How to spot financial fraudsters

You receive an attractive offer for investing money. Caution, it could be fraudulent!

Interest rates are currently low – nevertheless keep you assets in the regulated market! If you are unsure about whether a company is allow to conduct financial transactions with you, for example whether it is allowed to sell securities to you, ask us! Don’t fall for financial fraudsters promising high rates of return. Otherwise you could lose your entire investment.

Companies are forbidden from contacting people in an unsolicited manner to sell them something! Any company that still does that, is very dubious. Don’t allow yourself to get involved with such companies, even if it all sounds so simple and profitable.

In the case of offers from unauthorised companies, it is generally fraud, even when they speak about investing. It is highly probably you will lose all your money in the process. Check whether the company has actually been authorised by a government supervisory authority.

Do not enter into any unnecessary risks with your money. You don’t want to lose it. Therefore: invest with providers that are supervised and are authorised.
Only authorised companies or persons fulfil the conditions necessary to perform financial services. These services include financial advice, asset management, and the brokering of shares, bonds, certificates and other investments.

A warning is made following a thorough investigation. The FMA warns about companies, that have already been active in an unauthorised manner, with information about them being available on the FMA website or via the FMA App. Caution: Even where there is no warning about a company, this does not automatically mean that the company is a serious provider.

Do you have doubts about an offer? Contact the FMA Consumer Information team

  • in writing using the contact form, or
  • by telephone on (+43-1) 249 59- 3444. The FMA Consumer Information team is available on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9:00 to 12:00, and on Thursdays from 9:00 to 12:00 and from 13:00 to 16:00.