The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) alerts the financial services community and the public to a scam in which, Lumina Capital Advisers Limited, a DFSA Authorised Firm was impersonated.

The scammers operated an online trading platform using the websites “Lumina-platform.org” and “Lumina-platform.pro” (the Fraudulent Platforms) and claimed that the trading platforms operated under DFSA licence number F003774. This is the license number of Lumina Capital Advisers Limited, the legitimate DFSA Authorised Firm.

Further, the scammers:

•  encouraged investors to open accounts, deposit funds and trade on ‘IPO’ and cryptocurrencies with the Fraudulent Platforms;
• initially allowed investors to withdraw funds from their accounts. However, investors received funds from a UK company named “Garush Ltd” (UK company no.15212295), the role of which had not been disclosed to the investors;
• delayed or threatened investors when they asked for further fund withdrawals from their accounts;
• demanded that investors pay further funds for the release of their funds in the accounts; and
• asked investors to conduct a full withdrawal, close the existing accounts and open a new one.  However, when investors did so, the scammers removed investors’ funds from the Fraudulent Platforms and did not return the funds to the investors.

The DFSA informs you that:

• the Fraudulent Platforms are not, or have never been, authorised by the DFSA;
• the Fraudulent Platforms not, or have never been, located in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) or registered by the DIFC Authority; and
• the Fraudulent Platforms used deceptive names similar to that of the legitimate DFSA authorised firm to deceive investors.

The DFSA strongly advises you not to respond to any communications regarding this scam, and under no circumstances should you send or give any money to any party connected to the scam.

The DFSA has a page on its website dedicated to alerts which has issued about scams.  All alerts issued by the DFSA may be accessed by going to Alerts

The DFSA has also issued warnings and guidance about the common types of scams perpetrated on consumers. For more information on these scams, please go to How to avoid being scammed

The DFSA encourages consumers to refer to the list of regulated Firms and Authorised Individuals licensed by the DFSA that is available on the DFSA's Public Register

If you have any concerns about the authenticity of any correspondence or documents that purport to be issued by the DIFC, DFSA or a DFSA-regulated Firm, you should direct your concerns to the DIFC on Tel: +971 4 362 2222 and to the DFSA via the DFSA Complaints function on Complaints