The regulator issued a consumer warning yesterday not to deal with Loan Solutions Direct, which is using the 28-29 Haymarket House Incisive Media address in London, where Mortgage Solutions is based.
The firm is a clone of a genuine unsecured lending company called Loan Solutions, based in Middlesborough.
On the warning, the FCA explained this is a ‘clone firm’; and fraudsters usually use this tactic when contacting people out of the blue, and warned consumers to be vigilant.
It said: “They [fraudsters] may use the name of the genuine firm, the firm’s interim permission reference number (IP), the firm’s previous Office of Fair Trading licence number (CCL), or other details.”
The regulator wouldn’t offer detail on how the fraudulent firm was uncovered but said it issues five to ten warnings a week and tries everything it can before a warning is issued to establish the identities of the named entities and establish their validity.
If it can’t establish both parties’ indentities, the warning is issued and it attempts to get the website taken down, which is easier in the UK than overseas, it confirmed.
