FCA Warns Public on Consumer Investments Fraud

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on Thursday (March 3) announced it will take “assertive action to tackle harm in the consumer investments market” and is urging consumers across the U.K. to beware of investment-related scams after seeing a steady increase in such claims last year.

The FCA got about 16,400 inquiries about possible scams between April and September last year, up almost one-third from the same period in 2020. The top types of scams being reported to the FCA included cryptocurrency/digital assets, boiler room and recovery room scams, the authority says.

The agency also opened more than 300 cases related to potentially unregistered crypto businesses, many of which may be scams. The FCA said in its press release that it has 50 active investigations ongoing related to unauthorized businesses, some of which are criminal.

The FCA’s ScamSmart campaign features an online tool to help consumers find out more about the risks associated with an investment and a list of firms the FCA knows are operating without its authorization.

The FCA’s InvestSmart campaign, which was launched in October, targets consumers who are new to investing and aims to provide them with information to help them make better-informed investment decisions.

“Consumers need to have confidence when making investment decisions, and the data we’ve published today shows how prevalent scams can be,” said Sarah Pritchard, executive director of markets at the FCA, in the press release.

“Before investing, check you know who you are really dealing with, check if they are authorized by the FCA and do your research to understand the risks that might be posed. Find out how to avoid scams on the ScamSmart website and get tips on investing safely on the InvestSmart website,” she said.

Related: Barclays Faces $1M Penalty Over Payments Firm Collapse

Earlier this week, the FCA fined Barclays Bank Plc 783,800 pounds ($1 million) for its failure to oversee collapsed payments firm Premier FX.

Last year, the FCA censured Premier FX for its failure to protect customer’s money and misleading consumers about the services it was licensed to provide. Barclays was Premier FX’s sole banker in the U.K. Barclays agreed to pay 10 million pounds ($13.5 million) to reimburse 167 Premier FX customers.