The FCA has begun criminal proceedings against four individuals allegedly involved in a £1.4m investment fraud involving a number of firms, including two ‘cloned’ firms.

The FCA has issued 19 warnings on unauthorised and clone firms in the past 7 days, a rate of nearly 3 per day.

Investment scam victims are losing an average of £45,000 each to fraudsters and falling prey to a soaring number of 'clone' investment scams, latest figures from Action Fraud reveal.

The FCA issued 400% more clone and scam firm warnings in 2019 than in 2015, according to a Freedom of Information request obtained by Financial Planning Today.