The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has been busy, as the Aussie regulator has flagged a number of entities operating in the foreign exchange (Forex ) space without proper authorization.
Scams are not a new phenomenon in the financial industry. In fact, scams are not a new idea at all. However, with technology becoming increasingly sophisticated and easy to access, scams, particularly within the FX space, are becoming more sophisticated.
Now, fraudsters can contact potential victims via traditional methods such as cold calling, in addition to email, social media, and via their fake websites, which can often look misleadingly credible. This is why the vigilance of regulators, such as ASIC is important to keep consumers protected from scam artists.
One of the entities flagged by ASIC is MRTmarkets.com, a company based in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, which is a popular place for scams to be based in, which operates via www.mrtmarkets.com.
According to the warning from the Australian regulator: "The business listed below has made unsolicited calls or sent emails about investing, financial advice, credit or loans and does not hold a current Australian Financial Services (AFS) licence or an Australian Credit licence from ASIC."
ASIC Flags Marshall Islands and Vanuatu Suspected Scams
As Finance Magnates reported, ASIC also flagged a number of other scams operating out of Vanuatu and the Marshall Islands. One of those warnings was against Fcorp Services Ltd, also known as RI Markets. ASIC makes the same statement about this entity as it did about MRTmarkets.com - the entity doesn’t have authorization but is contacting residents of Australia nonetheless.
Via its website https://www.rimarkets.com/, RI Markets claims to be “one of the world’s best MT4 operators” and offers Online Trading in forex, stocks, commodities, and indices.
