Positive Lending became aware that fraudsters are using their logo, staff names and Ringwood head office address to promote loan offers in Euros to consumers overseas.
Positive Lending have been targeted by fraudsters which have cloned the Positive Lending brand in order to carry out financial scams in Europe.
Positive Lending became aware that fraudsters are using their logo, staff names and Ringwood head office address to promote loan offers in Euros to consumers overseas. The fraudsters purport to have offices in London, Liverpool and Italy.
Alec Wimbleton, Compliance Director at Positive Lending, said: “The cloning of companies is proving to be increasingly problematic, with growing numbers of genuinely authorised firms being targeted.
"We were shocked to hear that our company had been cloned. We are taking advice from the FCA and will continue to report any further instances of fraudulent behavior. I would ask that, as an industry, if anyone receives emails or calls from consumers abroad - investigate immediately, do not assume they are spam – it could be a consumer seeking help.”
So far, Positive have been made aware of four instances of consumers being targeted by the fraudsters masquerading as them.
From feedback received from these consumers, it appears other companies and websites are also being cloned in this manner. At the point of writing, it appears this particular scam is only targeting consumers in Europe, offering fake loan agreements and gathering fees in Euros. There have been no reports of UK consumers being targeted and Positive’s partners are not at risk.
Positive reported the cloning to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and National Crime Agency (NCA), providing them with as much supporting information as possible. At the advice of the FCA, Positive included warning notices on the contact pages of their website; they understand that the FCA will be posting a cloning warning on their register in due course.
