Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said on Friday a company calling itself Gain Capital Ltd. is a clone firm of renown forex brokerage Gain Capital UK Ltd. The fraudulent company is using the details of the genuine FCA-regulated broker and pretending to be associated with it, when in fact it has nothing in common with the authorized broker.
The regulator did not provide much more information about the clone company. It did not disclose whether the fraudster provides financial services or whether it operates any websites.
FCA-licensed Gain Capital UK operates via the websites www.cityindex.com and www.forex.com/uk. It is part of US-based forex giant Gain Capital Holdings, which operates on the markets in North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific regions. It is regulated in the UK, the US, Australia, Singapore, Shanghai, Dubai, Hong Kong, and Japan.
Clone firms use some or all of the details of a genuine entity, aiming to convince investors they works with the authorized company. The regulator noted that fraudsters may give out false details or mix false data with correct details of the authorized firm.
The UK is a strong forex market with tight regulation. The FCA is renowned for its strict standards and tight supervision. The regulator keeps a register of unauthorized forex brokers that target local citizens and regularly issues alerts against entities that could potentially hurt local investors.
An FCA license provides access to the rest of the countries in the European Economic Area (EEA). Without a license, however, entities are not allowed to provide financial services in the country.
When engaging with unauthorized and non-regulated brokers traders are putting their investments at higher risk. We strongly advise you to only deal with regulated forex brokers, authorized by reputable regulatory bodies like CySec, FCA, and CFTC/NFA, among others.
