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Enforcement

Investment Caution List

The Investment Caution List warns British Columbians about entities that may pose a risk to the public.

These entities may be located in BC or accept BC residents as customers, and have one or more of the following characteristics:

  • They are not registered to provide investment services or investment opportunities
  • They are promoting investments that show signs of fraud
  • They impersonate legitimate, authorized firms, or use names similar to such firms

If you have been approached by – or referred to – one of the names on this list, you should proceed with extreme caution and be aware of the risk before handing over any money. You could lose your entire investment.

We are constantly adding names to this list. There are many other entities that aren’t on this list but could be – we just aren’t aware of them yet. So don’t assume a firm is safe if it’s not listed here.

You can help. If you learn about an unregistered entity that is accepting BC residents as customers and is not on this caution list, please let us know by submitting a complaint here.

Under the Securities Act, investment firms that accept BC residents as customers need to be registered to do so. You can search registered dealers and advisers to check the registration and disciplinary history of an individual or brokerage firm. 
  • Recommended by someone you met online
  • Vague details about the investment
  • Offshore operations
  • Addresses that don’t exist or belong to a different business
  • Phone numbers that don’t work
  • You need to open a crypto account to invest
  • No information available about the website through search engines
  • Celebrity endorsements
  • Promises of guaranteed high returns without risk
  • Promises of passive income or easy money
  • References to “offshore” and tax-free
  • Pressure to act now

The presence of these red flags doesn’t mean an investment is a fraud but is a sign you should investigate further before proceeding.

Fraudsters sometimes try to appear legitimate by impersonating actual organizations or using photos and false testimonials from well-known individuals. They may include the names and logos of actual financial institutions or misuse the names of real registered investment professionals or firms. 
If one of the names on this caution list – or any other entity that exhibits the signs provided above – tries to sell you an investment or asks for money, immediately report it. You can do this by:

The Contact Centre can also provide more information about how to protect yourself from investment fraud or can help verify whether an individual or entity is legitimate and authorized to do business with BC residents.