- A broker is checked in the FSCA's FSP register: the link is in the regulator's card.
- The FSP number alone proves nothing: impersonators quote the genuine numbers of licensed firms.
- What you compare is the number against the entity name, and the authorisation against the service.
- Money goes in only through the client area on the official domain.
Where a broker is checked
In the FSCA's register of authorised Financial Services Providers. Take the FSP number and the legal entity name from the site's footer and look them up in the FSP register. The verification link for every regulator in the shortlist is in its card on the Regulators page. Verification calls go to the FSCA toll-free on 0800 110 443.
Why the FSP number alone proves nothing
The FSCA has warned about impersonation of licensed providers: the fraudsters use the name, the branding and the genuine FSP number of a licensed firm, and approach people through WhatsApp and Telegram groups. In one case flagged by the regulator, investments were solicited through a WhatsApp group under the FSP number of a licensed bank.
Such a number resolves in the register: it is real, and it belongs to the firm being impersonated. So the question the register answers is not whether the number exists. It is whether that number belongs to the name in the footer. The FSCA adds a second half to that check: a firm can be authorised for basic advice on low-risk products and still offer far more complex and risky ones, so the authorisation has to cover what is actually being sold.
The check
- Look up the FSP number and the legal entity name together: a number that resolves to a different company ends the conversation.
- Compare the contacts and the domain with the register, and reach the firm on the details from the register rather than the ones you were given.
- Compare the entity in the footer with the entity in the client agreement: the company that opens the account is the one whose licence applies.
- Open the broker's site from a bookmark or a manually typed domain, not from a link in a messenger, an email or an ad.
Red flags
- The approach came through WhatsApp, Telegram or social media: the FSCA's impersonation warnings run through exactly these channels.
- Returns are promised, or the offer comes with a deadline.
- An upfront payment is requested for the service itself.
- Funding details are an individual's card or a crypto wallet sent in a chat, rather than the payment form of the client area.
- The footer carries no legal entity or FSP number, or the number resolves to a different name.
- FSCA: FSP register: checking an FSP number against the entity name and the status of the authorisation.
- FSCA: warnings and alerts: the regulator's own public warnings, impersonation cases among them.
- FSCA warnings on impersonation and investment scams: the pattern, and the regulator's verification line.
- The site's Regulators page: the verification link and powers for each regulator.