The FCA has issued warnings over five unauthorised crypto asset, forex and CFD firms operating in the UK without any permissions from the regulator.

The regulator said the firms are targeting people in the UK and could potentially be operating scams.

Three of the firms are trading from UK addresses, with the remaining two firms operating from the Caribbean, Seychelles, South Africa and the British Virgin Islands.

The five firms the warnings were issued over are:

• Crown Investment – a cryptoasset firm trading from Worcestershire with a website crowninvestment.net
• Epicassets – trading in FX and crypto assets from a London address with a USA-based telephone number, epicassets.net
• Blockchain Investments – a crypto investment trading firm operating from a Worcester-based address and blockchaininvestments.finance
• Swiftfxtrading – an FX and cryptocurrency trading platform operating from St Vincent and the Grenadines, South Africa and the Seychelles with the USA-based telephone number swiftfxtrading.app
• GKFX – an FX, stocks and crypto trader operating from the British Virgin Islands and using a UK telephone number https://gkfx-global.io/

The regulator warned that some firms may give incorrect contact details including postal addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses. They may change these contact details over time.

They may also give details that belong to another business or individual, so the information looks genuine.

The FCA also reminded consumers who deal with these firms that they will not have access to the Financial Ombudsman Service or be protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.