Financial fraudFake investment platform
A victim is approached online with an apparently attractive investment opportunity. The contact may originate from WhatsApp, SMS, email, social media or an unsolicited telephone call.
The fraudster directs the victim to a professional-looking investment website.
The platform may show an investment portfolio, charts, account balances, trading activity or apparently increasing profits. However, the displayed investment performance may be entirely fictitious.
Concrete example
A Luxembourg resident receives a WhatsApp message offering an opportunity to invest in financial markets. The sender presents themselves as an experienced investment adviser. The victim is given access to an online trading platform and initially transfers €2,000. The platform shows the account increasing to €2,800. Encouraged by the apparent success, the victim transfers another €15,000. When they subsequently request a withdrawal, the platform claims that additional taxes, verification charges or administrative fees must be paid. After the victim makes further payments, communication stops.
The amounts in this illustration are hypothetical; the fraud mechanism reflects the pattern described by Luxembourg authorities.
Red flags,
stop if
- You were contacted unexpectedly with an investment opportunity.
- You are promised high or guaranteed returns with little/no risk (think “too good to be true”).
- You are pressured to invest immediately.
- A small initial investment produces unusually high “profits” on the platform.
- The company claims to be CSSF-authorised, but you cannot independently verify it.
- You are asked to send money to an unrelated or foreign bank account.
- You cannot withdraw your money without paying another tax, fee, deposit or “unblocking” charge.
- An adviser asks you to install remote-access software.