The Rise of Online Scams Targeting New Investors

Rise of Online Scams Targeting New Investors!

The democratisation of investing through apps, social media and crypto has opened the doors to millions of first-time market participants.

Unfortunately, those same doors have also become the perfect hunting ground for scammers.
In 2024 alone, the U.S.

Federal Trade Commission reported $5.7 billion lost to investment-related fraud – a 24 % jump from 2023 and the single largest fraud category for the year.

What makes this surge particularly cruel is that the majority of victims are newcomers who have never invested before and simply want a better financial future.

Rise of Online Scams Targeting New Investors: Here’s exactly what we’ll cover:

1. What Factors Are Fueling the Rise of Online Scams Targeting New Investors?
2. How Do Modern Investment Scams Actually Work Step-by-Step?
3. Why Are New Investors the Perfect Targets for These Schemes?
4. What Are Two Real-World Examples That Actually Happened in 2024-2025?
5. How Can Beginner Investors Protect Themselves Without Paralyzing Fear?
6. Veelgestelde vragen (FAQ-tabel)

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What Factors Are Fueling the Rise of Online Scams Targeting New Investors?

First, the barriers to entry collapsed.

Robinhood, eToro, Binance and countless others let anyone open an account in minutes with $10.

Consequently, millions of people who never touched a brokerage before 2020 suddenly became “investors.”

Second, social media turned investing into entertainment.

TikTok traders, Reddit “apes,” Twitter gurus – everyone is broadcasting 100 % monthly returns.

This normalises extreme outcomes and makes 30–50 % annualised returns look boring or even suspicious.

Third, cryptocurrency created an unregulated parallel universe where anyone can launch a token in five minutes and disappear in six.

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Moreover, the narrative of “getting in early” is irresistible to newcomers who missed Bitcoin at $100.

Finally, artificial intelligence lowered the cost of fraud to almost zero.

Deep-fake videos, AI chatbots that groom victims for months, automated fake websites – scammers now scale operations that used to require teams of people.

The combination is lethal: more novice money + louder hype + weaker regulation + cheaper tools for criminals = the perfect storm.

How Do Modern Investment Scams Actually Work Step-by-Step?

Most successful scams today follow the same four-phase playbook.

Phase 1 – Attraction

Scammers use paid ads, deep-fake celebrity endorsements, or “leaked” WhatsApp screenshots, or TikTok “success stories” to get attention.

The offer always contains urgency: “Only 200 spots,” “Presale ends in 48 h,” “Elon is buying tomorrow.”

Phase 2 – Trust Building (the longest and most important phase)

They move you to Telegram, Discord or WhatsApp.

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There you see other “members” posting profits, the admin answers questions 24/7, and they let you withdraw small amounts at first.

This is deliberate – it makes the platform feel legitimate.

Phase 3 – Upsize

Once trust is established, the “mentor” or bot tells you the real money is in the VIP signal group, the private liquidity pool, or the new AI trading bot that needs a minimum $10 k deposit.

By now you have already seen “proof” and feel you’re late if you don’t act.

Phase 4 – Disappearance

The site goes into “maintenance mode,” the Telegram admin blocks you, or the coin is rugged (liquidity pulled).

In most cases the money is gone within minutes, routed through mixers and cross-chain bridges.

The entire cycle can now be completed in 4–12 weeks, compared to years for traditional Ponzi schemes.

Why Are New Investors the Perfect Targets for These Schemes?

Experience is the best defence, and newcomers simply don’t have it.

They have never seen a bear market, never watched a 90 % drawdown, never experienced a rug-pull.

Therefore, when someone shows them screenshots of 5× gains in a month, it doesn’t trigger alarm bells – it triggers FOMO.

Furthermore, many new investors suffer from what psychologists call “illusion of knowledge.”

They have read three books, watched 200 YouTube videos, and believe they are now sophisticated.

In reality, they can’t distinguish a real edge from marketing.

Additionally, most beginners equate activity with progress.

They feel they must be “in the game” right now, so promises of quick wins override basic due-diligence fatigue.

Scammers understand this psychology better than most legitimate financial advisors do.

What Are Two Real-World Examples That Actually Happened in 2024–2025?

The “Quantum AI Trading” WhatsApp Groups (late 2024 – early 2025)

Victims were added to groups by attractive women (fake profiles) who claimed to be from Singapore or Dubai.

After weeks of romance grooming, the “she” introduced her “uncle” or “mentor” who trades with a secret quantum algorithm licensed from Google.

Victims were directed to platforms that looked identical to legitimate brokers (mirror sites).
Small withdrawals worked perfectly.

When victims moved to five- and six-figure deposits, the site froze accounts for “IRS compliance checks” and demanded 20 % “tax deposits” that vanished.

Estimated global losses exceeded $180 million before the domains were seized.

Example 2 – The 2025 “Solana Presale” Deep-Fake Campaign

Scammers used AI-generated videos of Vitalik Buterin, Cathie Wood and even Donald Trump announcing a new Solana-based AI coin called “SOLAI” that would replace Ethereum.

The videos were indistinguishable from real interviews.

The presale site raised 28,000 SOL (~$5.2 million) in 11 hours, then the deployer removed liquidity.

What made this one particularly nasty was the use of paid KOLs (key opinion leaders) with 50 k–200 k followers who received 5–10 % kickbacks for promoting the link.

Many of those KOLs were themselves earlier victims who turned promoters to recover losses – classic Ponzi recruitment.

How Can Beginner Investors Protect Themselves Without Paralyzing Fear?

Protection is simpler than most people think.

First principle: If someone contacts you first with an investment opportunity, it is almost certainly a scam.
Legitimate opportunities do not cold-DM you.

Second, use only platforms you personally navigated to – never click links from Telegram, Discord, WhatsApp, or Instagram.

Third, verify every claim independently.

A five-minute Google search for “[project name] scam” or checking the contract on Solana.fm/Rugcheck.xyz catches 90 % of crypto scams.

Fourth, never mix romance and money.
If someone you met online starts talking about investing within the first month, run.

Fifth, start stupidly small.

Treat your first $5 k–$10 k in any new platform as tuition, not investment.
If it disappears, the lesson was cheap.

Finally, build a simple checklist and follow it religiously every single time, no exceptions.

Here’s mine (feel free to copy):

• Is the person/team doxxed and verifiable?
• Can I withdraw a test amount instantly?
• Does the website have a long, credible history (check archive.org)?
• Are there real, named auditors (Certik, Peckshield, Hacken) with full reports?
• Am I being rushed?

If any answer is no, walk away.

Frequently Asked Questions About Investment Scams

The rise of online scams targeting new investors is not going to slow down anytime soon.
The incentives are too strong and the tools too cheap.

However, the defence is also getting stronger: better education, better tools (rug checkers, wallet trackers, AI scam detectors), and growing community awareness.

The only question left is which side of the statistic you want to be on.

For further reading (all published or updated 2025):

1. FTC 2024 Fraud Report (released March 2025)
2. CNBC – “Investment fraud is on the rise. Here’s how to protect yourself” (March 2025)

Geschreven door André Neri Updated on november 19, 2025