Castle Trust warns brokers to beware after fraudsters clone lender

A Castle Trust spokesman told Specialist Lending Solutions that it was monitoring the situation and that brokers should contact it directly if they had any questions or concerns.

“We take fraud extremely seriously,” the spokesman said.

“Through our usual checks, we identified a website set up by fraudsters in the name of Castle Trust Private Bank. This was a scam tactic and has no connection whatsoever with Castle Trust.

“We recommend that intermediaries do not click on any links that reference Castle Trust Private Bank and check that they are visiting our correct website address, which is www.castletrust.co.uk. Alternatively, intermediaries can call us directly on 0345 241 3079.”

FCA warning

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is also aware of the situation and issued a notice that Castle Trust had been cloned by the scammers apparently based in Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

Fraudsters have used the name Castle Trust Private Bank along with the website https://castle-trustprivatebank.com, which is still live at time of publishing, as part of the tactic to scam people, the FCA said.

This clone firm is not authorised or registered by the FCA but claims to have authorisation.

And the regulator emphasised that the authorised firm Castle Trust Capital PLC has no association with the ‘clone firm’.

It is the second specialist lender to be targeted by fraudsters in the last month after Shawbrook and its customers were the subject of cloned, fake promotions.