As the holidays approach, scammers are mercilessly trying to trick unsuspecting retail investors。Britain's financial market watchdog has issued a warning over the cloning of prominent investment firm Spreadex。

FCA warns against Spreadex clone

According to a warning issued by the UK's Financial Supervisory Authority (FCA), a.The company run by the com site is posing as Spreadex, a UK-based provider of regulated spread betting services。

If the user is not careful at the broker's website address (sspreadex.com instead of spreadex.An extra "s" entered in com) is redirected to a fraudulent clone site that tried to steal data by disguising itself as the popular platform, making a net profit of £28.2m in FY2023.。

FCA is also responsible for.The warning came from an email sent by the com mailbox, which is very similar to the original broker's mailbox, but also has typos。

"Crooks may provide other false information, including email addresses, phone numbers, postal addresses and company reference numbers," the FCA commented in the warning.。"They may mix this information with real information about the authorized company and may change their contact details over time."。

Unfortunately, cloning companies are very common。In November, the UK Financial Industry Regulatory Authority issued a warning against clones of popular platforms such as social trading platform eToro and scammers posing as listed company IG Group.。In the same month, fraudsters used the names and trademarks of Santander and Saxo Bank。

How the Cloning Company Works？

The clone company's strategy is to make unrealistic investment promises to attract potential investors, targeting people looking for online investment opportunities.。These cloning company websites entice visitors to enter their contact details via a form, which is then used to provide fraudulent investment opportunities。

At first, these cloning companies would even offer some return to investors to show their legitimacy.。However, once the victim makes a larger investment, they stop paying。Without regulation, investors cannot guard against such scams and suffer significant economic losses。

According to the UK Financial Regulatory Commission, there has recently been an increase in the number of clone companies posing as authorized financial companies.。The FCA maintains a warning list containing the names of clone companies and issues alerts when new fraudulent entities are discovered.。Investors can avoid these cloning scams by checking authorization status and referring to warnings from regulators。