Germany’s federal financial supervisory authority (BaFin) on Monday warned investors of the activities of BT Systems Ltd and CRLink Limited, which, according to the independent regulator, are not authorized to perform investment services, including via their website www.fxcmarkets.com

The company also seems to have set up a ‎clone firm that has chosen to operate under the brand ‘FXC Markets,’ a name similar enough to FXCM Group Markets that it convinced ‎local traders that it was the authorized online trading firm that had contacted them.‎

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The illegitimate broker, conversely, did not assume the address at which the original ‎company’s offices are located. Instead, it opted to claim an address in Majuro, Marshall Islands. Clients should ‎note that the licensed firm’s offices are located at 20 Gresham Street, Fourth Floor, London, EC2V 7 JE, United Kingdom.‎

As per usual, this seems like yet another instance of a scam operation where an unlicensed ‎company illegally assumes the identity of an authorized company so that traders will mistake ‎it for the legitimate entity.‎

Furthermore, FXCMarkets had also been taking advantage of its misleading name to solicit traders who are based in Germany. The firm not only identified itself ‎as a well-known online trading company under pretenses, but it was operating without ‎authorization as well.

Clone firms are not an unusual occurrence in the industry, ‎as fraudsters have grown increasingly resourceful in recent ‎years. A commonly adopted tactic is for scammers to ‎advertise an illegal operation as a reputable brand or ‎entity. ‎

The German watchdog encourages traders or those considering online trading to exercise caution, strongly ‎advising against funding an account or investing via this specific company. Anyone who ‎chooses to sign up with the impostor should bear in mind that they will not receive the ‎financial authorities’ assistance should things go awry.‎