The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently took part in a week of action, along with 16 other regulators internationally, to protect consumers from illegal 'finfluencers'. This included enforcement activity, consumer awareness campaigns, and educational programmes for finfluencers who want to act responsibly.
The FCA:
- began criminal proceedings against two individuals for illegal promotions on social media;
- sent four targeted warning letters to individuals suspected of engaging in unauthorised financial promotions;
- issued 34 warning alerts against unauthorised firms or individuals, and updated 14 existing warnings; and
- made 120 account takedown requests to social media platforms hosting illegal finfluencer content. Within these accounts, the FCA identified 1,267 illegal financial adverts, which reached at least 2.3 million social media accounts in the UK.
The FCA has called upon social media platforms to play a more proactive role in stopping illegal financial promotions.
The FCA encourages consumers to use its FCA Firm Checker to confirm if a firm is authorised for the services it is offering, and to reduce the risk of falling victim to a scam. The tool also shows unauthorised firms and individuals on the FCA's Warning List to avoid.
