A warning has been issued by the FMA over a website it believes is harvesting users’ personal information for criminals to sell fake investments.
The website – CompareFixedTermDeposits.net (CFTD) – claims to offer a way to compare fixed income investments in New Zealand. The site asks users to fill out a form with their personal details so a third party can contact them.
The FMA has seen an increase in investment scam victims reporting they entered personal details into comparison sites and have then been contacted by individuals purporting to be from institutions such as Citibank or HSBC. Some victims have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to these schemes.
CFTD’s website indicates it is based in Australia, as it refers to Australian standards and regulations. However, both the Australian and New Zealand Companies Offices and financial regulators have found no record of CFTD.
FMA Response and Enforcement Executive Director Paul Gregory said: “We believe this website is a front used to harvest personal information from New Zealanders for criminals to exploit.
So far this year, the FMA has received 154 complaints about investment scams and fraud and issued 40 public warnings about scams and other non-compliant entities.