The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has warned Australian investors to be wary of messages, websites, phone numbers and addresses from fake international regulators.
ASIC has been alerted to the problem by
a number of complaints, including people who lost money after being lied to by a fake regulator.
The made-up entities about which ASIC
is aware include:
The Foreign Shareholders Protection Department; US Securities Investigative Committee; International Compliance Commission; International Equity Commission; International Exchange Regulatory Commission; the International Regulatory Commission and Regulatory Compliance Commission.
No genuine government regulators exist under these names.
To check if an overseas share market regulator exists, start with the International Organisation of Securities Commissions.
By visiting www.iosco.org it is possible
to find the real regulator in the relevant country. Many IOSCO members also offer information on their websites to help investors, not to dupe them, according
to ASIC.
