What happened
Germany's financial regulator BaFin published a warning dated 11 November 2026 about the website kapitum.com. BaFin says there is a suspicion that the operators, using the name Kapitum Finance, grant loans in Germany without the required permission to conduct banking business. BaFin states that, contrary to what the website claims, there is no connection to Hartlepool Investments Limited, based in Hartlepool, United Kingdom. BaFin says information on whether a company is authorised can be checked in its company database, and that the warning is based on section 37(4) of the German Banking Act (KWG).
How the scam works
Unlicensed investment, deposit and loan websites, and emails that misuse a real bank's name, are designed to look like ordinary financial products. Once money is sent, it is often moved quickly and is difficult to recover. BaFin's warning means the named site or sender is not authorised to offer those services in Germany. A UK or other company number, a professional looking site or a familiar bank brand in an email address is not a licence. Check a firm in BaFin's company database, and do not send money, documents or login details in response to this kind of approach.
BaFin suspects that the operators of kapitum.com, under the name Kapitum Finance, are granting loans in Germany without permission, and says that contrary to the site's claims there is no connection with Hartlepool Investments Limited of Hartlepool, United Kingdom. Hartlepool Investments Limited was named without its involvement. BaFin issued several other unauthorised-offer warnings on the same day, including lilac-holdings.com, davoripro.com, hanseanlage.com / hanseartesep.com and emails from @santander-finance-europe.de.
Source
German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) warning, 11 November 2026: https://www.bafin.de/SharedDocs/Veroeffentlichungen/DE/Verbrauchermitteilung/unerlaubte/2026/meldung_2026_11_11_kapitum_com.html
