THE Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has warned the public against doing any financial services related business with Swiftkryprtotrade.
In a statement issued by FSCA yesterday, the institution said Swiftkryprtotrade and individuals linked to it were allegedly using the social media platform Telegram to target members of the public by falsely claiming to be agents or representatives of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).
“The JSE is a licensed exchange in terms of the provisions of the Financial Markets Act 19 of 2012 and it is also a Self-Regulatory Organisation. The impersonators use images of senior executives of the JSE and its employees to lure members of the public in order to solicit investments from those, seeking trading opportunities and high profits.
The FSCA said the JSE confirmed that it was not associated with the impersonators.
“The JSE also confirmed that it does not conduct business using Telegram. The individuals in question were not available for comment.
“It is the FSCA’s view that these individuals are conducting unauthorised financial services business and are providing advisory and intermediary services without the necessary authorisation.
“Financial services business refers to persons advising the public on investing their funds in any manner. This is often in the form of offering public investment opportunities. It also refers to persons dealing with investments of the public in any manner. This includes receiving funds from the public, making investments on behalf of the public and trading in any financial product for or on behalf of the public or enabling the public to trade in financial products.”
The institution urged the public to act with care when investing their funds. It said that there were many fraudsters operating scams, and the number was growing. “South Africans lose millions of rand every year to fraudsters. Illegal operations are sometimes well disguised as legitimate operations.
“Red flags for scams include unrealistic returns that are offered, claims that the entity or person does not require an FSCA licence, vague information about the investment product or the company that provides the financial product, claims that the investor must act urgently and requirements to pay more money over to have their investment returned to them.
“To avoid unnecessary risk, the public should not accept any financial advice, assistance or investment offers from persons who are not authorised by the FSCA to conduct financial services. Authorised financial services providers must display the fact that they are authorised on their documentation and explain what specific financial services they are licensed for. If this is absent, the public should avoid paying any funds to such a person without investigating it further,” read the statement.
The company also advised the public to consult authorised financial service providers should the need for such services arise.
thabo.makwakwa@inl.co.za
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