The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) warns members of the public about conducting financial services related business with SpaceX Investment and SpaceX-Shares-Investment, which offers its services through Facebook.
It has come to the attention of the FSCA that there are individuals who are using the Facebook pages SpaceX Investment and SpaceX-Shares-Investment to offer members of the South African public investment products whilst promising unrealistic returns.
The individuals behind the Facebook pages are purporting to be associated with Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) an entity linked to Mr Elon Musk.
The FSCA suspects that the individuals are using Space X’s branding without authorisation. The individuals in question were not available for comment.
Without commenting on the business of SpaceX Investment and SpaceX-Shares-Investment, the FSCA points out that offering financial products and services in South Africa requires its authorisation. SpaceX Investment and SpaceX-Shares-Investment are not licensed under any financial sector law to provide financial products or financial services in South Africa.
Financial services business refers to persons advising the public on investing their funds in any manner. This is often in the form of offering the public investment opportunities.
To avoid becoming a victim of a scam, the public should not accept any financial advice, assistance or investment offers from persons who are not authorised by the FSCA to conduct financial services. Authorised financial services providers must display the fact that they are authorised on their documentation.
South Africans loses millions of rands every year to fraudsters. Illegal operations are sometimes well-disguised as legitimate operations.
The public is advised to be on the lookout for danger signs when dealing with persons offering attractive investment opportunities. These red flags include unrealistic returns, claims that the entity or person does not require an FSCA licence, and vague information about the investment product.
The public is also advised to take care when dealing with entities offering financial products on social media platforms. Social media platforms are popular locations for illegal operations and scams. If in doubt, the public is encouraged to seek advice from an authorised financial services provider.
Members of the public should always check:
- that an entity or individual is authorised by the FSCA to provide financial products and services, including for giving recommendations about how to invest.
- what category of advice the person is registered to provide, as there are instances where companies or people are registered to provide basic advice for a low-risk product and then offer advice on far more complex and risky products.
- that the FSP number utilised by the entity or individual offering financial services matches to name of the FSP on the FSCA database.
One of the following methods may be used to confirm the status and FSP number of a service provider or a person that claims to be an authorised service provider:
1) Toll-free number: 0800 110 443
2) Online search for authorised financial institution by license category:
https://www.fsca.co.za/Regulated%20Entities/Pages/List-Regulated-Entities-Persons.aspx
3) Online search for a financial institution that is an authorised FSP in terms of the FAIS Act: https://www.fsca.co.za/Fais/Search_FSP.htm
