CySEC warns against 17 more unlicensed and deceptive brokers
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The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) recently issued a warning against even more deceptive brands that operate within its jurisdiction without authorization.
CySEC red flags 17 more sites
The regulator has stepped up its efforts to combat unauthorized brokers, and it issued a new warning against as many as 17 new service providers. The deceptive companies have been blacklisted for offering forex trading services without obtaining licenses and authorization from the regulatory body.
CySEC also warned the public that some of the brands have been deceptively claiming affiliation with regulated, legitimate brokerages operating in Cyprus. These companies do hold the Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF) license, and in order to appear legitimate, the blacklisted firms claimed to be associated with them.
However, after investigating the matter, CySEC found that such claims are untrue, warning the public against the following providers:
otofpr.life
axiacvs.com
acmarketsltd.com
royalinvestmentconsortium.com
pmgroup365.com
torrocapital3.com
morganfinance.io
xtreamforex.com
uniglobemarkets.com
amadeus-markets.com
quantumai-new-uk-ct.invest-kapitals.com
cfd.amadeus-markets.com
platform-nbdtrading.com
cnxmarkets.com
aaatradecn.co
evallvellc.com
t.me/Fxglobe_limited
In order to deal with the sharp rise of deceptive companies, as well as firms licensed in other jurisdictions that are offering services without the CySEC license, the regulator had to adopt more stringent licensing guidelines. Some of these stricter rules and operations have already started coming into focus, such as the obligation of every trading firm that offers crypto assets to register with the regulator.
Individuals and companies who fail to comply with the rules will face severe consequences, including penalties for noncompliance, which could reach up to $370,000, but also custodial sentences that could last for up to five years. The regulator warned that there could even be cases that would combine both.
Investors rush to invest, spending little to no time on research
Apart from deceptive sites, CySEC also warned of gamification and so-called finflucencers, and not too long ago, the regulator also published a retail investment behavior research that revealed what it sees as a concerning increase in volatile and unregulated investment products. According to the paper, very few investors spend time researching the product before investing in it, and the same is true for the companies that offer such products.
This suggests that investors are not aware of the risks. Only around a quarter of the retail investors said that they spend about a week researching a product. 7% stated that their research effort lasted for less than 30 minutes, or that they didn’t do any research at all.
Around 30% claimed that they tend to look up a broker on the regulator’s website to check if it is on the list of licensed brokers, while 15% admitted to not doing any checks at all. Officially, more than half of respondents (51%) said that they looked for company reviews on the firm’s own site, where fraudulent firms can write whatever they want.
Most of these investors are driven by FOMO, as they believe that they could miss easy money if they spend too much time on preparation instead of acting immediately. This is why Cypriot regulators launched a campaign to educate retail investors of the risks, and teach them the proper way of researching the product and the firm behind it.
