RegulationOct 14 2013

FCA: Fraudsters using identity of authorised IFAs

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The Financial Conduct Authority has warned that a fraudster is using the name of two authorised IFAs to try to scam UK investors.

The clone goes by the name of William Wright and operates from an address in Geneva. Contact info used by the clone includes two different mobile numbers and the email address william.wright@consultant.com.

Two genuine advisers share the name: William Wright of Aberdeenshire-based IFA Morrice and Wright IFA Limited, and William George Wright of Aylesbury-based IFA Chiltern, an appointed representative of Sesame.

This is the second time the FCA has warned against the ‘clone’ of an individual rather than a firm.

Last month (16 September), the regulator warned against Manchester-based fraudsters using the name of Christopher John Dawson, a senior London-based trader at Swiss banking group UBS to pass themselves off as an appointed representative of the firm.

Last week the FCA also warned investors against using a firm using the name D G Financial Service Partner, a clone of genuine Maestag-based firm D & G Financial Services Partners Limited.

Also included in last week’s investor alerts were four firms which may be targeting UK consumers despite not being authorised to do so.

These include:

• Whitney Cooper Associates, based in New York;

• Property Cash Buyers, operating from www.propertycashbuyers.com;

• Rowe Corporate Services, based in Seattle; and

• Northern Capital Consultants, based in New York.

Investors who do business with unauthorised firms will not have recourse to the Financial Ombudsman Service or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme should things go wrong.