Dubai: International regulatory bodies have placed online gold store Emgoldex in investor alerts list, warning potential investors from doing business with the company.
Emgoldex, an online gold store that claims to be registered in Germany, has an administrative office in Mahe, Seychelles and a correspondent address in Netherlands.
The International Organisation of Securities Commissions (Iosco), however, placed the company in its Investor Alerts portal by virtue of a warning released by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) on December 14 last year.
“The warning list “boiler rooms” contains the names of companies that have approached persons without being asked, to offer them investment proposals. The AFM has established that the companies that are included in this warning list do not have an AFM licence or a European passport,” the alert read.
Emgoldex was also mentioned on Sweden’s warning list of “firms you should avoid doing business with” and an official from Finansinspektionen, the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, told Gulf News that the company was listed as part of their cooperation with the AFM.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines earlier this year issued an advisory saying Emgoldex Philippines is not a registered corporation in the Philippines and is not authorised to solicit investments from the public.
Operators who claim to be part of Emgoldex dismissed the warning from the Philippines, claiming they do not have to be registered in the Philippines as they are registered in Germany.
Gulf News checked with the Handelsregister, a public registry of companies kept by local courts in Germany, and Emgoldex is not listed.
The alleged parent company of Emgoldex, however, Gold and Silver Physical Metals KG, is registered but no other information as to the status of the company could be shared.
Gulf News repeatedly emailed and called the published phone numbers of Gold and Silver Physical Metals KG for two weeks at different times but the number seemed to be not working.
A spokesperson from Emgoldex office in Seychelles claimed this is a case of defrauding their company name.
“Emgoldex considers unauthorised and non-compliant use of its name and so called imitations of its systems to be defamatory and, in many cases, unlawful behaviour. It is damaging to our good business and harmful to our clients.”
