The New
Zealand FMA added Mic-Market to its warning list today (Tuesday), exposing the
broker’s false claims of being licensed in Cyprus, UAE, and South Africa. The
regulator also revealed connections between Mic-Market and Trader AI, a firm
previously flagged by Australian ASIC.
Finance
Magnates has
discovered that Mic-Market is nearly an exact clone of CySEC-licensed broker
Colmex, using both their license number and website design.
Mic-Market Impersonates
Cyprus-Based Colmex
“We
are aware that Mic-Market has contacted a New Zealand resident with the aim of
offering financial services,” stated
the FMA in Tuesday’s announcement. “Mic-Market advised the New Zealand
resident that they are associated with Trader AI, which is the subject of a
warning by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.” You
can check the ASIC warning here.
The FMA
emphasizes that Mic-Market lacks licensing in New Zealand and other
jurisdictions where it claims authorization. The broker’s official website
(micmarkfx.com) falsely displays license numbers from Cyprus (123/10) and South
Africa (46990).
A check of
the CySEC registry reveals that the cited license number has
been associated with Colmex Pro Ltd for 14 years, operating through
colmexpro.com. Similarly, the FSCA license belongs to the same broker,
registered in South Africa since 2016.
Comparing
Colmex and Mic-Market websites shows that the entity warned by FMA is clearly a
clone. Except for the logo, both sites are almost identical.
Mic-Market
also uses Colmex’s correspondence addresses, only changing phone numbers and
email addresses.
Finance
Magnates found that
the fake broker allows trading account registration, posing a potential risk of
fund loss.
Watch Out for More Clones
Mic-Market
represents one of the latest examples of complete website and data cloning of a
licensed, long-established retail CFD broker.
Finance
Magnates reported
several months ago that other popular brokers, including AvaTrade, LCG, and
JFD, fell victim to similar scams.
Previously,
warnings were issued about a cloned XTB website, first flagged by the UK’s FCA.
The site operated under xtbtrading.org and appeared nearly identical to XTB’s
official UK website.
While
Mic-Market aimed to attract new clients, the fake XTB could have used its
deceptively similar domain name and website to mislead investors into logging
into the fraudulent site, risking account credential theft and potential
account compromise.
The New
Zealand FMA added Mic-Market to its warning list today (Tuesday), exposing the
broker’s false claims of being licensed in Cyprus, UAE, and South Africa. The
regulator also revealed connections between Mic-Market and Trader AI, a firm
previously flagged by Australian ASIC.
Finance
Magnates has
discovered that Mic-Market is nearly an exact clone of CySEC-licensed broker
Colmex, using both their license number and website design.
Mic-Market Impersonates
Cyprus-Based Colmex
“We
are aware that Mic-Market has contacted a New Zealand resident with the aim of
offering financial services,” stated
the FMA in Tuesday’s announcement. “Mic-Market advised the New Zealand
resident that they are associated with Trader AI, which is the subject of a
warning by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.” You
can check the ASIC warning here.
The FMA
emphasizes that Mic-Market lacks licensing in New Zealand and other
jurisdictions where it claims authorization. The broker’s official website
(micmarkfx.com) falsely displays license numbers from Cyprus (123/10) and South
Africa (46990).
A check of
the CySEC registry reveals that the cited license number has
been associated with Colmex Pro Ltd for 14 years, operating through
colmexpro.com. Similarly, the FSCA license belongs to the same broker,
registered in South Africa since 2016.
Comparing
Colmex and Mic-Market websites shows that the entity warned by FMA is clearly a
clone. Except for the logo, both sites are almost identical.
Mic-Market
also uses Colmex’s correspondence addresses, only changing phone numbers and
email addresses.
Finance
Magnates found that
the fake broker allows trading account registration, posing a potential risk of
fund loss.
Watch Out for More Clones
Mic-Market
represents one of the latest examples of complete website and data cloning of a
licensed, long-established retail CFD broker.
Finance
Magnates reported
several months ago that other popular brokers, including AvaTrade, LCG, and
JFD, fell victim to similar scams.
Previously,
warnings were issued about a cloned XTB website, first flagged by the UK’s FCA.
The site operated under xtbtrading.org and appeared nearly identical to XTB’s
official UK website.
While
Mic-Market aimed to attract new clients, the fake XTB could have used its
deceptively similar domain name and website to mislead investors into logging
into the fraudulent site, risking account credential theft and potential
account compromise.
This post is originally published on FINANCEMAGNATES.
