You are added to a messaging group, often by someone who seems to have joined casually. A named "analyst" posts calls; members post screenshots of profits and thank them. After some free advice, members are invited to an exclusive platform with better access.
What the app actually is
The trading interface is a display. Deposits are real and leave your account. The positions, the price movements and the rising balance are numbers rendered by the operator. Nothing is bought. There is no market exposure, which is why the account only ever goes up — real trading does not behave like that.
The withdrawal wall
Requesting a withdrawal produces a new requirement: a tax payment, a margin top-up, an anti-money-laundering deposit, an account upgrade. Each is presented as the last step. Paying it produces another. This stage is designed to extract further funds from people who believe their earlier deposit is recoverable.
If a platform holding your money asks you to send more money in order to receive it, the answer is always no. There is no legitimate financial product anywhere that works this way.
Checks that take five minutes
- Search the firm's name on your national securities regulator's register. Unlisted means unlicensed.
- Check the regulator's warning list — many of these platforms are already named.
- Look at the domain's age. A "ten-year-old institution" on a three-month-old domain is not one.
- Be sceptical of group members posting profits. Cheerleading is part of the script.
If you have deposited
Stop paying immediately, including any fee described as the final one. Record the platform URL, account name, deposit addresses or bank accounts used, and export the full chat history before you are removed from the group. If you paid by card or bank transfer, contact your bank the same day. If you paid in cryptocurrency, the transaction hashes matter — report them to the receiving exchange and to your national cybercrime authority.