Investment and crypto fraud · Also called fake crypto exchange, fake investment app, fake broker

Fake trading platform or app

A fake trading platform is a website or app built to look like a real crypto exchange or broker. Victims deposit money and watch an invented balance grow, but the platform is controlled by scammers, withdrawals are blocked or charged fees, and the money was never invested at all.

How it works

1. The victim is sent to the platform by an ad, a social media post, an investment group, or someone they met online.
2. The site or app looks professional, with charts, live prices, and a customer support chat.
3. Deposits are sent to accounts or crypto wallets the scammers control, while the dashboard shows fabricated profits.
4. When the victim asks to withdraw, they are told to pay a tax, fee, or deposit first, or the account is frozen.

Red flags

• The app is installed from a link or a web page rather than your phone's official app store.
• The web address is newly registered or slightly misspelled compared with a known company.
• Support is only available through chat or messaging apps, with no verifiable street address.
• Profits are high and steady regardless of what the market is doing.
• You must pay a fee, tax, or minimum deposit before any withdrawal is released.

If you are targeted

• Stop contact and do not send more money, even if you are told it will release your balance.
• Contact your bank, card issuer, or the exchange you bought crypto from and report the transfers as fraud.
• Take screenshots of the platform, its web address, and your transaction history.
• Report it. Our Report a scam page lists where to report in your country, such as ic3.gov and ReportFraud.ftc.gov in the US.
• Expect recovery scams: anyone who contacts you offering to get your money back for a fee, including people claiming to be lawyers, regulators, or the FBI, is running a second scam.

Where to report, by country

Prevention

For individuals

• Only use trading platforms you find yourself and can confirm on your national financial regulator's register.
• Install apps only from the official app store for your phone.
• Do not treat a small successful withdrawal as proof a platform is real: scammers allow one to win trust before larger deposits.

For organisations

• App stores and hosting providers can act quickly on reports of look-alike trading apps and domains.
• Banks can flag customers sending repeated transfers to exchanges or overseas accounts labelled as fees or taxes.

By the numbers

Figures are for the reporting category this scam falls under, not this scam alone.

Real cases

• 2026-02 · US · Sentenced · $73.6M stolen

  Daren Li sentenced over $73 million crypto scam laundering, 2026

• 2024-10 · HK · Alleged · HK$360M estimate

  Hong Kong police break a deepfake romance scam syndicate, 2024

Delivered through: Fake apps, Social media ads and posts, Malvertising and SEO poisoning

How official datasets classify it

FBI IC3

Investment

FTC

Miscellaneous Investments & Investment Advice

UK Finance

Investment scam

Scamwatch

Investment scams

Questions

How do I know if a trading platform is fake?

Check it on your financial regulator's register, look for a real company behind it, and be suspicious of any app not in an official store. A platform that asks for fees before a withdrawal is almost certainly fake.

Is the profit shown in my account real?

No. On a fake platform the balance is just numbers on a screen that the scammers control. The money you deposited went straight to them.

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• Pig butchering
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• Celebrity deepfake investment ad

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