Understanding Investment Scams

Typically Investment Scams start on social media, or with a text from an unknown contact. Fraudsters will try to convince you to make an investment by promising really high returns. Ultimately, the investments aren't real and you'll lose all of your money.

If you've been tricked by a fraudster into sending them money, please get in touch with us by tapping Help on the bottom right of the app, search for "Reporting a scam", tap the help article and then "Report Fraud" and complete the steps in the form.

Here’s a quick rundown of how these scams work:

After an initial text or social media message, scammers will tempt you with high returns for a small investment.

They’ll often pressure you to make these payments by saying it’s “a limited time deal” or a “special price.” Sometimes they’ll even use fake celebrity endorsements to make the investment seem more trustworthy. They might also encourage you to set up an account for cryptocurrency, or use an investment website to track your fund.

Scammers will then convince you to send larger and larger amounts of money, eventually telling you that you must pay additional fees or insurance costs in order to withdraw your money. In reality, the money has already been stolen by the fraudsters.

It's important to remember that legitimate investments don’t get promoted in this way, and they’ll never promise guaranteed profits.

Don’t let anyone rush or pressure you into investing, especially significant amounts of money.

If you’re looking to make an investment, make sure you do your research – even if the recommendation is from a close friend or family member, they could be in the middle of a scam themselves and not realise it. Check if a company’s registered with the Financial Conduct Authority before investing, and don’t invest if they aren’t.

You can also get independent advice from a registered financial adviser, who can help you grow your money through legitimate investments.

Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

For more advice on how to keep safe from fraud, we’ve partnered with Take Five, an industry campaign that provides information on how to keep safe from fraudsters.