The Belgium financial regulator has warned against identity theft from authorised companies, advising consumers to be "particularly wary" of fraud involving cryptocurrencies.
In a statement, the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) said that, in recent months, it has observed a high number of cases of investment fraud that "takes the form of stealing the identity of authorised companies".
Swindlers take on the identity of an authorised company to give consumers the impression they are authorised to offer services, when in fact these services are fraudulent.
"In order to convince you to take them upon their offer of investments, the fraudsters lead you to believe that they are acting on behalf of firms that have the necessary authorisation to offer such services and that are registered with the FSMA or another authority," the regulator explained.
However, the fraudsters usurp the names and other legal information of regulated providers and, for example, refer consumers to the FMSA website to try to convince them that they are authorised.
"Consumers are thus deceived, thinking they are dealing with a regulated entity, whereas the latter’s identity has simply been stolen", the FMSA said.
According to the regulator, consumers should be "particularly wary of fraud involving cryptocurrencies, where this practice seems extremely widespread".
In October 2018, the FSMA issued a warning against a number of platforms that offer 'miracle' investments in cryptocurrencies that appear very simple and lucrative, but are in fact scams.
"It seems that a substantial number of these websites have stolen the identity of companies authorised to offer financial services in Belgium, referring to their authorisation on the website of the FSMA (see the register of financial firms by the [Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR) and the register of financial agents] (REGAFI)).