The Technology Behind Scams Keeps Changing. The Warning Signs Barely Do.

Regulators in the US, UK and EU describe the same warning signs again and again: guaranteed returns, pressure, unregulated firms, crypto-only payments and fees to withdraw. A ten-point checklist built from official warnings and 2025 fraud data.

This $1,000 bill is a fake. Like most scams, it only works on someone who does not stop to check. Photo: Ottoman Jackson, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

By the UISC BD Editorial Desk · United Information Service Center · Published 13 September 2026 · 7-minute read

In 2025, Americans alone reported $20.9 billion in internet crime losses to the FBI, more than half of it involving cryptocurrency. Fake forex brokers, AI trading bots, romance-investment schemes and deepfake calls look different on the surface. Underneath, they share the same handful of signals.

This checklist draws on warnings from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the FBI, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).

1. Guaranteed or Unusually High Returns

Real investments carry risk and have losing periods. The Mirror Trading International scheme promised around 10 percent a month; its founder was ordered by a US court to pay more than $3.4 billion. More on that case.

2. Contact You Did Not Ask For

A call, message, social media approach or "wrong number" text that leads toward investing. The FCA advises contacting any firm only through the details on its official register, not those in the message.

3. Pressure to Act Now

Limited-time bonuses, "only a few places left", or a claim that the opportunity disappears tomorrow. Urgency exists to stop you from checking.

4. A Firm You Cannot Find on a Regulator's Register

Or one whose website, phone number or email does not match the register — the signature of a clone firm. Here is how to check.

5. Payment Only by Crypto, Gift Cards or Personal Transfer

These methods are fast and very hard to reverse. Legitimate regulated firms do not require them.

6. Fees or "Taxes" Before You Can Withdraw

This is the defining final stage of fake investment platforms. Paying never releases the money; it only leads to the next demand. How pig butchering scams work.

7. A Secret AI or Bot That Cannot Lose

The CFTC's advice is direct: AI cannot predict the future or sudden market changes. A system that "never loses" does not exist.

8. Leverage Far Above Regulated Limits

In the EU, ESMA limits retail leverage to 30:1 on major currency pairs and 2:1 on crypto. Offers of 500:1 or more usually mean a firm operating outside those protections. Leverage explained.

9. An Online Relationship That Turns to Money

A new friend or partner you have never met, who eventually introduces an investment platform. The FBI's largest loss category in 2025 was crypto investment fraud, at $7.2 billion. The FBI figures.

10. A Familiar Voice or Face Urgently Asking for Money

Voice cloning can work from a few seconds of audio, and live deepfake video is now used in fraud. Hang up and call back on a number you already know. Deepfake fraud explained.

One More: The Recovery Scam

After a loss, victims are often contacted by "recovery agents", "lawyers" or even fake officials offering to get the money back for an upfront fee. It is very often the same criminals, or others who bought the victim's details.

If You Spot the Signs

Stop. Do not send more money, whatever you are told.
Save everything — messages, website links, wallet addresses and payment records.
Call your bank using the number on your card.
Report it to the police and to your national fraud reporting service. In the US, that includes the FBI's IC3; in the UK, the FCA takes reports of suspected scam firms.
Talk to someone you trust. Scams depend on secrecy and shame.

Anyone can be targeted. The people who avoid losses are rarely the ones who know the most about markets — they are the ones who stop and check.

Sources

"AI Won't Turn Trading Bots into Money Machines," US Commodity Futures Trading Commission — cftc.gov
"2025 IC3 annual report," FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center — ic3.gov
"Forex trading scams," Financial Conduct Authority — fca.org.uk
"FCA Warning List of unauthorised firms," Financial Conduct Authority — fca.org.uk
"ESMA agrees to prohibit binary options and restrict CFDs to protect retail investors," European Securities and Markets Authority — esma.europa.eu

scam checklist 2026 (1)

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