This follows a similar scam by fraudsters cloning Shawbrook Bank last month.
Fraudsters create fake Paragon account
Fraudsters have created a fake Paragon Bank account and as part of the scam have been contacting people pretending to be the real bank, The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned.
The real Paragon said it swiftly shut down this fake website.
Con artists have created ‘Paragon Bank’, a clone of FCA authorised lender ‘Paragon Bank Plc’. Details of this fake account included: 0800 862 0794, 0800 862 0795, 0800 862 0796 and [email protected].
The FCA said scammers may give out other false details or a mixture of these details with correct details from the real lender.
Paragon said that it discovered a cloned website in early October that had no association with the real lender and acted immediately to take it down.
The bank has claimed that they have not been alerted to any customer impact.
A spokesperson from Paragon said: “We continuously monitor for cloned website activity and immediately take action when we identify fraudulent sites.
“Protecting our customers is of paramount importance to us and we urge vigilance against unsolicited emails or calls directing people towards websites.
“We always advise consumers to visit paragonbank.co.uk or to call the numbers listed on the website to ensure they are genuinely dealing with us.”
The regulator warned people to only deal with firms authorised by them.
On its website the FCA said: “Fraudsters look for new ways to scam consumers, but one scam increasingly reported to us involves share scammers pretending to be from firms we authorise.
“These scammers typically cold call investors to promote shares, property or other investment opportunities that are non-tradable, worthless, overpriced or even non-existent.
“Almost all firms and individuals carrying out financial services activities in the UK have to be authorised or registered by us.
“This firm is not authorised or registered by us but has been targeting people in the UK, claiming to be an authorised firm.
“This is what we call a 'clone firm'; andfraudsters usually use this tactic when contacting people out of the blue, so you should be especially wary if you have been cold called.
“They may use the name of the genuine firm, the 'firm reference number' (FRN) we have given the authorised firm or other details.”
This fake Paragon scam follows a similar con byfraudsters last month, whereby people created a clone of Shawbrook Bank.
