BaFin warns against clone website of CMC Markets
The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) today issued a warning against a fraudulent website abusing the name of CMC Markets.
The regulator says it is investigating the operator of the website cmc-trader.com. The website claims to offer a trading platform for stocks, forex, indices and crypto assets. The website is not operated by CMC Markets Germany GmbH, which is regulated by BaFin and is based in Frankfurt am Main.
The cmc-trader.com is a clone website. This means it is operated by a fraudulent entity which is abusing the data (name, logo, etc) of an authorized entity. This is an example of identity theft. The Authorized Securities Institution uses the website cmcmarkets.com.
The regulator notes that anyone offering banking, financial and securities services in Germany requires permission from BaFin. However, some companies offer such services without the necessary permission. You can find information on whether a specific company is licensed by BaFin in the company database.
The information from BaFin is based on Section 37 (4) of the German Banking Act.
BaFin, the Federal Criminal Police Office and the State Criminal Police Offices generally advise consumers to be extremely careful when investing on the Internet and to do thorough research in advance in order to identify fraud attempts.