The Central Bank of Ireland has yet again posted another warning on its website this Tuesday, as scams within the financial industry continue to be a burden to regulators across the globe.
Today, the Irish authority has singled out Virtu Financial (United Kingdom) - which operates via the following website which is no longer available - https://www.virtu.org.uk/.
Namely, the regulator accuses the entity of not being: “authorised as an investment firm by the Central Bank, cloned the details (part of the name and United Kingdom address) of a firm called Virtu Financial Ireland Limited, which is authorised by the Central Bank and which is permitted to operate in the United Kingdom.”
The warning from the central bank clarifies that there is no connection between the legitimate company Virtu Financial Ireland Limited and the unauthorized entity that has cloned its details.
Virtu Financial Ireland Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Virtu Financial, Inc., a high-speed trading firm and provider of Liquidity to the global financial markets.
How to spot scam firms
As highlighted by the Irish agency, it is a criminal offense for an unauthorized firm to provide financial services which require authorization from the Central Bank of Ireland. Should consumers invest with a firm that is not authorized by the central bank, then they’re not eligible for compensation from the Investor Compensation Scheme.
“Fraudsters are increasingly using legitimate firms’ details to add an air of legitimacy to their fraud. The fraudsters will 'borrow' all of the legitimate information of an authorised/legitimate firm for the purpose of this fraud."
“They may quote authorisation numbers/company registration numbers and links to seemingly legitimate websites and even provide the real address of an authorised/legitimate firm. Consumers are advised to check our register to verify a firm’s details and to call the firm back directly using its advertised phone number.”
