11 May 2021

• ASIC is alerting investors about a suspicious site, limestonefx.com.
• The limestonefx.com site falsely claims it is associated with Limestone FX Pty Ltd, an authorised representative of Baileyhenry Capital Group Pty Limited, an Australian financial services (AFS) licensee.
• The licensee and authorised representative have advised ASIC that they do not have any connection to the website.

ASIC has received reports predominantly from people who invested via limestonefx.com. These investors advised ASIC that they are now unable to withdraw their investments.

ASIC’s concerns

• The operators of the website do not hold an AFS licence or authorisation to provide financial services in Australia. Purporting to hold an AFS licence does not guarantee safety and dishonest operators sometimes impersonate AFS licensees.
• The website https://limestonefx.com is falsely holding out that it is affiliated with an AFS licensee.
• The operators of the website appear to be located outside of Australia. Recovering money lost to investment scams is challenging, particularly when scammers are offshore.

What to look out for

ASIC encourages investors to obtain independent financial advice before investing, and to check ASIC’s registers to see if the entity you’re dealing with holds an AFS licence. However, unscrupulous operators sometimes impersonate AFS licensees.

You should check that the contact details you’ve been given for the entity, corresponds with publicly available details for the licensee, and confirm with the licensee that the communications in fact originated from them.

You should also consider where you are sending your funds. An AFS licensee must ensure that investor funds:

• Are paid into an account held in the name of the provider of the financial services.
• Are paid into accounts held with an Australian authorised deposit-taking institution (such as a bank).
• Are held in a trust account.

What to do if you invested through limestonefx.com

ASIC is warning consumers against dealing with the website limestonefx.com.

You do not need to lodge a report with ASIC as we have sufficient information at this time.

ASIC is unable to assist in recovering your funds. Contact your financial institution to see if they can assist in tracing payments made. Unfortunately, often funds are very difficult to recover once it has been sent outside of Australia.

For more information about investment scams and what to look out for see Moneysmart’s investment scams page.

ASIC is Australia’s corporate, markets and financial services regulator.