The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warns clients about clones under the Expotoro/Tratoro brand similar to the eToro trademark.
UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has recently alerted the fraudulent entity shell companies operating under the Expotoro/Tratoro brand masquerading as eToro. The regulator noted suspicious reports of the Expotoro and Tratoro brands listing their eToro license numbers on their websites.
eToro and this scammer company have no resemblance on their official website, but at first glance, they look similar to the original eToro brand. Meanwhile, eToro has obtained a license from the FCA with reference number 583263, and Expotoro and Tratoro display the same reference number on their websites. Despite not explicitly claiming to be licensed by the FCA, Expotoro/Tratoro has misused eToro data to convince traders of the company's authenticity.
The regulator reports that this is not the first time FCA has focused on eToro's cloners. Cloning refers to attempts to hijack the identity of an existing legal entity, providing other fraud details to give an impression of reliability or legitimacy. In 2019, UK regulators warned about FX Option companies posing as local branches of social trading platforms. For 2022, FCA has issued another warning regarding Etro SB Limited.
In an official statement, the FCA said, "Fraudsters may provide other false information such as email addresses, phone numbers, zip codes, and company reference numbers. They may confuse this information with authentic information from legitimate companies. They may also change contact details at any time."