The Financial Conduct Authority has published a warning about an unauthorised firm – closebrotherswm.com – purporting to be Close Brothers Limited. The regulator said the clone firm had been contacting people and that fraudsters were using the following contact details: james.murray@closebrotherswm.com, 02034322812.

In its warning, the FCA reiterated the fact that customers using an unregulated firm will not be protected by the Financial Service Compensation Scheme. But they may have access to protections from the Payment Systems Regulator, assuming money was sent to the firm after 7th October 2024.

The FCA reminded the market that its Firm Checker service made it possible to search a list of all regulated firms online and urged consumers to use this resource and to avoid dealing with unregulated businesses.