By Kevin Helms
Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) announced Tuesday, September 4, that it has “updated its list of cryptocurrency trading platforms regarding which it has received questions/complaints from consumers and vis-à-vis which it has identified signs of fraud.”
The agency wrote:
Despite its earlier warnings the FSMA continues to receive new complaints of consumers who have invested in cryptocurrencies through these trading platforms. Hence, the FSMA repeats its warning against the fraudsters behind those platforms who are using cryptocurrencies to swindle consumers.
The agency started keeping a list of crypto trading platforms showing signs of fraud in February. Currently, there are 78 platforms on the list, including the latest 28 which the agency added on Tuesday.
Fraudsters “try to attract customers online through fake cryptocurrencies and huge profits,” the agency noted, emphasizing that “the only thing they actually do, however, is take the customers’ money and disappear. It is as simple as that.”
28 New Crypto Platforms Showing Fraudulent Signs
The financial watchdog emphasized:
This list of cryptocurrency trading platforms is based solely on the findings of the FSMA, in particular as a result of consumers’ reports. As such, it does not include all the companies which might be operating unlawfully in Belgium in that sector.
Many fraudulent platforms “claim to be active in the cryptocurrency trade,” the agency noted. However, after investing in cryptocurrencies through these platforms, consumers either “never recover the funds invested,” or “they simply have heard nothing further from the company after investing their money.”
Furthermore, the FSMA added that “some of these platforms also offer other financial products with cryptocurrencies as underlying asset,” such as “savings accounts with supposedly guaranteed returns, servicing rights or derivative products such as CFDs.”
