The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a warning over an unauthorised firm moonlighting as an investments branch of the regulator.
The firm is using the name FCA Investments and has used the FCA’s logo on its website along with that of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) which it says covers its investors.
The website associated with the faux firm encourages investors to inquire about regulated bond and fund opportunities offering annual up returns of up to 11.4 per cent.
The site says: “We offer a wide range of FCA-backed investments featuring market-beating annual returns, in-built capital protection and a broad range of investment terms.”
The firm also claims it works in partnership with “secure government-backed schemes” and has worked with Hargreaves Lansdown, JP Morgan, Jupiter Asset Management and Barclays.
The FCA says customers should double check firms’ authorisations on its site.
“We believe this firm has been providing financial services or products in the UK without our authorisation. Find out why to be especially wary of dealing with this unauthorised firm and how to protect yourself from scammers.
“If a firm does not appear on the register but claims it does, contact our consumer helpline. You should also be aware that if you give money to an unauthorised firm, you will not be covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) or FSCS if things go wrong.”