UK binary options clampdown sees another fraudulent entity wound up

The efforts of the UK authorities to tackle binary options scams continue. The Insolvency Service has confirmed that another binary options company was shut down over false and misleading claims.

The entity in question is Eclipse Finance Limited (Eclipse), incorporated on October 9, 2015, with a registered office in London.

Following complaints received about Eclipse’s methods, the Insolvency Service investigated and petitioned for the company to be shut down, in the public interest. The High Court heard that Eclipse was persuading people from Britain and all over the world to invest in a bogus binary options scheme. All investors lost significant sums, averaging over £50,000 each. Losses reported to Action Fraud totalled over £600,000.

Furthermore, potential investors were subject to high pressure sales tactics with misrepresentations being made as to the returns that would be made on investments. Trading was then apparently carried out with investors’ funds without authorisation and monies were removed from investors’ accounts without authorisation.

The company then put the blame for these losses on the hacking of its computer system. This was claimed to have happened on two separate occasions but no evidence of this was provided to victims or to the investigators.

Other investors reported that their accounts were simply drained of funds without explanation and that the company then failed to respond to all attempts at contact.

Commenting on the case, Irshard Mohammed, Investigation Supervisor at the Insolvency Service, said:

“These winding-up proceedings show that the Insolvency Service will use the weight of its powers to take firm action against companies that operate in such an unscrupulous way”.

The Official Receiver has been appointed as liquidator.

The clampdown on binary options scams in the UK has seen a number of fraudulent entities closed. In November last year, Metro Options Limited was wound up. At the end of October, the UK High Court wound up binary options scam firms behind Magnum Options, following an investigation by the Insolvency Service.

Let’s recall that on October 17, 2017, the City of London Police conducted a day of action, which involved visiting 20 offices with the City of London Corporation’s Trading Standards.