FSCA says watch out for these scammers

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) is warning consumers to be careful when investing in unregistered schemes that promise unrealistic returns, as well as scammers who steal the identities of registered entities to steal your money.

FSCA warns consumers to be cautious when conducting financial services business with Jacques Adriaan Jordaan. He lures consumers with unrealistically high returns on investments.

Jordaan came to the FSCA’s attention after a consumer complained that his expected returns were not paid out. The FSCA investigated and, based on available information, found that Jordaan opens personal trading accounts with various brokers and requests clients to deposit funds into these trading accounts that he will then use to trade on their behalf to generate the promised returns.

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Jordaan unreachable and not paying promised returns

Jordaan is now unreachable, according to the FSCA and not available for comment. “While the FSCA does not comment on the specifics of Jordaan’s business, it must be noted that he is not authorised in terms of any financial sector law to provide financial services to the public in South Africa.”

The FSCA says consumers can avoid unnecessary risk by not accepting financial advice, assistance, or investment offers from individuals or entities not authorised by the FSCA. Authorised financial services providers must clearly display their authorisation status in their documentation. If this is not present, consumers must investigate first before making any payments.

In addition, the FSCA urges consumers to be careful when considering investment or trading offers on social media platforms or any other unsolicited offers.

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Also watch out for scammers who claim to be affiliated with 10X

The FSCA also warns consumers to look out for a fraudulent scam run by unauthorised cybercriminals and fraudsters who claim they are affiliated with 10X. They say they are agents or representatives of 10X Investments (Pty) Ltd, an authorised financial service provider (FSP) and use FSP number 28250.

The cybercriminals and fraudsters are using the Telegram and WhatsApp platforms and stolen identities of 10X Investments staff members to fraudulently solicit funds by promising large returns from ‘investing in bitcoin’.

The Telegram group called “10X MT4 TRADE” is illegally using the name and photo of 10X Investments’ chief operating officer, Caroline Naylor-Renn.

According to the FSCA it received information from 10X Investments that Naylor-Renn is not associated with the impersonators and their fraudulent activities. “10X Investments does not have official accounts on Telegram and WhatsApp, nor does it use these platforms to promote financial products and services or to engage with prospective clients.

“Any communication or representation on these platforms is unauthorised and not endorsed by 10X Investments.”

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How to check if someone is really authorised or registered to provide financial services

The FSCA encourages consumers to beware of scams run on messaging and social media platforms and warns that these scams are increasing. If someone wants you to hand over your hard-earned money to invest, the first thing you should do is check if the entity or person is authorised to provide a specific financial product, financial service or financial advice by contacting the FSCA.

Firstly, you must verify:

• If an entity or individual is authorised by the FSCA to provide financial products and services, including giving recommendations about how to invest
• the category of advice the person is registered to provide, as there are instances where companies or people are registered to provide basic advice for a low-risk product and then offer advice on far more complex and risky products
• that the FSP number the entity or individual offering financial services uses matches the name of the FSP on the FSCA database.

ALSO READ: FSCA warns consumers about dodgy investments on Telegram

Where to check

You can use one of these methods to confirm the status and FSP number of a service provider or a person that claims to be an authorised service provider:

• Call the FSCA’s toll-free number at 0800 110 443
• Do an online search for authorised financial institution by license category here.
• Do an online search for a financial institution that is an authorised FSP in terms of the FAIS Act here.