On 8 October 2026 the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market issued a public alert against Takeo Investments. The firm had falsely claimed an association with ADGM and presented itself as a licensed provider of financial services within the financial centre. In reality, Takeo Investments has never been granted a Financial Services Permission by FSRA, is not incorporated in ADGM and had no right to carry on regulated financial activities. By the time the alert was published, the website takeoinvestments.com was already unreachable.
The notice was published in the Media Announcements section of ADGM and added to the consolidated FSRA Regulatory Alerts register. It is not the first such notice in recent weeks: FSRA has issued analogous alerts against SGV Advisory FZ LLC, Mirage by Mag Investment LLC and Global FX. Each is the regulator's response to attempts to use the ADGM name to attract clients without a real licence.
What Takeo Investments claimed — and why it is prohibited
According to FSRA, Takeo Investments presented itself as a firm "associated with ADGM" and entitled to offer financial services within the centre's jurisdiction. In fact:
- the firm does not hold and has never held a Financial Services Permission (FSP) from FSRA;
- the firm is not incorporated in ADGM and is not licensed to carry on commercial activities within the financial centre.
The rule in ADGM is straightforward: only firms that have been granted an FSP by FSRA may carry on regulated financial activities. Regulated activities include asset management, investment advice, brokerage, services related to virtual assets, insurance and several adjacent services. Any statement such as "we are licensed in ADGM", "operating under FSRA", "authorised by ADGM" — made in the absence of an actual FSP — is a false and misleading claim that FSRA will act on.
Two concepts are often conflated and need to be separated: registration with the ADGM Registration Authority (RA) and a licence from FSRA. RA registration gives the right to exist as a legal entity within the ADGM jurisdiction; an FSRA licence gives the right to carry on regulated financial activities. A firm can be registered with RA and still not hold an FSP — in which case it has no right to offer financial services. Presenting an RA certificate as if it were a financial licence is a common tactic of bad actors.
How to verify a financial firm in ADGM in minutes
The regulator recommends a standard check that applies to anyone offering financial services under the ADGM or FSRA name.
- Step 1 — FSRA Public Register. Go to adgm.com/public-registers → FSRA → Financial Services Firms. Enter the firm name. If the firm is active, the entry will show its exact legal name, its FSRA Firm Reference Number, the list of Regulated Activities it is permitted to perform and any restrictions.
- Step 2 — ADGM Registration Authority. In the same section — the register of legal entities in ADGM. Verify whether the firm is registered with RA, under what exact name and with what status (active, struck-off, in liquidation).
- Step 3 — match the legal name. Trade names (brands) and legal names of companies often differ. Search the public register by the legal name, not by the brand shown on the website.
- Step 4 — check Regulatory Alerts. Open the FSRA Regulatory Alerts section. If the firm or its name is already flagged, do not go further.
- Step 5 — cross-regulator checks. If the firm claims a different UAE jurisdiction (DIFC, Securities and Commodities Authority, VARA), verify it in the corresponding register. ADGM FSRA covers only ADGM. DIFC firms are regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA). Emirates outside DIFC and ADGM are covered by SCA. Virtual assets in Dubai are regulated by VARA.
If a firm offers financial services in ADGM but is not in the FSRA Public Register — regardless of what its website, presentations or sales reps say — do not deal with it. There are no exceptions.
If the money has already left
The priority is to preserve the paper trail before contact with the firm is lost. Collect all correspondence (email, WhatsApp, Telegram, LinkedIn), the recipient's bank details, transfer confirmations, screenshots of the site and client dashboard, names of representatives, and call recordings if any. Then run four tracks in parallel.
- FSRA. Report through adgm.com/contact-us/make-an-enquiry. FSRA opens its own investigation on every signal received and co-operates with law-enforcement agencies where needed.
- Sending bank. Request a recall of the transfer; chances drop sharply after the first 48–72 hours, but it is still worth trying. The bank may also freeze further operations on the suspicious account.
- Police. If the transfer was within the UAE, file a report with Abu Dhabi or Dubai police (whichever matches the place of the event). If the transfer was sent from abroad, file with the police of the sending country. In parallel, notify the national CERT and/or the consumer-protection authority.
- Lawyer. For large sums, consult a UAE-qualified counsel on civil and criminal remedies. Confirmed fraud can trigger a criminal case and a parallel civil claim.
The faster the documents are gathered and the complaint is filed, the higher the chance of tracing the funds before they are moved through a chain of accounts.
Where this fits in the UAE regulatory picture
Public FSRA alerts are part of the regulator's routine investor-protection work. FSRA keeps a dedicated Regulatory Alerts section where every notice is listed chronologically; DFSA runs an equivalent feed for DIFC, as does SCA for the onshore emirates. Over the past 12 months FSRA has flagged dozens of names — from stand-alone "investment firms" to fake Telegram channels and clones of real licensed firms.
This regularity is not a sign of regulatory weakness; it is the opposite. A sustained practice of publishing warnings is what lets the UAE position itself as a financial hub with "one of the clearest regulatory frameworks in the world". For expats and businesses operating in the Emirates, the practical takeaway is simple: before any deal with an unfamiliar financial firm, spend five minutes on the ADGM, DIFC and SCA public registers. It is cheaper than any consultation and, as the Takeo Investments case shows, sometimes the only barrier between the client and a fraudulent scheme.
For the broader picture of regulatory shifts in the UAE over the past year, see our overview of business regulation in the UAE in 2026: what has actually changed in taxes, licence requirements and the compliance perimeter. For a practical comparison of ADGM with DIFC, DMCC, IFZA and Meydan when choosing where to start a business, see DMCC, IFZA, Meydan, DIFC, ADGM: how to pick a free zone.
Primary source: FSRA ADGM public alert, 8 October 2026 — "FSRA Alerts Public to False and Misleading Claims Made by Takeo Investments".
