On January 7, this site posted a press release from Hirsche Private Asset Management Ltd. announcing what appears to have been attacks that compromised their clients’ information.
Since that time, they have revealed no additional details, and their web site returns 403 and 404 error messages.
A bit of digging reveals that Hirsche Private Asset Management Ltd. is not authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK, who issued this warning in September 2014:
The Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) of the United Kingdom would like to alert all recipients that:
Name- Hirsche Private Asset Management Ltd
Addresses:(1)27 Old Gloucester Street, London, WC1N 3AX, United Kingdom
(2)South Church Street, George Town, Grand Cayman, KY1-1104
(3)28F, No.66, Sec. 1, Zhongxioo W.Rd, Zhongzheng Dist, Taipei City 10018 (4)31-33 Ng Fong Street, San Po Kong, Hong KongTel- 02092394273, 00886287292338 & 0085281224069 Website- www.hirsche.co.uk
Email- ian.marshall@hirche.co.uk (sic) & jeffrey.curtis@hirsche.co.ukis NOT authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (“FSMA”) to carry on a regulated activity in the United Kingdom. Regulated activities include, amongst other things, advising on investments and dealing and arranging deals in investments (“investments” include stocks and shares).
The FCA believes that this organisation may be targeting UK customers. Therefore, we have added this firm to our list of unauthorised firms and individuals list. This list can be found at:
http://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/protect-yourself/unauthorised-firms/unauthorised-firms-to- avoid
If you have any further questions on this matter please email our Consumer Contact Centre at consumer.queries@fca.org.uk, or alternatively by telephone on 0800 111 6768. Overseas callers can contact us on (+44) 20 7066 1000.
In Australia, the ASIC (Australian Securities & Investment Commission) had also issued a warning and “advises this company could be involved in a scam” and that they are unlicensed in Australia. ASIC also notes, “FIN-FSA has reason to suspect that the company offers investment services in Finland without appropriate authorisation.” The same allegations have been raised in Hong Kong, and there are several web sites accusing Hirsche Private Asset Management Ltd of being a scam, such as this response to an inquiry about unsolicited phone calls appearing to be from the firm:
“Shaun’s” claims are consistent with a consumer who had emailed DataBreaches.net to say that he had lost a lot of money with Hirsche and that he thought they were using the claimed breach as an excuse to disappear.
Email to Ian Marshall and Jeff Curtis of Hirsche Private Asset Management Ltd. from DataBreaches.net inquiring about the breach has received no response.
An inquiry to the Information Commissioner’s Office reveals that the ICO was not aware of the breach report/incident.
An inquiry to the the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority asking them if they were aware of the breach and/or if they are investigating received the following response, in part:
We’re unable to disclose any information about any investigations that we may have completed, or may be ongoing about Hirsche Private Asset Management Ltd. We treat all information that we hold as strictly confidential, unless we decide to make a public announcement. For this reason,
I can only provide you with the same information as is published on our website.
So what really happened here, and how many Hirsche Private Asset Management clients may have had their personal and/or financial details or funds stolen? Did Hirsche notify clients individually of the alleged breach or did they just issue a press release?
If you have any additional details on this reported breach or situation, please contact this site at breaches@databreaches.net. This post will be updated if more information becomes available.
And if anyone from Hirsche Private Asset Management sees this post and would like to respond, please use the email address given above.