It might only be Monday morning, but already there have been a number of suspected financial scams identified today. Adding to the list is the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) which has flagged ETbrokers.
According to the FCA’s warning from today, ETbrokers is a clone of an FCA-authorised firm, ETX Capital. Clone firms are fraudulent entities which copy details from legitimate companies.
These details can range from bold attempts at copying the actual name, logo and/or website of a legitimate company, to more subtle but equally effective methods of copying addresses, registration details and more.
While the FCA does not provide the exact details this clone firm has copied from ETX Capital, the regulator does add that ETbrokers has been operating in the United Kingdom and targeting residents, without having the proper authorization.
When trying to follow the URL the British watchdog has supplied for ETbrokers, https://etbrokers.com, an “account suspension” warning appears on Google.
ETX Capital is no stranger to clone firms
ETX Capital is a brokerage based in London and the trading name of Monecor (London) Ltd. Unfortunately for the company, this is not its first clone firm.
As Finance Magnates reported mid-last year, Apex Tradex was advertising that its parent entity was Monecor (London) Ltd, the same name as ETX’s holding company. This was in an attempt to convince local traders that it was the authorized Online Trading firm that had contacted them.
This is also the second clone firm Finance Magnates has reported on today alone, giving a clear indication of the large presence of scams within the financial industry, particularly in the binary options, foreign exchange (Forex ) and cryptocurrency sectors.
Earlier today, Monex Group, a Tokyo-based financial services company, warned that Monex Coin Management is targeting clients of the company.
According to the statement released by the Group, representatives of Monex Coin Management are soliciting clients of the broker. The fraudsters are falsely claiming to be affiliated with the company and urging them to use an automated trading system.
