Regulator warning lists

What is a regulator warning list?

If you're dealing with a money transfer or currency exchange provider and want to check if they're trustworthy, a regulator warning list is a simple place to start. It's a public record set up by a financial regulator, flagging companies and sites that either appear to be operating without legally required approval or are suspected by the regulator of dishonest practices. You don't have to pay to check these lists. In fact, this is one of the quickest protections you have before you decide to transfer funds to a provider you've never used.

Authorities such as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM), BaFin in Germany, or France’s Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) all keep warning or blacklist pages. The exact title may vary, but you’re looking for the regulator’s public warnings about suspicious companies. For a broader search, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) also hosts an investor alerts portal which compiles regulatory warnings from multiple countries in one place.

How to search a regulator warning list

Begin your search with your own national regulator, then move on to regulators in the country where the company claims to be based. Enter every variation of the firm's name you find, full company name, web address, email domain, listed phone numbers and any licence or registration numbers the provider quotes. Some scam operators will copy or only slightly alter the names of legitimate brands, so try similar spellings as well.

• Check your own national regulator’s warning or blacklist first.
• If the firm gives an address or registration in another country, check the list published by that country’s authority too.
• Search IOSCO’s investor alerts portal for international warnings that might not appear domestically.
• If you have a licence or registration number, use it to search the official public register, see our instructions at how to check if a financial company is licensed.

What a listing does and does not tell you

If you find a company on a warning list, treat it as a real alarm. The regulator usually only lists firms it reasonably believes to be working without authorization or involved in fraud. Never send money or upload sensitive documents if they are listed. Remember, though, scammers may copy all the details of a real, licensed company, so it's important to look up both the warning list and the official register. More on that in our page about clone firm scams.

But if the company isn't listed, you can't assume it’s safe. Regulators only add companies after investigation, so some fraudulent sites won't appear there yet, and honest firms from other countries may not be listed at all. Treat a blank search result as just one piece of information, never a guarantee.

Frequently asked questions