The battle against fraudsters and financial crime seems never-ending, but there was some good news this week.
The FCA has announced the first-ever prosecution of a fraudster who runs not one, but two cloned financial firms.
This milestone marks the first time the FCA has tracked down a fraudster running a cloned or “copied” business.
With the FCA’s new business plan announced this week that promises to step up its fight against financial fraud, there is at least some hope that more will be done to tackle the harmful and discrediting effects of financial crime. .
Clones are nothing new, but identifying scammers running fake websites has proven to be a difficult task for the FCA.
Some see this as a small part of financial crime, but some financial planning and wealth management firms disagree. Several funds, as well as his managers and financial providers, woke up one day to find that some scammers had copied their website to lure and defraud consumers. rice field.
Many of these cloners hide behind networks of Internet domains, often abroad. All of this makes tracking very difficult.
Nonetheless, the FCA has had some success behind the scenes in blocking these websites, and has been harassing search engines such as Google and social media providers such as Facebook when the fraud is discovered. I have been successful in persuading them to intervene.
It’s working and it should. We all live with the consequences and costs of financial crime. Costs are covered by taxes, FSCS levies, etc.
It goes without saying that confidence in the financial services sector is eroded with each new report of financial crime.
Even the simple act of logging on to a bank or financial provider’s website takes more and more time these days as it goes through layers of security. These delays are frustrating, but necessary to track down scammers.
Governments and regulators have arguably failed to keep up with the surge in financial crime over the past decade, but they are slowly catching up.
Ultimately, restoring trust in financial advice and financial services must be done through trusted advisors and providers who are a safe haven for their customers’ money. Clients need to know that they can save and invest their money without fear of losing all or part of it to scammers.
• Have a happy Easter. Our regular news service is taking a short break and will resume on Tuesday. If you haven’t signed up for Financial Planning Today yet, sign up now to read more articles for free. Just click on a few stories and a popup registration box will appear.
Kevin O’Donnell is the editor of Financial Planning Today and has worked as a journalist and editor for over 30 years.