Despite the best efforts of financial regulators, scams within the foreign exchange (Forex ) and cryptocurrency industries continue to target consumers. This Tuesday, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), has flagged another entity operating in this space - Dartalon Ltd.
The Australian regulator has flagged Dartalon Ltd, which also goes by the name of GFC Investments because it believes that the entity could be involved in a scam and warns explicitly consumers to not deal with this business as it doesn’t have the necessary license and authorization to be offering financial services in Australia.
Specifically, the Aussie watchdog said in its warning published today: “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 states that the following URL, https://gfcinvestment.com, belongs to the entity, and therefore, residents of Australia should not use any of the services provided by the website.
According to the website, GFC Investments is a trading provider established in 2012. The website allows individuals to trade forex, contracts-for-differences (CFDs), and Cryptocurrencies via its online platform.
Dartalon Ltd, which is the owner and operator of the website, is located at: Suite 305, Griffith Corporate Centre, 1510, Beachmont Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Crypto Scams are on the Rise
Sometimes, financial scams are easy to identify. However, scammers are now able to create a legitimate looking website for little cost and reach potential victims through more channels than ever, such as social media.
Because of this, scams in the FX and crypto industries still remain a real threat. As Finance Magnates reported this morning, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said that UK residents lost approximately £27 million ($34.4 million) to forex and cryptocurrency-related scams in the 2018/2019 fiscal year.
This Tuesday, the British regulator revealed that authorities received 1,834 scam reports last year, an increase of almost four-fold on the prior 12 month period. However, the FCA did not give a breakdown of the makeup of the scams.
Earlier this month in its annual report, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) said that there had been a switch in scammers’ preferred asset class, with the number of crypto-related complaints skyrocketing in 2018. Conversely, there was a huge decline in the previously large number of forex-related scams.
