<p>The Hong
Kong subsidiary of Japanese-originated broker <a href=”https://www.financemagnates.com/tag/rakuten/” target=”_blank” rel=”follow”>Rakuten Securities</a> has warned
against impersonators who use the company’s name, logo and contact details to
solicit traders to open trading accounts.</p><p>Rakuten Warns Against
Impostors</p><p>On Monday, Rakuten
Securities Hong Kong Limited informed the public it is receiving a growing
number of inquiries regarding rogue entities who deceive retail traders and try
to pass themselves off as representatives of a regulated brokerage firm.</p><p>”Rakuten
Securities Hong Kong Limited (“Rakuten Securities HK”) received the
inquiries regarding outlaws are using the name/logo of Rakuten Securities HK
and impersonated our staff, intentionally to solicit others to open an account
for investment, engage in regulated activities without license, commit
fraudulent activities,” Rakuten Securities HK stated in Monday’s release.</p><p>In order to
safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of investors and Rakuten
Securities HK, the company reminded the official address of its website (sec.rakuten.com.hk)
and provided links to its trading apps and MT4 authenticator. </p><p>”We
are very concerned about criminals who impersonate our company and its
employees to deceive the public, intending to mislead the public in order to
seek benefits. We reserve the right to pursue legal responsibility for the
relevant behaviour and related persons,” the company added.</p><p>Retail Trading: Attack of
The Clones</p><p>Companies
that impersonate other licensed entities or their representatives are referred
to as clones. A <a href=”https://www.financemagnates.com/terms/c/clone/” class=”terms__main-term” id=”c02bac54-0735-474c-8969-06d3fdb49589″ target=”_blank”>clone</a> firm typically poses as a well-known trading brand in
order to lure unsuspecting customers. This may involve adopting a similar name,
replicating the website layout, or even engaging in identity theft by using
identical address details and license numbers.</p><p>Unfortunately,
such actions are not uncommon in the <a href=”https://www.financemagnates.com/terms/r/retail-trading/” class=”terms__secondary-term” id=”2d172307-15c6-4278-a100-fcbb8d9c19c9″ target=”_blank”>retail trading</a> market. Recent months have
shown that Rakuten Securities is not the only company or market regulatory watchdog
to have issued a similar warning.</p><p>At least three European regulatory bodies warned against clone websites and entities only last month. The Financial Services and Markets Authority, Belgium’s
financial market regulatory watchdog, <a href=”https://www.financemagnates.com/forex/fsma-warns-against-webull-clone-and-20-other-unlicensed-platforms/” target=”_blank” rel=”follow”>flagged a clone of Webull</a>, a popular US
trading platform for retail investors.</p><p>The Cypriot
CySEC published a warning regarding the activity of an unregulated <a href=”https://www.financemagnates.com/forex/cysec-warns-against-licensed-broker-clone/” target=”_blank” rel=”follow”>cryptocurrency firm, IMS Crypto</a>. According to the Cypriot regulator, the entity
falsely claims to possess a CySEC trading license, using the details of the
authorized company. In the meantime, the British FCA <a href=”https://www.financemagnates.com/forex/uk-fca-warns-against-clone-of-fx-broker-axi/” target=”_blank” rel=”follow”>warned against AXI Corp
Limited'</a>, a clone firm of the registered forex and CFD broker Axi and its
sister company, One Financial Markets.</p><p>The
regulatory body flagged down several clone websites and companies impersonating
registered brokers under FCA’s supervision in 2022. One such incident occurred
in July when the financial markets supervisor raised an alert about a clone
website <a href=”https://www.financemagnates.com/forex/uk-fca-warns-on-clone-firm-impersonating-zenfinex/” target=”_blank” rel=”follow”>posing as Zenfinix</a>, a London-based FX and CFD broker. The regulator
highlighted that the clone firm was attempting to defraud investors in the UK.</p>
This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.
