Nutmeg said it has acted “swiftly” to alert investors of a clone firm which emerged this week imitating its old branding.
The Financial Conduct Authority has published an alert highlighting the clone firm, which uses the URL ‘nutmegeasyinvest.com’.
"This firm is not authorised or registered by us but has been targeting people in the UK, claiming to be an authorised firm," the regulator said.
The website, which was still live at time of writing (11:47am), uses the same green logo and branding which Nutmeg used until October last year.
Snapshot of clone firm site, 'nutmegeasyinvest.com'
“We became aware of a clone website that was impersonating Nutmeg in an attempt to scam potential investors out of their money at the start of this week,” Kat Mann, head of public relations for Nutmeg, told FTAdviser today.
“We acted swiftly to notify the FCA to ensure their register for clone firms could be updated and to help to protect potential victims. We have also contacted the domain registrar to have the site taken down.”
Nutmeg emailed Namecheap on 10 January at 17.55pm, according to an email correspondence seen by FTAdviser. The URL was taken down sometime early in the afternoon on 12 January.
Back in October, Nutmeg rebranded to include a new logo, new typeface and colour scheme, a new website, and new email templates.
At the time of the rebrand, Mann confirmed customers did receive an email notifying them of the icon changes to ensure they were not taken advantage of by scammers through their old brand.
Mann added: “Unfortunately, investment scams are on the rise and the tactics used by fraudsters are becoming ever more sophisticated. We continue to work with clients, and prospective clients, to help them spot a scam and to avoid falling victim to them.”
Investment scams racked up £107.7m in losses for consumers in the first half of 2021, doubling from £55.2m over the same period in 2020.
Nutmeg, which has more than £4bn in assets under management, was bought by JP Morgan last year for an undisclosed sum.
ruby.hinchliffe@ft.com
