The Financial Commission (FinCom), a self-regulatory organization in the financial services industry, has become the latest victim of scammers as a clone of its website surfaced. Fincom has issued a public warning against the clone, which is trying to defraud forex brokers.

The clone website operates from the domain 'thefinancialcommission.io' whereas the authentic website of FinCom is 'financialcommission.org.'

The FinCom Clone Could Target Brokers

"The Financial Commission came in possession of information indicating that the aforementioned clone website copied information and membership details from official The Financial Commission's website purporting to offer fictitious services in what appears to be an attempt to deceive traders by falsely claiming the status of several Forex brokers," the official press release of FinCom shared with Finance Magnates stated.

The clone website listed GANN Markets and Lotas Capital as active members of The Financial Commission. Both these brokers lost their membership status last year and are now on FinCom's warning list.

FinCom provides membership status to FX and CFDs brokers, blockchain platforms, technology providers, investment platform providers, and even education platforms. As a FinCom member, brokers receive several services, including mediation for dispute resolution and €20,000 in deposit protection for all its clients. The deposit protection, which the self-regulators compensation fund covers, is beneficial to the clients of the brokers that operate under regulators without such compensation schemes.

Over the years, several well-known brokers became FinCom members, including Exness, Pepperstone, IC Markets, TMGM, RoboMarkets, and many more.

Registered Takedown Complaint

FinCom has reported it to law enforcement authorities to tackle the clone website. Additionally, the self-regulatory body is taking action against GANNMArkets and Lotas Capital.

"The Financial Commission took immediate steps to block the clone website and filed a claim with the domain registrar to take ownership of the all-too-similar domain address to ensure that traders are always accessing official materials of The Financial Commission," FinCom added.

"The Financial Commission anticipates taking further actions against GANNMArkets and Lotas Capital, including reporting to law-enforcement authorities and initiation of legal proceedings against them and the clone website owners, in order to protect against and prevent all future fraudulent activities against its the traders."