Education
Immediate Connect Scam: AMF Cautions Investors
The Enforcement Committee of the French financial market regulator, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), has issued a
cautionary statement urging investors to exercise vigilance on a fraudulent
automated trading service offered by Immediate Connect. The service has been
aggressively promoted on the internet and social networks through deceptive
advertisements and fake articles impersonating celebrities and reputable news
websites.
According to investor reports received
on 23 June, retail investors discovered the automated trading service via
deceptive online content, including an article falsely attributed to a major
national daily. The article featured an alleged interview with a prominent
television presenter endorsing the service.
Upon expressing interest by filling
out an online form, investors were swiftly contacted by a purported financial
adviser, encouraging them to register on an unauthorized trading platform for
investments in the foreign exchange market, crypto-assets like bitcoin,
or derivatives on crypto-assets. However, when attempting to withdraw their
supposed gains, investors were requested to pay a so-called capital gains tax
in advance.
[Mise en garde]
⚠️ L’AMF et le Parquet de Paris appellent le public à la plus
grande vigilance à l’égard de l’offre frauduleuse
d’investissement en #crypto
d’Immediate Connect ➡️ https://t.co/2ESL6wrcP2#Protection
#Epargne
pic.twitter.com/iiPmdVo7No—
AMF (@AMF_actu) November
17, 2023
When translated to English, it reads: “[Caution] The
AMF and the Paris Prosecutor’s Office urge the public to exercise the utmost
vigilance regarding the fraudulent investment offer in #crypto by Immediate
Connect.”
Blacklisting and Blocking Fraudulent Web
Addresses
The AMF has received additional
complaints regarding similar fraudulent offers from new internet addresses,
suspected to be clones. The organization has flagged 18 additional web
addresses. Some of these have already been added to the authority’s blacklists.
Others are in the analysis phase. Following a hearing at the Paris Court
of First Instance on 9 October, websites linked to fraudulent offers were
blocked at the AMF’s request. The judge’s rulings on 23 October pertain to
specific websites associated with the fraudulent scheme.
The AMF emphasizes that only companies
authorized as investment services providers in the European Union can offer
brokerage services like automated or non-automated trading in forex or
derivatives on crypto-assets. Digital asset service providers registered with
the AMF are the only
entities authorized to offer the purchase and sale, custody, or trading of
crypto-assets to the French public through promotional communications.
Finance Magnates reported earlier
that AMF
had imposed a significant fine and a ten-year ban on France Safe Media (FSM),
a tied agent offering CFDs through the Alvexo online platform. The regulator
fined FSM €300,000 and barred it from acting as a tied agent and providing
reception and transmission of orders service for a decade. Lior Mattouk, FSM’s
manager, received a €100,000 fine and a ten-year ban from managing or directing
any entity operating as a tied agent.
FSM, operating as the tied agent of
Cypriot investment services provider VPR Safe Financial Group Limited, faced
enforcement actions based on five sets of breaches between January 2019 and
September 2021. Additionally, FSM neglected to display mandatory risk warnings
in its promotional banners for CFDs, violating regulations. The company failed
to inform clients of its tied agent status and exhibited negligence in
audit-related matters.
The Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office
underscored that the habitual provision of investment services by an
unauthorized entity is an offense punishable by a fine of €1,875,000, and the
illegal provision of investment services as a regular occupation is punishable
by 3 years imprisonment for an individual.
Such actions may also constitute the
offense of fraud in an organized gang, carrying penalties of 10 years
imprisonment and a fine of €1 million for an individual and €5 million for a
legal entity.
The Enforcement Committee of the French financial market regulator, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), has issued a
cautionary statement urging investors to exercise vigilance on a fraudulent
automated trading service offered by Immediate Connect. The service has been
aggressively promoted on the internet and social networks through deceptive
advertisements and fake articles impersonating celebrities and reputable news
websites.
According to investor reports received
on 23 June, retail investors discovered the automated trading service via
deceptive online content, including an article falsely attributed to a major
national daily. The article featured an alleged interview with a prominent
television presenter endorsing the service.
Upon expressing interest by filling
out an online form, investors were swiftly contacted by a purported financial
adviser, encouraging them to register on an unauthorized trading platform for
investments in the foreign exchange market, crypto-assets like bitcoin,
or derivatives on crypto-assets. However, when attempting to withdraw their
supposed gains, investors were requested to pay a so-called capital gains tax
in advance.
[Mise en garde]
⚠️ L’AMF et le Parquet de Paris appellent le public à la plus
grande vigilance à l’égard de l’offre frauduleuse
d’investissement en #crypto
d’Immediate Connect ➡️ https://t.co/2ESL6wrcP2#Protection
#Epargne
pic.twitter.com/iiPmdVo7No—
AMF (@AMF_actu) November
17, 2023
When translated to English, it reads: “[Caution] The
AMF and the Paris Prosecutor’s Office urge the public to exercise the utmost
vigilance regarding the fraudulent investment offer in #crypto by Immediate
Connect.”
Blacklisting and Blocking Fraudulent Web
Addresses
The AMF has received additional
complaints regarding similar fraudulent offers from new internet addresses,
suspected to be clones. The organization has flagged 18 additional web
addresses. Some of these have already been added to the authority’s blacklists.
Others are in the analysis phase. Following a hearing at the Paris Court
of First Instance on 9 October, websites linked to fraudulent offers were
blocked at the AMF’s request. The judge’s rulings on 23 October pertain to
specific websites associated with the fraudulent scheme.
The AMF emphasizes that only companies
authorized as investment services providers in the European Union can offer
brokerage services like automated or non-automated trading in forex or
derivatives on crypto-assets. Digital asset service providers registered with
the AMF are the only
entities authorized to offer the purchase and sale, custody, or trading of
crypto-assets to the French public through promotional communications.
Finance Magnates reported earlier
that AMF
had imposed a significant fine and a ten-year ban on France Safe Media (FSM),
a tied agent offering CFDs through the Alvexo online platform. The regulator
fined FSM €300,000 and barred it from acting as a tied agent and providing
reception and transmission of orders service for a decade. Lior Mattouk, FSM’s
manager, received a €100,000 fine and a ten-year ban from managing or directing
any entity operating as a tied agent.
FSM, operating as the tied agent of
Cypriot investment services provider VPR Safe Financial Group Limited, faced
enforcement actions based on five sets of breaches between January 2019 and
September 2021. Additionally, FSM neglected to display mandatory risk warnings
in its promotional banners for CFDs, violating regulations. The company failed
to inform clients of its tied agent status and exhibited negligence in
audit-related matters.
The Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office
underscored that the habitual provision of investment services by an
unauthorized entity is an offense punishable by a fine of €1,875,000, and the
illegal provision of investment services as a regular occupation is punishable
by 3 years imprisonment for an individual.
Such actions may also constitute the
offense of fraud in an organized gang, carrying penalties of 10 years
imprisonment and a fine of €1 million for an individual and €5 million for a
legal entity.
#Connect #Scam #AMF #Cautions #Investors
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