FSMA Warns Public Against Scammers Impersonating Authority Officials in Fund Recovery Schemes

The Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) of Belgium has issued an urgent warning to the public regarding scammers impersonating FSMA collaborators and management members. Fraudsters are contacting consumers via telephone and email, claiming the regulatory body can assist victims of investment fraud in retrieving or unblocking their lost funds. This scheme operates as a classic "recovery room" fraud. The criminals demand that victims pay upfront fees, commissions, or taxes purportedly due to the FSMA to release the recovered money. In addition, the perpetrators use the official FSMA logo on forged documents to carry out phishing attacks, attempting to harvest personal and sensitive financial information from consumers. The FSMA identified several fraudulent email addresses used in this campaign, including [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected]. The regulator warns that any communications originating from these or similar addresses are fraudulent and should be deleted immediately. The regulator stresses that it will never initiate unsolicited contact with consumers to demand payments, taxes, or sensitive data such as bank card PINs or passwords. The FSMA is not a financial institution, does not offer financial products or recovery services, and is not legally authorized to recover lost investments or collect taxes on behalf of investors. All official FSMA email communications originate strictly from addresses ending with @fsma.be.