The FCA issued a warning today about scammers using a 'clone' of leading tax adviser and wealth manager Smith & Williamson to cheat investors.

Fraudsters are using some details of the real firm to front a cloned business being used to try and convince people that they worked for a “genuine, authorised firm.”

The bogus firm is not authorised or registered by the FCA but has been targeting people in the UK, claiming to be an authorised firm.

It is using details similar to the genuine firm.

The clone firm uses these details:

Smith & Williamson Holdings, Telephone: 0207 2930668; 0207 205 2033, Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The legitimate FCA-authorised firm’s correct details are:

Firm Name: Smith & Williamson Holdings Limited

Firm Reference Number: 743276

Address: 25 Moorgate, London EC2R 6AY

Telephone: 0207 131 4000

Email: All email addresses end with @smithandwilliamson.com

Website: www.smithandwilliamson.com

Other names: Smith & Williamson Investment Services Limited, Smith & Williamson Investment Management LLP, Smith & Williamson Financial Services Limited, Smith & Williamson Fund Administration Limited, Smith & Williamson Corporate Finance Limited

The FCA says the fraudsters may be using a mixture of genuine and fake details to try to cheat investors.

The FCA is now issuing hundreds of clone and scam warnings each year and Action Fraud recently warned that scammers have been taking advantage of the Coronavirus epidemic to increase their fraud operations with a 400% increase in virus-related fraud in March. Victims have lost nearly £1m in Coronavirus-related fraud since 1 February.