A former boss of a City of London foreign exchange company has been found guilty of a £70m Ponzi-style foreign exchange investment fraud.

The FCA has secured more than £100,000 to repay consumer victims of Mohammed Maricar, who set up a forex ‘trading academy’ that used WhatsApp to provide unauthorised investment advice.

The Financial Conduct Authority has won an interim restitution order of £676,000 against 5 of the 7 defendants accused of carrying on unauthorised deposit taking.

The FCA and Action Fraud have warned the public over scams carried out via bogus online trading platforms, as it was revealed £27m had been fleeced from investors.