FCA warning 2021: Plus-500 clone firm had no association with genuine Plus500UK Ltd

On 1 February 2021 the Financial Conduct Authority published a warning about an unauthorised firm operating under the label 'Plus-500 (Clone of FCA authorised firm)'. According to the FCA, the entity had targeted people in the United Kingdom while claiming to be an authorised firm. In the same warning, the regulator separately identified the genuine authorised firm as Plus500UK Ltd and stated explicitly that the genuine authorised firm had no association with the clone firm. This report therefore concerns a warning-listed clone operation, not Plus500UK Ltd itself. [1]

What the warning listed

The FCA warning associated two websites with the clone: "plus-500.ltd" and "plus500.ltd". These are recorded here only as plain evidence strings from the warning page. They are warning-listed domains, not verified destinations, and this report does not test, visit or recommend them. The warning also listed telephone and email contact details for the clone; those details are deliberately not reproduced here, because repeating unsafe contact instructions could direct readers toward the very contacts the FCA flagged. [1]

The FCA added two qualifications about clone contact details. Scammers may give other false details or mix false details with correct details. They may also change their contact details over time. Both points mean any single snapshot of clone contact information can become outdated quickly, which is one reason this report does not treat the warning's contact data as stable or actionable. [1]

The genuine firm as identified in the warning

In the same notice, the FCA identified the genuine authorised firm as Plus500UK Ltd, FRN 509909, with the website www.plus500.co.uk listed on the warning page. Those details were correct as presented in the February 2021 warning. Firm details can change over time, so readers should confirm current authorisation status and contact details through the FCA Firm Checker rather than relying on this report or any website they have been directed to. [1]

How clone firms operate

The following describes general FCA consumer guidance on clone firms and individuals, not incident-specific evidence about the Plus-500 clone. The FCA explains that clone firms are not authorised or registered, but scammers may pretend to work for genuine authorised firms. Tactics described by the FCA include copying an authorised firm's name, address or firm reference number, copying its website with small changes, pointing to a genuine site while using different contact details, and using similar-looking email addresses. [2]

The FCA also notes that first contact may be unexpected, but it can follow an online search or enquiry made by the consumer. This matters for interpretation: a consumer who searched for a broker and then received contact referencing that broker's name may still have been dealing with a clone rather than the genuine firm. The tactic relies on borrowed legitimacy, not on any action by the genuine firm. [2]

Verification checklist based on FCA guidance

The FCA's guidance sets out a verification sequence for anyone who has been contacted by a firm claiming to be authorised. Applied step by step, it works as follows. [2]

1. Find the firm independently in the FCA Firm Checker or Financial Services Register. Do not navigate there via links, phone numbers or email addresses supplied by the person contacting you. [2]
2. Check that the firm is authorised and holds permission for the specific service being offered, since authorisation is scope-specific. [2]
3. Compare the domain, telephone number and email address you were given against the register-listed details. A close but imperfect match, such as a changed domain spelling, is a known clone indicator under the FCA's description of the tactic. [2]
4. If you want to proceed, initiate contact yourself using the details listed on the register, not the details supplied to you. The FCA frames matching against the register, rather than trusting caller-supplied details, as the core safeguard. [2]

What the warning establishes, and what it does not

The warning establishes that on 1 February 2021 the FCA considered an unauthorised or unregistered firm to be targeting UK consumers while claiming to be an authorised firm, that it labelled that firm a clone of an FCA-authorised firm, and that it listed the domains and contact details described above. It also establishes the separation the FCA drew between the clone and the genuine firm. [1]

It is equally important to state what the warning does not do. It contains no allegation against genuine Plus500UK Ltd of operating, assisting or benefiting from the clone. It reports no fine, breach or admission by Plus500UK Ltd. It reports no customer-loss amount attributable to the clone. And it reports no takedown, prosecution, arrest, recovery, compensation or closure relating to the clone operation. [1]

Why the outcome is recorded as unresolved

This report records the outcome as unresolved because the supplied source record does not state what happened to the clone operation after the warning was published. There is no reported takedown of the warning-listed sites, no prosecution, no recovery of funds and no closure of the operation in the available material. Unresolved applies strictly to the warning record concerning the clone. It does not mean that genuine Plus500UK Ltd is unresolved, under investigation or subject to any regulatory action, and nothing in the supplied sources suggests otherwise. [1]

Scope limits and reproducibility

This report draws on exactly two sources. The first is the FCA warning page titled 'Plus-500 (clone of FCA authorised firm)', first published and last updated on 1 February 2021. The second is the FCA consumer guidance page 'Clone firms and individuals', first published on 28 March 2016 and last updated on 14 May 2025. All incident-specific facts come from the warning page; all general descriptions of clone tactics and verification method come from the guidance page, which is generic and not specific to this incident. [1] [2]

Three limits follow. First, the warning reflects the FCA's position as at 1 February 2021; later developments would appear elsewhere and are outside the supplied record. Second, the genuine-firm details quoted here are correct as presented in the 2021 warning and should be re-verified in the FCA Firm Checker before being relied upon today. Third, the absence of a reported outcome means an absence of reporting in the supplied sources, not proof that no action ever occurred. [1] [2]