CySEC Warns of Fake Employees and Websites Scamming Investors

Fazzaco learns that the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) has alerted the public about impostors who pretend to be CySEC employees or use fake CySEC websites to scam investors. The regulator has provided some tips on how to identify and avoid these frauds and urges investors to contact CySEC before taking any action based on suspicious communications.

According to CySEC, the fraudsters use various methods to deceive investors, such as:

• ​Creating clones of the CySEC website that look very similar to the original one, but have different domain names (such as cysecregulatory.com, www.cysecgov.com, and Cysecs.group). These websites may contain false or misleading information, such as a fake list of approved Cyprus Investment Firms or links to unauthorized or scam brokers.

• Contacting clients of CySEC regulated entities by email, phone, Whatsapp, or other social media platforms, and using the name, address, logo, and stamp of CySEC to make their communications seem authentic. The fraudsters usually offer to help investors with compensation claims or other issues, and ask for personal or financial data, such as proof of identity or investment documents. They may then use this data to withdraw funds from the investors' accounts without their consent.

CySEC warns that it never contacts investors by phone or sends unsolicited emails, nor does it request any personal or financial data from them. The regulator advises investors to check the authenticity of any communication that claims to be from CySEC by contacting info@cysec.gov.cy. The regulator also reminds investors that genuine emails from CySEC end with gov.cy, and that they should be careful of any emails that use a different suffix.

CySEC says that it has detected the latest fraud attempts by using monitoring tools that scan and analyze social media posts in real time and flag those that are suspicious or involve aggressive marketing tactics. The regulator also thanks the investors who have reported fake communications to CySEC and encourages others to do the same.