Fake investments and crypto: "guaranteed income" and a personal manager

Ads with famous people, a "broker" with a personal manager, a nice account page with a growing balance. How fake investment platforms work and why you cannot take your money out of them.

Investment scams cause the biggest losses: people give away tens of thousands, and sometimes take out loans to do it.

How it starts

• An ad on social media: "a famous businessman revealed how to make money with cryptocurrency". The interviews and news articles are fake.
• A call from a "financial analyst" or an "exchange manager".
• A new contact on social media or a dating site mentions, as if by chance, how well they earn from investing, and offers to help you.

How the scheme works

1. You register on the "platform" and pay in a small amount, for example 250 dollars.
2. A personal manager calls you every day, explains the "strategy" and shows you how your balance is growing.
3. Sometimes the first small withdrawal even works, so that you trust them.
4. They persuade you to invest more: "this is a unique moment", "take out a loan, you will earn it back in a week".
5. When you try to withdraw a large amount, they ask for "tax", a "withdrawal fee" or "account verification". After you pay, new reasons appear, and in the end your account is blocked.

The numbers in your account mean nothing: they are just a picture on the scammers' website.

Signs of a scam

• they promise guaranteed or very high income, for example 20–30% a month;
• they ask you to install a remote access app "to help with your investments";
• the company is not in the registers of your country's financial regulator;
• they rush and pressure you: "the best price is only today";
• you have to pay first before you can withdraw money.

How to check a company

• look for it in the list of licensed companies of your country's financial regulator;
• check the warning lists: many regulators publish lists of fraudulent platforms (for example, in Poland this is the public KNF warning list);
• search for the name together with the words "reviews" and "scam", and also in our [registry](/).

If you have already invested money

Do not pay any "withdrawal fees". Contact your bank at once. Save the messages, the website address, the managers' phone numbers and the payment details, and report it to the police. Be careful with "lawyers" who promise to get your money back for an upfront fee: this is often the second wave of the same scam. And add a report to warn others.