The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) of New Zealand, as part of its mission to protect investors from financial scams, unauthorized or clone firms, has yet again updated its warning list.
This Wednesday, the Kiwi financial regulator has added Brighter Trade to its blacklist, warning investors that the company is a suspected scam. The FMA supports this theory by referencing a previous warning from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
ASIC Warns Against Brighter Trade
Earlier this month, ASIC warned against Igoten OU, which also goes by the name of Brighter Trade. According to the statement released by the Aussie regulator, despite the perceived authenticity of its website, the firm does not have the proper license or authority to offer its services in Australia.
Often, this means that the company is running a scam or illegitimate operations. This is because legitimate firms with no intentions to trick or scam investors generally have no trouble in securing a license to legally provide their services.
So what does Brighter Trade do? According to its website, which can be found at https://brightertrade.com/, the company provides a Trading Platform where clients can supposedly trade a number of assets ranging from currencies (Forex ), commodities, stocks, and indices.
On the contact section of its website, Brighter Trade claims to operate from Estonia, listing its address as the following: Harju maakond, Tallinn, Kesklinna Linnaosa, Roosikrantsi tn 2-K367, 10119 ESTONIA.
Because Brighter Trade has been flagged by both ASIC and the FMA as unauthorized and categorized as a potential scam, it is a good idea to avoid dealing with this company altogether.
In fact, before engaging with any broker or trading provider, it is a good idea to check the warning list of your local regulator. This is because financial scams are becoming more and more sophisticated.
Fraudsters are getting better at creating websites and fake businesses that look legitimate and sometimes, they even go as far as to illegally use the details of regulated firms to trick investors. This can include registration and/or authorization numbers, addresses and even names. That’s why it is important to do your due diligence before parting with your hard-earned cash.
