It has recently come to the Central Bank of Ireland’s (‘Central Bank’) attention that a firm, calling itself Longleaf Management Company Ltd trading as Longleaf Management (Clone) – www.longleafmanagement.co.uk (currently not active) has been operating as an investment firm in the State in the absence of an appropriate authorisation. This unauthorised firm has cloned the details (name and Irish registered address) of a company called LongLeaf Management Company (Ireland) Limited, which is a company authorised by the Central Bank – CBI 00055677.
It should be noted that there is no connection whatsoever between the company authorised by the Central Bank and the unauthorised entity Longleaf Management Company Ltd trading as Longleaf Management (www.longleafmanagement.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.