It’s not everyday that a broker has to warn customers about a company that is acting as its clone – usually that task falls to a local regulator. But this Tuesday, OctaFX, a retail broker which is based in St Vincent and the Grenadines, did just that.

In a short statement posted on its ‘news’ page, the broker said that scammers have been using a very similar URL – www.o-ctafx.com – to its own.

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Access to the website is currently restricted by Google. Thus, determining what the scammers are doing isn’t easy.

If they are like most clone firms, however, they will simply be tricking people into depositing with them and then never giving the money back.

SCAM ALERT ⚠️
Beware of the potentially dangerous website ‘o-ctafx . com’. It’s not connected with OctaFX in any way. If they try to contact you and get to know your OctaFX credentials, DO NOT GIVE ANY DETAILS ABOUT YOUR ACCOUNT 🙅‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/nqxAFZv3RI

— OctaFX (@OctaFX) February 12, 2019

OctaFX scammers – operating via social media

More interesting is the fact that OctaFX said that customers should protect themselves from influencer scams which are being carried out on social media.

Unfortunately, the broker did not elaborate no who the scammers are or what social media platforms they are operating on.

In the past, scammers, using the OctaFX logo to lend themselves an air of legitimacy, have targeted people through Instagram.

Last month, Finance Magnates covered the burgeoning FX ‘influencer’ or ‘educator’ industry.

Though they do not operate brokers, these people pose as trading experts, often enticing prospective customers with promises of getting rich quick, but actually work as affiliate marketers for brokers.

In some cases, these are legitimate companies. AvaTrade, for example, has used affiliate marketers in the past.

But many of them are not. One famous ‘educator,’ FxLifeStyle, encourages traders to sign up to a broker that is based in Dominica.