It has been widely known that a raft of fraudulent financial companies are targeting Russian investors. Today, this has been confirmed by the Central Bank of Russia, as the regulator has published a “black list” including the names of more than 1,800 firms whose activities in Russia are illegal.

The list features companies such as illegal creditors and financial pyramids, as well as online trading firms that do not have the necessary licenses but nevertheless target Russian investors. There are hundreds of illegal brokerages in the list, including Forex firms.

One of the names mentioned in the list is Alpari Limited. Grand Capital is also enlisted. Foreign FX firms that have gotten into trouble abroad, such as USGFX, are also present in the blacklist.

The list also features a number of crypto firms (Exchange-coindesk, to name one example) and entities offering binary options (like Binarium).

The regulator detects such illegal firms by using its own monitoring system, as well as in response to investors’ complaints. To halt the illicit activities, the Central Bank of Russia takes actions to block the websites of such entities and collaborates with the police and foreign regulators.

At present, the list features the names of entities whose illegal activities have been detected since 2020. The central bank promises to regularly update the information.

Let’s note that retail FX brokers willing to offer their services to Russian clientele need to obtain FX dealer licenses from the Bank of Russia. A lack of such license means that the company is not operating legally in Russia and will be a part of the blacklist.