Almost every element of a broker can be fabricated cheaply — the website, the dashboard, the "account manager" who answers within seconds, even the certificate image in the footer. One thing cannot: an entry in the regulator's own register. This is a short guide to reading that register properly, because the clone trick is built precisely on people checking it carelessly.
Verify the registration yourself
Do not rely on the licence number printed on the broker's own site. Look the firm up directly on the regulator's register, then compare the official contact details — website, phone, address — with the ones you were given. Clones almost always show a slightly different domain (an extra word, a different ending) or a phone number that the real firm does not use.
Watch for these red flags
- You were contacted out of the blue — a message, a call, or a social-media "opportunity" you never asked for.
- Pressure to deposit quickly, or to add "just a little more" to unlock a bonus or a bigger return.
- Returns that are described as guaranteed, fixed, or unusually high with no risk.
- You are asked to install a remote-access or "support" app so someone can help you "set up your trades".
- Deposits are only accepted by cryptocurrency, gift cards or transfers to a personal account.
- Trouble starts the moment you try to withdraw.
Slow down and cross-check
Legitimate firms are comfortable with your questions and never punish you for taking time. Search the exact company name alongside words like "review" or "warning", check how long the domain has existed, and be suspicious of testimonials that only appear on the broker's own pages. When something feels engineered to rush you, that feeling is usually correct.
Checking an FSP number in South Africa
Firms giving financial advice or intermediary services here are meant to hold an FSP number issued by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, and the FSCA publishes a searchable register of them. Search by the number, then read what comes back rather than stopping at "found": the registered name, the categories the licence covers and its status. Clones work by quoting a real, valid number belonging to a real, unrelated firm — so the test is not whether the number exists, but whether the details attached to it match the people asking for your money, down to the domain and bank account.
