The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) has issued a warning regarding misleading and fraudulent electronic messages that purport to come from CySEC “officers”, with the aim of extracting money.

The regulator advises licensed entities and investors to be aware of the dissemination of these false communications and to report them immediately.

Tell-tale signs of the fake communications include:

1. Using the name of CySEC with the sign-off or signature of a non-existent person falsely presented as a CySEC employee.

2. Falsely presented as official CySEC communications and offering as a service to the recipient:

• The alleged release of funds via an “Identification Key” upon payment of a fee, and/or,
• The alleged acquisition of a “Trading Certificate” for the legalization of transactions or activities in the markets, with a cost implication.

3. Request the advance payment of large sums of money, under the pretext of compliance with “regulatory requirements.”

CySEC reiterates that it never requests or accepts payments or fees from individual investors for the issuance of “certificates” or the “release of funds.”

CySEC does not authorize any third party to carry out such actions on its behalf.

Genuine CySEC email addresses end with @cysec.gov.cy.