Independent UK reporting on scams, fraud and financial harm
Reporter
Reporter, investment and firms
Priya tracks the FCA Warning List, clone firms and unauthorised investment promotions, and writes the reference explainers.
Priya checks every firm name against the FCA Warning List, the Financial Services Register and Companies House before it appears, and records the date each contact detail was published by the regulator.
Investigation · 25 Aug 2026
We matched contact details across every clone entry in our Warning List archive. Numbers and email domains reappear under new firm names, which suggests a small number of operations behind many warnings.
Investigation · 25 Aug 2026
A reporter answered one cold call and kept answering. What followed was a scripted, twenty-day operation using the reference number of a genuinely authorised London firm — and a bank transfer request that arrived, politely, on day nine.
News · 24 Aug 2026
Our archive recorded twenty new or updated entries on the Financial Conduct Authority's Warning List over the past week. Six copied the identity of an authorised firm.
Explainer · 23 Aug 2026
Follow a single stolen payment through the accounts it passes on the way out. The reason speed matters so much to your bank is that, after roughly ninety minutes, there is usually nothing left to recover.
News · 18 Aug 2026
With Bank Rate unchanged at 3.75 per cent, advertised returns far above the best available savings rates remain the clearest marker of an unauthorised promotion.
Explainer · 11 Aug 2026
The Warning List records firms the FCA believes are operating without authorisation, or copying an authorised firm. Absence from it proves nothing.
Explainer · 10 Aug 2026
A clone uses an authorised firm's name and reference number with its own phone number, email address or website. The authorised firm is a victim too.
Explainer · 9 Aug 2026
Authorisation means a firm is permitted to carry out specified regulated activities. It is not a quality rating and it does not guarantee your money back.
Explainer · 7 Aug 2026
Most investment fraud follows the same six steps. Recognising the step you are on is more useful than trying to spot a fake website.
