Federal Financial Supervisory Authority

26.11.2021 | Topic Unauthorised business Trading platform assetshaus.com: BaFin investigates activities of Teredo Group Ltd – unknown companies operating under the name “Sparkasse” In accordance with section 37 (4) of the German Banking Act (Kreditwesengesetz – KWG), BaFin would like to make clear that Teredo Group Ltd, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, has not been granted authorisation to conduct banking business or to provide financial services, as required under the KWG. The company is not subject to BaFin’s supervision. The information provided on the Teredo Group Ltd. website, assetshaus.com, and the information and documents available to BaFin give reasonable grounds to suspect that the company is conducting banking business/providing financial services in the Federal Republic of Germany without the required authorisation. A reference to Teredo Group Ltd as the responsible company can only be found on the English-language website. This website also contains a reference to a further business address for the company in Manchester, United Kingdom. As part of the platform’s business activities, unknown persons/companies that do not belong to the Savings Banks Finance Group (Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe) have been contacting customers under the name “Sparkasse“. The criminals operate as the “Sparkasse Support Team” or “Sparkasse Großbritannien” and use the Sparkasse logo. BaFin would like to make clear that both the name and the logo are being used without authorisation; this gives reasonable grounds to suspect that fraudulent activities are being pursued here. Under the KWG, authorisation from BaFin is required to conduct banking business or provide financial services in Germany. However, some companies operate without the necessary authorisation. Information on whether specific companies have been authorised by BaFin can be found in BaFin’s database of companies. BaFin, the German Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt – BKA) 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.