Axis alerted the FCA about the fraudulent website on Friday and it has since been taken down.
The FCA said: “This is what we call a ‘clone firm’ and fraudsters 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 we have given the authorised firm or other details.”
Unauthorised firms sometimes attempt to change contact details of a firm on the FCA’s register to appear genuine, with scammers then giving out their own phone number, address and website details to possible victims.
The FCA updates details on its register every evening.
Kanchan Dasgupta, head of compliance at Axis Bank, said: “On Friday it was brought to our attention that a website had cloned Axis Bank’s but with certain pieces of information, such as contact details, changed.”
He added: “The issue was investigated immediately and we discovered that the website had been created somewhere in France. We contacted the website host and it was brought down by the evening.”
