Hong Kong’s financial regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), today added IEA Holdings to its Alert List.
IEA Holdings is the latest brokerage to be listed by the SFC under the category of Unlicensed Entities, and comes soon after the watchdog issued a warning about OTEX World Corporation, which Finance Magnates reported on earlier this month.
Unlicensed Entity
IEA Holdings operates online via the url www.ieaholdings.com, and claims to be located at 9th Floor, Silvercord Tower 2, 30 Canton Road, TST, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The website is currently down, most likely in response to the firm having been red-flagged by the SFC.
According to the regulator, the company gives the aforementioned Hong Kong address but is not located there. It is apparently associated with Shandong East Asia Mining Group Co., Ltd, another unlicensed entity on the SFC’s Alert List.
Suspicious Activities
Although the website is currently non-responsive, Finance Magnates has sourced information relating to a client that invested money with IEA Holdings who was dealt with by a representative of the company. The representative was initially said to be very professional and went on to explain the investment opportunity in straightforward terms.
The deal was that the client in question invested money in a coal mining project in China for a monthly return of 9 percent. The life of the project was to be about 6 years, but since investing the money the client only received one dividend payment.
IEA Holding’s representative then allegedly called the client about a further client who was willing to offer the original client three times what was paid for the investment. However, since agreeing to the sale, these funds have not materialised and despite numerous phone calls, IEA Holdings has not responded.
Such scams are prevalent across many regulatory jurisdictions, necessitating counter efforts from regulators such as the SFC, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK and the National Futures Association (NFA) in the US.
Hong Kong’s Watchdog
The SFC seeks to inform investors by drawing attention to illicit operations and unregulated entities that market participants should refrain from doing business with. Its latest warning today on the suspicious activities of IEA Holdings is part of its on-going efforts to clamp down on unregulated firms soliciting their services.
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