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No. It shows you what the public record says, so you can judge for yourself.
This checks a name or website against published regulator lists and publicly documented warning signs. It does not investigate companies and it cannot determine whether any business is legitimate.
A result here is not an accusation and not a finding of wrongdoing. Some legitimate firms show warning signs. Some scams show none.
The checks that actually matter, before you send anyone money: SEC Action Lookup, FINRA BrokerCheck, Investor.gov. Use those, not this.
If your business appears here and the information is wrong, email support@stockeducation.com. We review within 5 business days and publish corrections.
Disclaimer · Terms of Use
An investment scam takes money through a false or misleading opportunity, often with promises of high returns and little risk. The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center recorded $6.57 billion in reported US investment fraud losses in 2024. Common forms include fake brokers, cloned firms, crypto fraud, pig butchering and pump and dump schemes. The StockEducation Investor Anti Scam Hub explains the warning signs, how to check a firm, what to do after sending money and where to report the fraud. Pressure, secrecy, urgency and guaranteed returns are serious warnings. Check the exact firm and website through SEC and FINRA records before paying.
Choose your situation below. We’ll show you exactly what to do — no searching, no overwhelm.
Start with your situation, then use the matching tool. The tools highlight warning signs and things to verify; they do not make a final fraud determination.
Already sent money, shared ID, gave bank details, or allowed remote access? Start here first.
Paste or describe an investment offer to highlight common warning signs and verification steps.
Use official regulator links and platform checks to verify a firm, app, or investment website.
Understand the common warning signs scammers use before deposits, withdrawals, or account takeovers.
Step-by-step guides for filing official scam reports with FBI, FTC, SEC and FINRA.
Full roadmap: bank recall, identity protection, evidence preservation, and next steps.
Verified expert case analysis to help document and understand what happened.
The simple tools below show risk signals and things to verify in under 2 minutes. Toggle to advanced for raw regulator lookups and deeper analysis.
Type the name and compare it with official regulator sources. The tool shows risk signals, not a final fraud decision.
5-question self-assessment about the offer and payment method. No login.
Tick the warning signs you see. Risk level updates instantly.
Raw BrokerCheck, SEC EDGAR and license cross-check lookups.
Paste a message or offer. Flags pressure language and fraud warning signs.
Full domain age, ownership and trust signal analysis.
AI-powered checks against known fraud typologies and scam profiles.
Identify fake trading gurus and influencer-based investment fraud warning signs.
Detect phishing messages, fake login pages and email fraud warning signs.
Analyze cryptocurrency offers, wallet requests and DeFi investment schemes.
Score an investment offer against known Ponzi and pyramid scheme markers.
Deep-dive AI scan of an entity’s credibility, online footprint and risk signals.
Test your scam awareness. 5 questions weighted against FBI IC3 fraud categories.
Browse warning signs with plain-language explanations and educational examples.
Understand the tactics scammers use — urgency, authority and trust manipulation.
Browse educational example scenarios and submit a private report for review.
How our tools work, data sources used, and links to official regulator databases.
Educational scenario breakdowns showing how common fraud sequences can unfold.
Interactive scam scenario walkthroughs — test your decision-making safely.
Active scam warnings and emerging fraud warning signs flagged by our team.
Use this instruction sheet when a term sounds technical. The goal is to help you decide what to verify next, not to replace official regulator checks.
Use this to check whether a broker, trading app, adviser, or investment platform appears in official regulator databases.
Use this when you are not sure if something is suspicious. It does not prove fraud; it helps you decide what to check next.
Use this if you already sent money, shared ID, gave remote access, or entered bank details.
Use this to learn the common pressure tactics, payment methods, withdrawal blocks, and fake authority signals used in scams.
StockEducation Editorial Team writes and maintains this hub from primary regulator sources. Andrew Curtis reviews the cybersecurity, fraud-prevention, evidence-preservation, identity-exposure, and recovery guidance before publication.
This page is written for consumer education. It highlights risk signals, warning signs and things to verify. It is not a final fraud determination, legal advice, financial advice, or a replacement for official regulator sources.
Every dashboard section has a crawlable static summary in this directory. JavaScript only opens panels and runs interactive checks, so the core section names, descriptions and links are not dependent on client-side rendering.
Choose the situation that matches what’s happening. Urgent paths are at the top. Click any card to see the exact steps you should take.
Paste the website URL, broker name, the message you received, or the social media profile into the Scam Checker. It will flag known fraud warning signs and point you to official verification paths.
The warning sign library explains the most common investment fraud types with fictionalized educational examples so you can recognize the approach being used on you.
The Recovery Steps walks you through every step from the first 24 hours through long-term identity monitoring. Time is critical — start with the bank call first.
You can submit a report in our Reports section to help warn other users, and we’ll link you directly to FBI IC3 and FTC for official filings. No personal details required in our form.
Paste or enter what you want to check. Select the type below then run the check. Each mode flags different fraud warning signs.
Designed to flag recently registered domains, copied content, misleading regulation claims, withdrawal issues and fake trading platform warning signs.
Cross-reference with FINRA, SEC IAPD and official regulator databases.
5-question self-assessment. Weighted against FBI IC3 and FTC fraud categories.
Tick the boxes that match your situation. Risk level updates instantly.
Assess whether an investment platform, trading dashboard or app has signs of being fake, unlicensed, offshore, or designed to block withdrawals.
Flags platforms that show paper profits but request tax, gas, verification or release fees before withdrawals.
Compares claims like “regulated”, “licensed” or “insured” against official broker and adviser verification paths.
Looks for unrealistic balances, copied charts, hidden company details, weak contact pages and pressure to deposit more.
Use Website mode for the domain, Broker mode for the company name, and Offer mode for the pitch or return claims.
Use AI-style warning-sign checks to review messages, offers, broker claims and website details for common investment fraud signals.
The detection flow reviews websites, brokers, messages, social profiles and offers using separate risk lenses so users do not rely on one generic result.
Paste the message and look for urgency, phishing and payment pressure.
Check copied testimonials, fake screenshots, signal groups and impersonation.
Review the pitch, promised returns, deposit method and fee requests.
Quickly scan for the warning signs that usually appear before deposits, account takeovers, fake trading dashboards or withdrawal traps.
Any fixed or guaranteed profit claim needs independent verification before money is sent.
Payment methods that are hard to reverse increase recovery risk if the offer is fake.
Extra tax, gas, unlock or verification fees are a common fake-platform warning sign.
Unexpected contact through WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram or Discord should be treated carefully.
Screenshots, testimonials and luxury photos can be copied or fabricated.
Missing legal name, registration details, address, regulator number or owner identity increases risk.
The red-flag page is for spotting warning signs. The scoring tool turns those warning signs into a practical risk level.
Review influencers, signal groups, mentors, trading coaches and social media promoters before trusting their screenshots, testimonials or private investment offers.
Paste the profile, username, group link or guru name into Social Profile mode.
Check whether someone is pretending to be a real broker, celebrity, educator, government body, support agent or recovery service.
A real firm name is used with a fake domain, fake adviser, fake WhatsApp number or fake payment route.
A well-known person or brand is copied to promote a crypto, trading or wealth scheme.
Someone claims they can recover lost funds but asks for a fee, wallet access or personal documents first.
Tick every box that matches your current situation. Risk level updates instantly. Signals weighted from FBI IC3, FTC Sentinel and AARP Fraud Watch typology.
Each ticked box represents a documented warning sign of investment fraud.
Answer 5 questions about the offer, payment method and contact source. No personal details, no email, no login. Built to slow you down before money moves.
Any result from this quiz is a signal, not a verdict. Before you act on it, please open an official US regulator in a new tab and verify the firm or person you’re dealing with.
No personal details required. This is a triage tool, not a final fraud determination.
Weighted rule-based scoring against FBI IC3 Internet Crime typology, FTC Consumer Sentinel data, and SEC Investor Alerts.
Cannot detect novel scam warning signs, sophisticated impersonation, or insider fraud. Always verify with FINRA BrokerCheck regardless of result.
StockEducation Editorial Team · Security reviewed by Andrew Curtis · Last reviewed July 6, 2026
Every legitimate US broker or adviser should match an official regulator database. Start with FINRA BrokerCheck and SEC IAPD, then check SEC, CFTC/NFA, CFPB and identity-protection sources if needed.
The primary US regulator check. Every registered broker-dealer must appear here. Start here.
Check registered investment advisers against the SEC’s official database.
Official SEC warnings about ongoing fraud schemes, bad actors and suspicious platforms.
Verify companies and investment vehicles are registered with the SEC and have legitimate filings.
North American Securities Administrators Association — state-level securities regulators.
Check futures traders and commodity pool operators against the National Futures Association.
The International Organization of Securities Commissions — links to regulators in 130+ jurisdictions.
INTERPOL’s financial crime unit — useful for cross-border investment fraud reporting.
Learn the warning signs before they cost you money. Examples are educational scenarios based on common regulator-documented warning signs.
SEC action involving fake crypto trading platforms and social-media relationship investment scams.
SEC action involving alleged social-media investment clubs, fake trading platforms, and advance-fee withdrawal blocks.
SEC action describing a $300 million crypto and foreign-exchange Ponzi scheme targeting retail investors.
What to do immediately after wiring money to a suspicious party.
Questions to ask before trusting an investment offer.
A focused risk-checking tool for suspicious investment pitches.
How group-chat investing scams build trust and pressure.
Domain, regulator, and contact-detail checks before sending money.
Why remote-access requests are a serious scam warning sign.
Facebook ad with deepfaked US business figure → clone news site (CNBC lookalike) → cold call → remote-access software installed → account drained in 72 hours.
Already lost $60K in crypto scam → cold email from “blockchain recovery specialist” → required $35K “tracing fee” in stablecoin → agent vanished within 48 hours.
LinkedIn connection invited to a private pre-IPO opportunity → polished PDF prospectus with fake company filings → payment via wire then crypto → SEC warning issued 3 weeks later.
How each scam works, what the warning signs look like, and what to verify first.
Fake experts, celebrity ads, Telegram groups, copied profiles, influencer-style scams.
Guides, checklists and simulations that teach you how to pause, verify and protect yourself.
Short learning paths that teach users how scams work before they send money. Pick a topic and the page builds a quick lesson, red flags and a safer next step.
Train the user to slow down when urgency, secrecy or guaranteed returns appear.
Teach them to check the regulator, domain, payment path and identity source independently.
Move high-risk cases into evidence collection, official reporting and recovery steps.
Filter educational examples by scam type. These are fictionalized learning examples designed to help users recognize warning sequences, not verified customer reports.
Show every example.
Dashboards and withdrawals.
Groups, DMs and gurus.
Second-hit recovery fees.
User sees screenshots of profits, joins a private group, deposits to a polished platform, then withdrawal is blocked by a fake tax fee.
A copied profile uses luxury images, fake student screenshots and urgency to push users into a paid signal room.
After the first scam, a fake recovery expert claims they can recover crypto if the victim pays an upfront tracing fee.
The scammer copies a real regulated firm’s name but changes the website, phone number and payment details.
The same network reappears under a new name and offers to unlock funds for another payment.
Professional PDF, fake prospectus language and offshore account details create false credibility.
Warning feed for common scam warning signs. Users can filter alert types and sign up for updates without mixing this with the reporting tool.
Build direct searches for official regulator databases. This is separate from marketing claims on a website or screenshots sent by a promoter.
Paste a URL or domain. The tool checks visible risk signals and creates a verification plan. It does not replace a live WHOIS or regulator lookup.
Paste a message, pitch, email, DM or script. The tool detects urgency, secrecy, guaranteed returns, fake authority and payment pressure.
Check social profiles, DMs, groups and investment influencers for fake authority, copied proof, private signals and deposit pressure.
Paste an email, SMS, login page text or sender details. The tool checks for credential harvesting, fake support, malicious payment pressure and impersonation.
Check whether an offer depends on guaranteed returns, referral incentives, locked withdrawals, vague business activity or new investor money.
Paste a stock, crypto token, social post, email or group message. The tool checks for hype cycles, coordinated buying pressure, thin-liquidity language and exit-risk warning signs.
“Buy now before it explodes” pressure plus private group coordination.
Late buyers are often left holding the asset after insiders sell.
Check official filings, liquidity, volume history and paid promotion disclosures.
Checks a platform URL, deposit method and withdrawal story for fake dashboard, clone broker and withdrawal-block warning signs.
Checks wallet, exchange, mining, staking, recovery and token pitches for common crypto scam warning signs.
Summarizes reputation clues from names, claims, reviews and public-facing text. It does not replace regulator verification, but helps triage what looks suspicious.
Paste the full situation and get a plain-English risk summary with key flags, missing verification steps and next action.
Ask a scam-safety question, paste a suspicious message, or describe what happened. The assistant gives educational safety steps, not personal financial advice.
Interactive trend board for tracking common investment scam warning signs. This is a front-end demo dataset that can later be connected to live reports, alerts or regulator feeds.
Visual risk heatmaps for scam type, payment method and contact channel. Use this to quickly show users which warning signs need extra caution.
Tick each item before sending money. The checklist shows whether the user is still missing key safety steps.
Short lessons users can follow before investing, while being pressured, or after spotting red flags.
Practical guide cards for beginners checking brokers, platforms, crypto offers and high-pressure sales pitches.
How to verify broker identity, licenses and contact details.
How to spot fake dashboards and withdrawal traps.
How to reduce wallet, token and recovery scam risk.
Builds a step-by-step reporting plan based on region, payment method and whether money or identity documents were sent.
A moderation workflow for communities, forums, Discord servers, groups or comment sections dealing with investment spam and scam reports.
Scores how transparent an investment offer appears based on licensing, ownership, fees, withdrawal rules, risk disclosure and independent verification.
Compares two offers or platforms side by side and highlights which one contains more common scam indicators.
Turns messy chats, emails or notes into a clear scam evidence summary for personal records, banks, moderators or official reports. The API key stays server-side.
Checks an offer for pressure, guaranteed returns, fake withdrawals, clone-firm language and payment methods often used in investment scams.
Paste a community post, comment, DM or profile bio and get a moderation-first risk readout for scam links, fake guru claims, phishing, impersonation and victim-blaming language. The OpenAI key stays server-side through the WordPress endpoint.
Scam links, payment requests, seed phrase requests, recovery-fee claims and impersonation posts.
Save screenshots, user IDs, URLs, timestamps and payment details before deleting public content.
Avoid public accusations with private victim details. Use templated warnings and official report links.
Create a structured review checklist for a broker, investment platform, guru, domain or offer before it is published as a verified expert review.
Run short scam scenarios and see how different choices change risk. This is designed for beginner education, not financial advice.
Learn the persuasion tactics used in investment scams: urgency, authority, social proof, reciprocity, isolation and sunk-cost pressure.
If you’ve been scammed, time matters. Start with your bank — right now. Then work through each phase below in order.
Call your bank. Ask for a wire recall or payment reversal. Then call FTC: 1-877-382-4357.
Never pay any “recovery agent.” Raj’s story above shows how this works. There is no legitimate paid recovery service for investment fraud.
Call your bank immediately. Ask specifically for a wire recall, chargeback (card payments), or ACH reversal. Quote “Regulation E” if they push back. Ask the fraud department, not customer service. Document every call with date, time and agent name.
Screenshot everything before accounts go dark: all messages, payment confirmations, profile pages, email chains, phone numbers, and website screenshots. Save to a separate device and cloud. Do not delete or block the scammer yet — you need these contacts for the report.
File with FBI IC3 (ic3.gov), FTC ReportFraud (reportfraud.ftc.gov), and your state Attorney General. If crypto was involved, also report to the exchange used.
If you shared your Social Security Number, bank details, or ID documents: place a credit freeze at all three bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion), file at IdentityTheft.gov, and consider a fraud alert on your credit file.
Investment fraud losses may be deductible as theft losses under IRS Publication 547. Consult a CPA or tax attorney. Keep all documentation. Do not accept any “IRS recovery” offers — these are additional scams.
Monitor your credit report monthly (annualcreditreport.com is free). Watch for new accounts opened in your name. Be especially alert to “recovery agent” cold calls — you may be re-targeted. AARP Fraud Watch Network offers free support and helpline access.
Submit a private report for review, then use the educational example scenarios below to recognise common warning signs. The examples are not live user reports.
Private intake. Do not include personal details. Reports are saved for admin review and are not auto-published.
No login required · Do not include personal details · Reviewed before publishing
Also file with official bodies:
This hub is written and maintained by StockEducation Editorial Team, then security-reviewed by a named cybersecurity and fraud-prevention expert. No AI-only publication. No anonymous security review.
Virtual Chief Information Security Officer with 20+ years across cybersecurity, incident response, and online fraud prevention. Andrew reviews the cybersecurity, social-engineering, identity-exposure, and scam-warning guidance on this platform. Editorial copy is maintained by StockEducation Editorial Team; financial-license, regulatory, and tax claims are sourced directly from FINRA, SEC, the IRS, and CFPB.
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