One of the tasks entrusted to the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) is to combat unlawful activities in the area of financial investments. It publishes a dashboard that provides statistics as well as an overview of the main trends regarding investment fraud. Today, it is publishing the dashboard for the second half of 2025.This edition of the dashboard highlights the following items: For the second half of 2025:A new type of fraud, taking the form of supposedly exclusive investment advice via WhatsApp groups, has duped several victims, with losses in this category totalling more than 9.5 million euros.Consumer reports of scams linked to cryptocurrencies or fraudulent trading platforms make up nearly half of the consumer reports of fraud received by the FSMA.Between July and December 2025, Belgian consumers reported to the FSMA having collectively lost more than 23,443,906 euros due to fraud.For the full year:In 2025, the FSMA received a total of 2,911 consumer reports about unlawful activity. This is an increase of 11 % compared to 2024.In the course of 2025, the FSMA published a total of 19 warnings against a total of 240 fraudulent entities and 316 websites. Requests were made to the judicial authorities to block those sites.The dashboard is available on the website of the FSMA.In 2025, the FSMA further extended its various actions to prevent any other Belgians from falling victim to investment fraud. Among other things, the FSMA participated in a major  awareness-raising campaign launched by the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB) with various partners.The FSMA also joined the Belgian Anti-Phishing Shield (BAPS), an initiative of the CCB. Thanks to this tool, anyone who surfs to a website that the FSMA considers fraudulent is redirected to a webpage containing a warning. This new approach has had great success: since 15 May, the FSMA has entered 245 names of fraudulent websites; 22,973 unique IP addresses were thus redirected to the FSMA’s warning page instead of to a fraudulent website.

The FSMA warns the Belgian public against the activities of the SE-RE-CO company in the area of mortgage credit.The SE-RE-CO company is not a regulated entity and is thus not authorised to offer mortgage credit to Belgian consumers.SE-RE-CO uses the trading name “SERECO” and is established in Belgium at Deken Jonckheerestraat 2, box 202, 8560 Wevelgem. Its website is https://bm-sereco.be. Its primary activity is in the sector of real estate development.According to the information available to the FSMA, SERECO appears, at first glance, to offer mortgage credit to Belgian consumers.However, SERECO is not authorised to carry out such activities within Belgium.As a result, SERECO may not engage in any advertising and may not present, offer, prepare or conclude credit contracts. The documentation provided by SERECO may consist exclusively of non-personalized documentation drawn up by a lender or a credit intermediary and under the latters’ responsibility. SERECO may also not encourage clients to use its services to obtain more detailed explanations of the said documentation.Thus, SERECO must limit its activities solely to directing potential clients to a credit intermediary or a lender. Any activity beyond those limits requires registration with the FSMA.The FSMA therefore advises consumers to exercise vigilance and refuse any offer of mortgage credit made directly by SERECO.If you have any doubts regarding a provider of financial services or products, feel free to consult the FSMA’s registers using the search function made available on its website.

This agreed settlement consists of the payment of 10,000 euros and the publication, by name, on the website of the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA).This press release is not available in English. Please consult the French or Dutch.

Debt agreements often include covenants that must be adhered to. Potential breaches of debt covenants within twelve months after the end of the reporting period require disclosures in the financial statements to provide users with insight into the risk that underlying obligations could become repayable.Following developments in the regulatory framework and observed practices, the FSMA has updated its expectations for these disclosures. This new opinion replaces opinion 2016_05.Read more in FSMA_Opinion_2026_01