The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA wishes to warn the public about an increase in fraudsters who are currently posing as insurance intermediaries. For the purposes of authentication, they either refer to the public FINMA register of insurance intermediaries (the so-called intermediary portal) or make fraudulent use of an excerpt from this register. In doing so they convey the impression of being registered by FINMA and entice trusting individuals to make putative financial investments, for example in Bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies.
FINMA wishes to warn the public about fraudsters posing via email or telephone as registered insurance intermediaries and authorising themselves with details from FINMA’s public register. Persons contacted by intermediaries are asked to compare the details taken from the register extract with the entries in the public register of insurance intermediaries. Email sender addresses and telephone numbers should also always be checked carefully.
Warning signals include:
- details that deviate from those in the register;
- unusual email addresses;
- foreign telephone numbers;
- payment instructions to accounts abroad; or
- redirection to websites of third-party providers of financial investments (check here whether these providers are authorised by FINMA).
FINMA recommends exercising appropriate caution when handling suspicious emails and telephone calls of this kind. Be sure to identify the person seeking contact properly. In case of doubt, you can contact FINMA by sending an email to info@finma.ch or calling +41 31 327 98 88.
Further useful tips for protecting yourself against investment fraud can be found here.
