Based on the contents of the websites operated by Felicity Group LTD, fantex.co, luxinvestment.co and unionstock.co, and on information available to BaFin, there are grounds to suspect that the company is conducting banking business/providing financial services in the Federal Republic of Germany without the required authorisation.

Under the KWG, authorisation is required in order to conduct banking business or provide financial services in Germany. Some companies do so without the necessary authorisation, however. Information on whether a certain company has been authorised by BaFin can be found in BaFin’s database of companies.

BaFin, the German Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt) and the German state criminal police offices (Landeskriminalämter) recommend that anyone seeking to invest money online should exercise the utmost caution and do the necessary research beforehand in order to avoid becoming the victim of fraud.

According to information and documentation now available to BaFin, employees of the trading platform fantex.co have been contacting customers and forwarding them an e-mail from the sender “BaFin Support”, supposedly from the “BaFin Legal Services Team”. Attached to this e-mail is a document entitled “Legal Notice” with the designation “BaFin IT CO” in the letterhead. The letter is from a “Certified Anti Money Laundering Expert”. Customers are addressed by name and accused of money laundering and fraud. It is claimed that a lawsuit will be filed against the customer unless they pay a “wealth tax fee”.

BaFin would like to clarify that neither the e-mail nor the attached document are from BaFin. These e-mails and letters are fakes and thus attempts at fraud. BaFin does not collect taxes or fees from private investors.