Please refer to our previous article regarding a financial scam in the financial services industry here. One of our clients has kindly supplied the following information
The adviser received an email in December purporting to be from one of their wealthiest clients, stating that they were in the Ukraine and that all their money had been stolen. They had managed to keep their passports but now needed funds to fly home urgently.
The fact that the email came from the client’s email address looked genuine, but it was in broken English; nevertheless, that could have been because the clients had just been mugged and would therefore have been extremely upset.
The adviser did not respond to this email and waited for any further instruction on the basis that if the clients really were in a desperate situation, then they would have followed up, contacted their family, etc.
Finally, the adviser rang the client who confirmed that they had been hacked and requests had gone to everyone in their address box.
Advising non-UK clients
Alistair MacDougall Compliance Conduct, EEA, email, EU, FCA, MiFID, passport, PI, vulnerable
Despite the fact that the UK ceased to be a member of the EU/EEA almost a year ago, we are still asked for advice around how a UK firm can take on a new non-UK client or continue to deal with such clients that the firm had pre-BREXIT. We have written before about the general […]