---
title: "Investment scams: how to spot one | URLert"
description: "Promised profits from someone you met online or by message, often in crypto, on an app that shows your money growing. How to tell, before you send more."
url: https://www.urlert.com/scams/investments
mcp: https://www.urlert.com/mcp
---

[URLert home](https://www.urlert.com/index.md)

[About (opens in a new tab)](https://www.urlert.com/about.md) [Sign in](https://www.urlert.com/login.md)

[All scam guides](https://www.urlert.com/scams.md)

# Investments

Promised profits from someone you met online or by message, often in crypto, on an app that shows your money growing. How to tell, before you send more.

A WhatsApp group

Join our free stock tips group. Last week our members made 32%. Our analyst will guide you personally.

On this page

1. What it looks like
2. How to spot one
3. What to do
4. Already acted?
5. Why it works
6. Similar scams

## What it looks like

A WhatsApp group

Join our free stock tips group. Last week our members made 32%. Our analyst will guide you personally.

A text from +1 555 0148, after a “wrong number”

+1 555 0148

Text Message

No problem! You seem nice. I trade crypto with my uncle, I made $40,000 last month. Want me to show you?

A video ad, with a famous business leader's face and voice

I'm sharing this before the banks shut it down. Start with $250 and earn $2,000 a week.

Examples. The names and amounts change; the shape doesn't.

## How to spot one

1. **Guaranteed or high profits,** often paid daily, or bonuses for bringing in friends. Real investments never guarantee them.
2. **A stranger, a new online friend or a famous face in an ad who teaches you to invest,** on an app or website you'd never heard of. Videos and voices of famous people can be faked.
3. **Your balance grows fast on their app.** The numbers are made up; a small first withdrawal may even work, to win your trust.
4. **To take your money out, you must pay a tax or a fee first.**
5. **Pressure:** a deadline, the last places, “don't tell your bank”.

## What to do

1. **Nobody can promise you high profits.** Don't send money to someone you met online or by message.
2. **Check the platform with your country's financial regulator** before you put anything in. Search the regulator's own list yourself: a site saying it's registered proves nothing.
3. **Talk to someone you trust** before you send more. Scammers often ask you to keep it secret.
4. **Still not sure?** [Check the message](https://www.urlert.com/index.md). We open its link on a phone and a computer, not yours, and tell you what it is.
5. **Report it.** If you sent money, tell your bank first, then your police or your country's fraud reporting service.

   [In the US: ReportFraud.ftc.gov (the FTC's website, opens in a new tab)](https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/)

### Already sent money?

- [I sent money](https://www.urlert.com/recover/money.md)
- [I gave my ID details](https://www.urlert.com/recover/id.md)
- [I installed something](https://www.urlert.com/recover/installed.md)

## Why it works

You're shown profits, and a small first withdrawal really arrives. That trust is what brings the big deposit.

## Similar scams

- [Crypto wallets](https://www.urlert.com/scams/crypto-wallets.md)
- [Online romance](https://www.urlert.com/scams/online-romance.md)
- [Jobs and paid tasks](https://www.urlert.com/scams/jobs-and-paid-tasks.md)

On this page

1. What it looks like
2. How to spot one
3. What to do
4. Already acted?
5. Why it works
6. Similar scams

[URLert home](https://www.urlert.com/index.md)

[About(opens in a new tab)](https://www.urlert.com/about.md) · [How we decide](https://www.urlert.com/how.md) · [Privacy](https://www.urlert.com/privacy.md) · [Terms](https://www.urlert.com/terms.md) · [For developers](https://www.urlert.com/developers.md) · [AI assistants](https://www.urlert.com/assistants.md)