Belgium’s top financial authority, the FSMA (the Financial Services and Management Authority) has warned about 19 crypto trading platforms that show signs of fraud. The regulator has even gone ahead to publish a list of the said crypto trading platforms which it says it had previously “received complaints and questions from customers about their operations.”
The 19 crypto trading platforms listed by the regulator include Cryptavenir, Crypto-info, 01crypto, Coinquick, Capital-coins, Crypto-banque, Finance-mag, Cryptos.Solutions, Ether-invest, Gme-crypto, Cryptos-currency, Gmtcrypto, Eurocryptopro, Ydconsultant, Mycrypto24, Patrimoinecrypto, Good-crypto, BTC-cap, and Nettocrypto.
FSMA also noted that the list is not exhaustive of all questionable cryptocurrency trading platforms, but only those that consumers have filed complaints about.
Several consumer complaints
The Belgian regulator has said that over the past few months, there has been an upsurge in new online crypto trading platforms that use similar methods in luring investors. “They claim to provide excellent services, and that they are the best platforms consumers and investors, both professionals and beginners can trust and also trade on instantly,” the FSMA detailed.
Among the complaints the financial watchdog received include that once a customer invests their money, they are unable to contact the company(s) and that consumers are also unable to reclaim the invested monies. “I invested my money through a platform claiming to be licensed. When I asked them to refund my funds, they promised that they would refund on a specific date, but I have not received the money, and now, I can’t even access the trading platform,” the FSMA quoted one of the allegedly defrauded consumers.
Regulator’s warning and advice
The FSMA, in its warning, urged investors and consumers to be careful and be “stay vigilant for any indications of crypto investment fraud.” The financial regulator also recommended that investors should “always a company’s identity by looking for such details as the country of residence, among other information.” FSMA also advised investors never to trust any company if it can’t be identified clearly.
Also, the agency pointed out that investors and consumers need to be wary of crypto trading platforms which claim to have either a license or permit from a supervisory authority. This is because currently, the agency says, there is “no supervision done on online crypto trading platforms which are active in the crypto sector.” The financial regulator also noted that many of listed crypto trading platforms came up less than twelve months ago.
The FSMA particularly emphasized that all prospective investors and consumers need to “demand understandable and clear information” from any crypto trading company and also “remain critical of the information provided.”
The regulator explained that “many crypto trading platforms often promise full capital protection or guaranteed return of invested funds. However, in the cryptocurrency sector, those promises are just a big illusion. When there is a fraudulent offer, the promises and guarantees are undoubtedly fraudulent too.” The regulator also advised prospective consumers and investors to be very wary of companies that give promises of huge profits adding that many times, “if returns seem too good, they usually aren’t.”
