Central Bank of Ireland Issues Warning on Unauthorised Firm – Private Investment Indemnity Company (CLONE)

It has recently come to the Central Bank of Ireland’s (‘Central Bank’) attention that a firm, calling itself Private Investment Indemnity Company (Ireland) – www.piindemnity.co.uk (no longer operational) has been operating as an investment firm / investment business firm in the State in the absence of an appropriate authorisation.  This unauthorised firm has cloned the details of a legitimately authorised firm called PI Indemnity Company, dac.

It should be noted that there is no connection whatsoever between PI Indemnity Company, dac which is a company authorised by the Central Bank and the unauthorised entity Private Investment Indemnity Company, operating the website www.piindemnity.co.uk, that has cloned its details.

It is a criminal offence for an unauthorised firm to provide financial services in Ireland that would require an authorisation under the relevant legislation for which the Central Bank is the responsible body for enforcing.  Consumers should be aware that, if they deal with a firm which is not authorised, they are not eligible for compensation from the Investor Compensation Scheme.

Fraudsters are increasingly using legitimate firms’ details to add an air of legitimacy to their fraud. The fraudsters will 'borrow' all of the legitimate information of an authorised/legitimate firm for the purpose of this fraud. They may quote authorisation numbers/company registration numbers and links to seemingly legitimate websites and even provide the real address of an authorised/legitimate firm. Consumers are advised to check our register to verify a firm’s details and to call the firm back directly using its advertised phone number.

For further information, please visit the Avoiding Scams and Unauthorised Activity section of the Central Bank’s website.

Notes to editors

The name of the above firm is published under the Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2013.