Fire Financial Services Limited (CLONE) - Central Bank of Ireland Issues Warning on Unauthorised Firm

What Changed

• - CBI has formally identified Fire Financial Services Limited (CLONE) as an unauthorised entity that is not authorised to provide banking business or payment services in Ireland and is misusing the identity and authorisation details of a legitimate C
• CBI has published specific fraud indicators associated with this clone, including website domains (e.g. financeportfolio.net, fire.com.de, centralbank.ie.de, revenue.ie.de, department-of-finance.ie.de), multiple spoofed email addresses (e.g. accounts
• The warning explicitly states that the clone firm appears to be running an inheritance scam, including the use of fake documentation allegedly from third parties, which should be treated as a red flag for financial crime and consumer‑protection monit
• CBI reiterates that there is no connection between the legitimate authorised Fire Financial Services Limited (C58301) and this fraudulent entity, thereby clarifying the status of the genuine firm and the misuse of its identity.
• The firm’s name is formally published on CBI’s list of unauthorised firms under section 53 of the Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2013, increasing regulatory expectation that firms will consult this list as part of fraud and counterpar
• CBI restates that providing financial services in Ireland without the appropriate CBI authorisation is a criminal offence, under the legislation for which CBI is the responsible enforcement authority.

Suggested Considerations

• Review and update internal fraud‑risk and financial crime risk assessments to explicitly cover clone‑firm risks, including inheritance scams and impersonation of authorised entities.
• Integrate the specific domains, email addresses, and phone numbers listed in the CBI notice into fraud‑monitoring tools, allow‑/block‑lists, and case‑management systems, and ensure they are treated as high‑risk indicators.
• Ensure front‑line, call‑centre, and relationship‑management staff receive targeted training and briefing on this specific clone case and on common clone‑firm red flags, including requests related to inheritance payments and use of unofficial domains.
• Enhance onboarding and counterparty due diligence procedures to include systematic checks against the CBI “unauthorised firms” list and the CBI public registers, especially where firms claim Irish regulation or use names similar to existing authorised firms.
• Update third‑party and introducer due diligence controls to verify that any firm referring business or presenting as an intermediary is properly authorised and not listed as unauthorised under section 53 of the Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2013.
• Review and, where necessary, update complaints and incident‑management procedures to ensure potential clone‑firm incidents are logged, investigated, and, where appropriate, reported to CBI via the contact channels indicated in the notice.

Key Dates

Who is Affected