The Japanese Ministry of Finance has issued two separate warnings on its website, urging the public to refrain from conducting business with either of the involved companies.
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The first statement references a company called Aberdeen Investment Management Advisory, and its associated violations for imitating the fully licensed financial entity, Aberdeen Standard Investments Co. Ltd., a registered financial instruments business dealer
The imitation included using a highly similar company name, as well as deceitfully using its address and phone number, in an attempt to mimic the company and potentially deceive the public.
The public notice highlights the questionable dealings of an impersonating firm, aiming to ride on a legitimate establishment’s notoriety, with the intention of falsely attracting clients, who may be misled by the similarity in names.
Moreover, the acting fraudsters are not registered with the proper authorities, and are acting outside the laws of the jurisdiction, in offering financial services without supervision.
The second warning that was issued on the MoF’s website refers to a company operating under the name Blockchain Laboratory Limited, which claims to be located in Macau. The allegation claim that the firm does not currently possess proper authorization to operate within the industry. Simultaneously, the company has “accepted an application for ICO called "CtC" on the website.”
From the information on the MoF website, one can insinuate that the imposters are attempting to conduct a shady ICO, without permission of regulators and local authorities. Due to the many scam ICOs that have harmed investors in the past, the MoF has previously scrutinized some illegitimate sources for selling questionable tokens.
As evident in this case, the ministry is assuring that the public is made aware of the fact that investing in this ICO could be detrimental to the investors and their respective funds.
The MoF has taken a lead role in protecting investors from unlawful activity on behalf of companies and market participants. There have been numerous cases of warnings issued by the ministry, with regard to fraudulent firms, that have solicited clients in an attempt to convert them into paying “clients.”