DFSA Warns of Fraudsters Impersonating CySEC

The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has published a warning on its website this Thursday that fraudsters are impersonating officers at the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC CySEC The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) is a financial regulatory authority of Cyprus. CySEC is one of the key watchdog authorities for brokerages in Europe, whose financial regulations and operations comply with the European MiFID financial harmonization law.Founded in 2001, CySEC is instrumental in providing licensing and registration for forex brokers and previously binary options providers.CySEC is responsible for a variety of different functions, which includes the supervision The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) is a financial regulatory authority of Cyprus. CySEC is one of the key watchdog authorities for brokerages in Europe, whose financial regulations and operations comply with the European MiFID financial harmonization law.Founded in 2001, CySEC is instrumental in providing licensing and registration for forex brokers and previously binary options providers.CySEC is responsible for a variety of different functions, which includes the supervision Read this Term).

The nature of this scam involves fraudsters soliciting investors for fees to settle fake compensation claims. Namely, firms under CySEC’s supervision are contacted by someone claiming to be a CySEC officer, appointed representative, or something of the like, reaching out often via email.

The emails themselves appear to be quite genuine. They carry the name of CySEC, the address, official stamp and logo of the Cypriot regulator, as well as an illegal copy of CySEC officials’ signature.

As highlighted by the DFSA, the scam includes: “false promises being made to assist investors with compensation for potential damages in connection with dealings they have had with sanctioned firms (typically Online Trading Online Trading Online trading represents the trading of fiat currencies, digital currencies, commodities, stocks and indices, where traders and investors intend to make a profit, via the purchase or sale of the aforementioned products. This is done through an electronic network, made accessible by brokers in the form of an online trading platform or hub.Online trading continues to see a rapid growth year on year, due to a number of reasons. Firstly, the number of brokers offering their services, with more mone Online trading represents the trading of fiat currencies, digital currencies, commodities, stocks and indices, where traders and investors intend to make a profit, via the purchase or sale of the aforementioned products. This is done through an electronic network, made accessible by brokers in the form of an online trading platform or hub.Online trading continues to see a rapid growth year on year, due to a number of reasons. Firstly, the number of brokers offering their services, with more mone Read this Term firms offering speculative investment products).”

Through the scam, fraudsters solicit personal information from investors such as telephone records and in some cases, calls them via telephone in relation to their email correspondence regarding the scam.

However, the Dubai regulator urges the public to consult CySEC’s previous responses to this scam, where the Cypriot regulator states that it:

• does not request any personal data, financial or otherwise;
• has no authority or jurisdiction to collect fees for any purpose from individual investors, nor does it have authority to appoint anyone to do so on its behalf; and
• does not authorize, verify, monitor, or is in any way involved in class actions, and compensation.

Scammers Continue to Target CySEC

This scam concerning CySEC has been targeting victims for months. In November, the regulator posted a warning regarding such a scam, where fraudsters were impersonating the watchdog.

As Finance Magnates reported, the agency was alerted to an individual using the name Christos Sofroniou trying to get recipients to pay legal fees to take part in fake aid programs for the recovery of potential losses.