ALBAWABA - Investors are being cautioned by the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) of the United Arab Emirates about an unauthorized firm that is purporting to be the regulated worldwide broker Equiti, with its headquarters located in Dubai.
The SCA warning noted that an unlicensed firm dubbed MRL Investments Ltd. and operating under the website Equiity.com is attempting to lure investors by impersonating as the licensed brokerage branded Equiti LLC, stating “the aforementioned company is not licensed by the Authority to practice any of the activities subject to its control and supervision.”
SCA warning of a website impersonating licensed broker Equiti
SCA made it clear that Equiity and Equiti are unrelated, as Equiti possesses an official license from SCA to trade currencies and derivative transactions.
The scheme has taken advantage of investors, and well-known people like Lojain Omran, a celebrity from Dubai, who took to her Snapchat stories to share her experience of being scammed out of $27,000, noting that she fell as a victim to equiity and warning her followers from fake firm.
The official broker Equiti has made a statement on the matter saying “This company falsely claimed to be associated with Equiti, citing the company's SCA license and Dubai metro station affiliation, even though the license number was not displayed on their own website.”
Quiti Securities Currencies Brokers LLC logo on a building (Equiti)
The statement also touches on how the scam took place, “By exploiting Equiti's reputation, the scammers convinced victims to deposit funds through websites or apps connected to the scam”, the statement adds.
Co-founder of Equiti Group and CEO of ESCB Mohammed AlAhmad Ketmawi declared that a number of deceived investors have contacted Equiti over the past few days, some of which have reported losing up to half a million dollars individually, as reported by Khaleej Times.
