Alert: NZ FMA Adds Five Fraudulent Firms to Caution List

<p>New
Zealand's market regulator has just added five new entities to its list. They
offer investment services for retail traders, asset management, or term
deposits, and some have been classified as clones of fully operational
institutions.</p><p>New Zealand's FMA Adds 5
New Firms to Warning List</p><p>Within the
last 24 hours, the Financial Market Authority (FMA) of New Zealand updated its
warnings and alerts list five times. The list now includes Ocean Trade, Cato
Asset Management, Bronte FX, Co-operative Bank, and Bank of China.</p><p>Ocean Trade
operates under twelve different web addresses, using the officially registered
data of Mercado Limited (registration number 7353856). Mercado's director
confirmed to the FMA that his entity has nothing to do with Ocean Trade.</p><p>“ocean-trade.org;
perfectglobaltrade.org; livetradeinvestment.com; cryptoprofitrade.com;
coinminetinvest.com; cryptoprofitrade.com; cnkglobalinvestment.com;
stakefunds.org; episodegrab.org; upliftfxinvest.net; coinfinancefxtrading.com;
realearners.net; coinfinancefxtrading.com,” the <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/tag/fma/" target="_blank" rel="follow">FMA </a>listed the websites
associated with Ocean Trade, warning the public to be cautious.</p><p>Another
fraudulent company, Cato Asset Management, as the name suggests, offers asset
management services. With Bronte FX, which allows trading in CFDs, the
regulator has classified it as an “imposter website.” Besides using the
licensing data of other entities, dishonest companies also try to copy the look
of their websites to confuse consumers. In the case of Bronte, the FMA received
information that clients were having trouble withdrawing their funds.</p><p>The last
two warnings concern the Co-operative Bank and Bank of China offering
"fake term deposits.” Scammers offer term deposits with unusually high interest
rates or returns to entice investors. However, the rates are often unrealistic
and too good to be true.</p><p>“Scammers
are sending out highly professional-looking product disclosure statements
featuring Bank of China’s name, logo, address, and registration details,” the
FMA commented on the warning against the fake Bank of China.</p><p>Number of Scams in New
Zealand Decreases</p><p>However,
there has been an increase in websites impersonating registered entities in New
Zealand, and the number of potential financial scams and activities of unlicensed
businesses <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/forex/financial-scams-on-the-decline-in-new-zealand-fma-finds/" target="_blank" rel="follow">has significantly decreased since mid-2022</a>.</p><p>The FMA's
recent report for 2023 highlights this trend, showing a decrease in warnings
and alerts compared to the previous year, with 47 instances of suspected scams,
a significant drop from the 105 cases reported <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/forex/new-zealands-fma-reports-17-spike-in-investment-scams-in-2022/" target="_blank" rel="follow">in 2022</a>.</p><p>However,
the FMA has recognized a new trend in deceptive practices, adding a “imposter
websites” category to its report. This category reflects the growing number of
fraudulent actors and companies imitating licensed firms. Despite the FMA
issuing 29 warnings in this new category, the total number of alerts in 2023
was 89, down from 111 in 2022, indicating a general decline in such fraudulent
activities.</p><p>One of the
latest cases included in the report is a fine of $900,000 that <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/forex/new-zealands-fma-orders-tiger-brokers-to-pay-900k-for-amlcft-breaches/" target="_blank" rel="follow">Tiger Brokers
(NZ) Limited</a> had to pay for violating anti-<a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/terms/m/money-laundering/">money laundering</a> laws.</p>

This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.