The FinancialHong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) continues to ramp up efforts to regulate Forex brokers under its jurisdictions and last week warned of a new unauthorized firm operating under the guise of a Hong Kong License. The company Capital Markets under the website www.capital-markets.com has been purporting to be registered by the SFC and regulated in Hong Kong.
Furthermore, the company also lists an address in the United States: 30 Wall Street, 8th Floor, New York, USA, which would indicate that the company is somehow also registered and regulated in the United States by the National Futures Association (NFA) or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Unfortunately, the listed information is most likely fake and the company does not hold any licenses in these countries to operate.
The regulator notes that “unlicensed entities often use names similar to legitimate companies to confuse investors” and traders should always be careful when choosing a company or website to trade with. Further analysis of the company’s website by Financial Commission experts indicated the company is a possible scam, as its registration and corporate information is listed in the form of a graphic/picture, instead of text, making it difficult for traders to copy and authenticate the information.
Traders should always check their broker before making any decisions to transfer funds and can use the ‘Check Your Broker’ directory to quickly find out the status of a broker.