Check an FCA licence.

TrueBroker is a free broker safety checker, and this page is its register guide for the United Kingdom. The Financial Services Register is public, free and current; this is how to read it so a real licence number on a fake website cannot fool you.

Where is the register?

Search register.fca.org.uk directly, never a link from an email or a chat. Search by firm name or by the firm reference number (FRN) the broker quotes.

What do you match?

The firm name on the register matches the legal name in the broker’s footer and terms
The FRN the broker quotes is the FRN on the entry
The entry’s status reads Authorised, and its permissions actually cover the service you are buying
The website and phone number on the entry match the ones you are using

What are the traps?

The FCA register lists contact details precisely because clone firms quote real FRNs with swapped websites and phone numbers. If the domain you are on does not appear on the entry, you are not dealing with the authorised firm, whatever the licence number says. The FCA also publishes a warning list of unauthorised and clone firms; we mirror it daily on the FCA warning list.

THE SHORT VERSION

Match name, FRN, status, website and phone on register.fca.org.uk itself, and check the warning list mirror before you deposit. The full method is in check a broker. Different regulator? The same checks apply at CySEC, ASIC and the FSCA, while an offshore licence proves less than it looks.