Warning on Unauthorised Firm - TCL Financial Service Ltd (Ireland)

It has recently come to the Central Bank of Ireland’s (‘Central Bank’) attention that a firm, calling itself TCL Financial Service Ltd (Ireland) – www.tclfinancialserviceltd.com has been operating as a retail credit firm in the State in the absence of an appropriate authorisation. This unauthorised firm has cloned the details (name and Irish business operating address) of a company called TCL Financial Services Limited, which is a company registered with the Irish Companies Registration Office (‘CRO’) and which does not provide services that require authorisation from the Central Bank.

It should be noted that there is no connection whatsoever between TCL Financial Services Limited, which is a company registered with the CRO and the unauthorised entity TCL Financial Service Limited that has cloned its details.

A list of unauthorised firms published to date is available on the Central Bank website.

It is a criminal offence for an unauthorised firm/person to provide financial services in Ireland that would require an authorisation under the relevant legislation which the Central Bank is the responsible body for enforcing. Consumers should be wary of advertisements offering loans from unauthorised/anonymous firms or persons. Consumers can check the Central Bank registers online to find out if a firm they are dealing with is authorised.

Fraudsters are increasingly using legitimate firms’ details to add an air of legitimacy to their fraud. The fraudsters will 'borrow' some or all of the legitimate information of an authorised / legitimate firm for the purpose of this fraud. They may quote authorisation numbers / CRO 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.

For further information, please visit the Avoiding Scams and Unauthorised Activity section of the Central Bank’s website.

Notes

The name of the above firm is published under the Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2013.