On October 23, 2015, the Financial Conduct Authority issued a warning regarding William Howarth

In its notification, the FCA said "We believe this individual has been providing financial services or products in the UK without our authorisation. Find out why to be especially wary of dealing with this unauthorised individual and how to protect yourself from scammers.".

The FCA went on to note that

Almost all firms and individuals offering, promoting or selling financial services or products in the UK have to be authorised by us.

However, some firms act without our authorisation and some knowingly run scams like share fraud.

This firm is not authorised by us but has been targeting people in the UK:

William Howarth

A person going by the name of William Howarth has been cold calling consumers and trying to persuade them to send him advance fees in order to invest in products such as fine wine or to allow him to buy shares that they already own.

Mr Howarth is fraudulently telling consumers that he is calling from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Mr Howarth is not in any way affiliated with the FCA and any calls received from him are not from the FCA. The FCA do not cold call consumers.

Mr Howarth has given the FCA's contact details, including address and telephone number as his own.

Further numbers provided by him are as follows:

0800 689 0927

0207 859 4313

0207 859 4875

Click here to view the FCA's original notice