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The United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), via its website, has alerted the public about the activities of fraudsters in the UK's financial industry. This warning comes after the regulator detected a fake Axi account parading itself to unsuspecting investors as the official Fx broker.
How FCA Detected the Faux Axi Account
On February 2nd, 2023, the FCA alerted traders of the activities of "Axi Corp Limited", a faux of one of its licensed forex and CFD brokers, AxiCorp Financial. The regulator also hinted that the broker's sister company, One Financial Markets, may also be cloned.
Via its public release, the FCA emphasized that all financial institutions are compelled by law to have a trading license. This implies that the FCA must license all brokers operating within its jurisdiction. Contrary to this rule, Axi Corp Limited has been operating as a "financial institution."
The FCA reported that Axi Corp Limited, riding on the popularity of Axi, has been defrauding unsuspecting traders. The faux broker falsely claimed it was an FCA-registered broker, the FCA has however claimed that the "broker" is "not authorized or registered by the FCA."
The watchdog revealed some informational differences to help investors differentiate the faux broker from the original. These include email addresses, phone numbers, and physical addresses. For instance, the bogus firm is situated in Leadenhall Street, London, while the licensed broker, Axi is situated at 1 Finsbury Market, London.
Recent History of Faux Brokers in the UK
In the past year, the FCA has recorded some cases of clone websites disguised as regulated financial service providers to deceive unsuspecting investors and financial traders in the UK. In Q1 2022, the regulator listed XTB, Octopus Investment Limited and IC Markets as three financial institutions cloned by fraudsters.
In April, the FCA revealed the websites of Crypto-Trade were faux hiding under the popularity of the licensed firm Rational Foreign Exchange Limited. Also in July, the watchdog detected another phony platform impersonating a CFD and Forex broker, Zenfinix.
About AxiCorp Financial
This online store was founded in 2007. It has grown into a renowned global financial service provider offering a wide range of financial services to its vast clientele. The broker's offerings include CFDs, FX, commodities, and other market products.
Axi's sister company, One Financial Markets was founded in 2007. However, the broker only acquired the company in August 2018. One Financial is regulated by the FCA. Axi also owns the popular trading platform AxiTrader.
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