The Financial Markets Authority (AMF) warned Thursday against fraudulent calls from people posing as agents of the stock market policeman and claiming to help savers recover lost sums of money.
“Around 50 savers” reported to the AMF that they had received a phone call from a person posing as an “AMF investigator” and claiming to want to help them recover their lost funds, the statement said.
This scam targets savers who have already been victims of investment scams in the past, promising them the possibility of being reimbursed “directly on the Blockchain”, according to testimonies collected by the AMF.
The stock market policeman regularly warns the public against fraudulent investment proposals in crypto-assets and regularly updates its “black list” of websites offering this type of financial investment without authorization.
The number displayed to contact the victims seems to be that of the AMF switchboard. “It is technically simple to falsify the number”, indicates the AMF which calls “for the greatest vigilance in the face of this type of call.”
“The phenomenon of impersonation of public institutions or authorities has experienced a significant upsurge in the past three years”, says the AMF, which also recalls “that in no case does it contact savers on its own initiative for services consisting of the recovery of lost funds.”
The AMF asks people who receive these fraudulent calls not to respond to them and to report them to its public relations centre: AMF Epargne Info Service.