The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued an investor alert stating that Onyx Trade Group (www.onyxtradegroup.uk) is not authorized to offer financial services in the United Kingdom. The online broker is allegedly operated by Lencher ExPro LLC, registered in St. Vincent & The Grenadines. This offshore entity also operated the Novo Trade (www.novo-trade.de) scam against which the German BaFin warned. Today, Onyx Trade Group‘s website was only partially functional. However, it is possible that the scammers will reboot with a new domain soon.
The FCA has not authorized Onyx Trade Group, which is targeting people in the UK. Victims of the scam will not have access to the Financial Ombudsman Service or be protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), so they are unlikely to get their money back if things go wrong, the regulator informs.
Lencher ExPro LLC was incorporated with registration number 1005 by company builder St. Vincent Trust and Escrow Ltd as a shelf company and was taken over by the scammers.
