity pool operator Kay Yang and her firms to pay over $24 million for committing a retail forex fraud that targeted members of the Hmong minority group.
