The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) issued a notice on Friday warning against the rampant impersonation of the regulatory executives by fraudsters.

According to the regulator, it has received several complaints from market participants who said that persons impersonating CySEC officials and representatives are soliciting investors for fees, promising settlement of bogus compensation claims.

“For that reason, CySEC would like to remind the public that it never sends unsolicited correspondence to investors or members of the public, nor does it ever request any personal data, financial or otherwise,” the Cypriot regulator stated.

CySEC is a financial markets regulator, and its responsibility is to oversee financial services companies for any kind of regulatory violations or unethical business practices. The regulator clarifies that it 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’.

Sophisticated Campaigns

However, such frauds are not new. Additionally, CySEC issued warnings against impersonators last year in May. It further warned that these scammers often run sophisticated online campaigns to defraud investors.

The regulator detailed that the fraudsters approach investors of regulatory entities via email that looks genuine with CySEC logo, address, and fake signatures of officials. They usually make false promises to assist investors with compensation for potential damages in connection with dealings they have had with sanctioned firms and thus obtain personal information.

“CySEC urges the public to remain vigilant regarding any unsolicited communication from CySEC, to refrain from giving money to anyone who claims any or all of the above, or similar,” the regulator added.

Furthermore, the Cypriot regulator is actively flagging fraudulent financial services platforms, similar to any other European regulator.