A suspected clone firm has been cold-calling investors in the UK, pretending to be UBS Global Asset Management, the FCA has warned.
According to a notice from the City regulator, the apparent fraudster is believed to be using the name UBS Global Asset Management Funds Ltd and mixing it with the Firm Reference Number 119319.
This reference number belongs to a separate, genuine entity named UBS Global Asset Management (UK) Ltd.
The FCA warning notice said: “Both of these are genuine entities, although their identities have been used by fraudsters to scam people in the UK.
“This is what we call a ‘clone firm’ and fraudsters usually use this tactic when contacting people out of the blue, so you should be especially wary if you have been cold called.
“They may use the name of the genuine firm, the FRN we have given the authorised firm or other details.”
Numbers given out by the alleged clone firm include 0203 000 7931.
When the number was called, a man answered the phone after eight rings. There was silence in the room behind him.
He said: “Hello.”
When asked if this was UBS Global Asset Management, he said: “It is,” and then gave his name as Chris.
When asked: “This is a phone number given out by the FCA as a purported clone company. Have you got anything to say?” he replied: “Oh well. You’d better speak to the powers that be.”
He was then asked: “Who are the powers that be? Is there someone senior at UBS we can speak with? Who is your manager that we could speak with?”
After a silence ‘Chris’ then asked: “Who is this?” and when he was told it was a journalist he slammed the phone down.
Right to reply
A spokesman from the genuine UBS Global Asset Management declined to comment.
What next?
If you think your clients have been targeted, find out more at www.fca.org.uk/news/warnings
