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ARTICLE · 12 FEBRUARY 2018

FCA Issues Cryptocurrency And Investment Fraud Warning

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The Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA"), the UK's financial regulatory body, issued a warning this week about the threat from online investment fraud.

United KingdomFinance and Banking
Sam Ruback
Sam Ruback

The Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA"), the UK's financial regulatory body, issued a warning this week about the threat from online investment fraud.

The FCA urged investors to be vigilant to fraudsters offering investments in binary options (those that allow customers to make bets on the expected price of a stock, commodity, currency or index), contracts for difference (CFDs) and cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

The FCA warned that investors are targeted by fraudsters via social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, rather than by telephone, and are being tempted to invest by promising high returns and linking the opportunities to luxury items such as cars and watches. Once an individual has invested, the prices are distorted on their website, people are tied in with extreme pay-back clauses and sometimes customer accounts are closed arbitrarily as the fraudsters steal the money.

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