The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a warning about a fraudulent entity masquerading as a legitimate financial services provider. The scam is called “finaltolive.com” and falsely claims to be an authorized firm under the jurisdiction of the FCA.

The fraudsters behind “finaltolive.com” have copied the details of a genuine FCA-authorized company, Finalto Financial Services Limited, in an attempt to deceive potential investors and customers. This method, known as creating a clone, is a common tactic used by fraudsters to gain the trust of unsuspecting victims by presenting themselves as credible financial services providers.

Deceptive Manipulation

The scam called Finaltolive.com uses misleading details to deceive the public. The fraudulent company lists its address as Midcity Place, London, WC1V 6EA and Ground Floor St Georges Court, Upper Church, Douglas Street.

It uses the email address h.stevens@finaltolive.com. The FCA warns that these fraudsters may provide additional false contact details such as alternative email addresses, telephone numbers and postal addresses, often mixing these false details with some legitimate information about the authorised company to appear credible.

The FCA warns on its website that “If you deal with this firm, you will not have access to the Financial Ombudsman Service if you have a complaint. You will also not be protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme if something goes wrong. This means you are unlikely to get your money back if the company goes out of business.”

Use legitimate company details

Earlier, the FCA issued a warning about clones posing as authorized firm Admiral Markets UK Ltd, which operates under the Admirals retail trading brand. The fraud is at least the fifth clone of a popular broker detected in recent years.

The organization has also issued warnings against two clones claiming to represent legitimate financial services providers Hargreaves Lansdown and Westpac, fake companies that use the names and details of real companies to trick people into making investments that are unlikely to be recovered. The Hargreaves Lansdown clone uses a variety of names and contact details to falsely claim the company number and FCA product reference number of the genuine Hargreaves Lansdown PLC.

The FCA has again issued a warning against clones of investment firm Spreadex. The fraudulent company operates under the sspreadex.com website and poses as Spreadex, a UK regulated spread betting service provider.